Systematic quality work without quality? A study of local initiatives to challenge segregation

• Research topic/aim: The concept of quality has been high on international and national education policy agendas since the late 1990s. However, rather than bringing questions of educational quality at the center, earlier research has demonstrated that an instrumental emphasis on quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) has become the dominant use of the concept of quality at international and national policy levels (Bergh 2015, Kauko et al 2018). Instead of taking its starting point in a decontextualized and “empty” policy concept, the aim of this presentation is to put the light on a complex educational quality question in the practical, and to discuss implications for teaching and learning activities. More specifically, the focus is at the local meso level, with an empirical interest to study how a Swedish municipality has tried to challenge segregation through education. Theoretical framework and methodology: Inspired by Joseph Schwab’s (1970/2013) writing on the practical, a curriculum theoretical approach is used to study the relation between hope and happening (Lundgren 1983). The hope, in this case to improve educational quality, goal achievement, integration and equity was formulated by a Swedish municipality that in 2016 decided to close a school and instead spread the students to four other schools. The empirical focus is at the hopes expressed by local politicians and the actions taken at the local administrative level. Data has been collected through interviews, five with politicians and eight with civil servants. In order to approach quality as a question that is done by these actors, with respect to organizational, pedagogical and social aspects, curriculum theory is complemented with insights from school development research, didactics and perspectives that enable intersectional analysis (De los Reyes & Mulinari, 2005; Hudson & Meyer 2011; Jarl et.al. 2017; Wahlström, 2016).Expected conclusions/findings: The study demonstrates challenges and possibilities the local meso level actors meet when they try to navigate between local complexity and national policy conditions. A condition that limits the local room for maneuver is caused by the relation between, on the one hand juridical regulations, and on the other, student’s freedom of choice. In the next step, the local decision to close one school and move the students put great demands on teaching and learning activities and thus on school leaders and teachers at the four new schools. Even though education has a great potential to challenge segregation, closing down a school is in itself far from an easy way to improved quality, goal achievement, integration and equity. Altogether, the result demonstrates that conflicts that are concealed in the maximized and recontextualized policy language erupt in the local setting, with challenging consequences for its different actors and for the education in question. 

Ämnesord

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

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

Nyckelord

Education

Pedagogik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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