Education in a Societal Crisis—A Swedish Exception in Mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic

• Why did Sweden not close its primary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic when other countries did? This chapter explores the Swedish approach to mitigating the pandemic, which is often described as an exception from an international perspective. The focus is on a pedagogical programme for the education of the population on how to act properly, and the role of the school sector as an emerging assemblage of interacting agents. We look back at the initial phase of the pandemic, following how the approaches and challenges evolved in four waves up to the summer of 2022. The analysis focuses on the agents involved, their communicative means and how they came to be connected. A main argument is that keeping the schools open should be seen as an active welfare state response and important part of a pedagogical programme for the education of a population, which was based on trust in solidaric behaviour. The Swedish approach to keeping schools open embraced the complex and sometimes even messy interactions of self-governing behaviour and supporting measures but also, to some extent, repressive measures. Thereby, the many complexities embedded in school are revealed.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Assemblage theory

Covid-19

Education of a population

Pandemic

School

Self-governing

Trust

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)