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In recent years knowledge has been brought forward as an important political issue both in the EU and in Sweden. It is said to be of the uttermost importance not just for education but for society as a whole. As a result of increased globalization and a European striving for economic growth, knowledge has come to be associated with both individual and national competitiveness, and education and learning in schools and workplaces have become a political priority. In this global competition the EU has become an important policy actor in the educational field trying to create a common European education policy field. Despite this development, only a limited number of reports relating the European arena to Swedish educational reforms have been published. Against this background the aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the knowledge discourses which struggle for legitimacy in Swedish and European education policy and how these discourses relate to each other and change over time. The empirical material consists of a number of fundamental official policy texts produced by the EU and the Swedish state. The study takes its theoretical point of departure in critical discourse analysis using an analytical grid where production, content and communication are seen as three aspects constituting every knowledge discourse. The result shows a process of silent Europeanization in Swedish school reform where European knowledge discourse is being re-contextualised and in many cases re-interpreted without any declaration in terms of explicit references. It also confirms the general trend towards increased focus on learning outcomes and demands for measurability. Furthermore, the result shows how competition rhetoric dominating the EU contributes to an increased sense of crisis in both European and Swedish educational reforms. As a result of this crisis rhetoric the study shows how the proactive reform-perspective is being replaced by a retrospective where solving already existing problems replaces the planning of an uncertain future.

The study highlights the knowledge content of the Swedish National Leadership Training Programme based on Basil Bernstein's conceptual apparatus. The aim is to investigate what knowledge is offered to the principal through studies at the state-regulated principal's program. Through a document study, a first step examines which knowledge is made relevant in the target document established by the Swedish National Agency for Education. In a second step, what knowledge is actualized and made relevant in course plans that each university has developed based on the target document established by the Swedish National Agency for Education. In total, 22 documents have been analyzed via a content analysis that has been applied. The results show that the Swedish National Agency for Education's target document has a controlling effect on the universities' self-determination to design their curricula. In addition, the results show that the knowledge content of the Swedish National Leadership Training Programme has some limitation in terms of supporting a school on a scientific basis. This is due to the way the knowledge is organized in the state-regulated principal's program. / Studien belyser kunskapsinnehållet på rektorsprogrammet utifrån Basil Bernsteins begreppsapparat. Syftet är att undersöka vilka kunskaper som erbjuds för rektor genom studier vid det av staten reglerade rektorsprogrammet. Genom en dokumentstudie undersöks i ett första steg vilka kunskaper som görs relevanta i det av Skolverket fastställda måldokumentet. I ett andra steg, vilka kunskaper som aktualiseras och görs relevanta i kursplaner som varje lärosäte tagit fram med utgångspunkt i det av Skolverket fastställda måldokumentet. Sammantaget har 22 dokument analyserats via en innehållsanalys som har tillämpats. Resultaten visar att Skolverkets måldokument har en kontrollerande effekt över lärosätenas självbestämmande att utforma sina kursplaner. Därtill visar resultaten att rektorsprogrammets kunskapsinnehåll har viss begränsning i avseende att stödja en skola på vetenskaplig grund. Detta med anledning av hur kunskaperna är organiserade på det av staten reglerade rektorsprogrammet.

This is a study of how knowledge producing actors, like professors of economics, ecological economics and investigators at public institutions, portray the monetary system in general and fractional reserve banking specifically. The methodology of Political Discourse Analysis, with focus on argumentation and legitimisation, is used to identify and compare how different actors portray the monetary system. The outcome shows that there exist competing knowledge discourses that are diametrically different in how they define keywords and describe the relation between the monetary system, societal power relations and environmental impact. Some important concepts under academic debate include the origin of money, which actor (the state or commercial banks) controls the money supply and seigniorage (money issuer’s revenue), if private banks really are intermediaries and multiply central bank money, and if interest-bearing money is a cause of socioecological unsustainability. By critically analysing the moral norms within knowledge discourses that otherwise might be naturalised as portraying ‘facts’ or ‘truth’, this thesis helps identify needs for further research – especially regarding how the financial system can be better adapted for socioecological sustainability.