Review "Ökonomische strukturzyklen und internationale diskurskonjunkturen: Zur entwicklung der schwedischen bildungsprogrammatik, 1930-2000" by Florian Waldow : The politics of education, economy and international educational trends in Sweden 1930-2000

• In a time when accountability and educational productivity top the agenda of educational policy-makers all over the world it is highly relevant and, indeed, necessary to question on what grounds and evidence reform proposals are constructed. In The politics of education, economy and international educational trends in Sweden 1930-2000 Florian Waldow challenges one of the central “truths” of the relationships between modern economy and education held by politicians in the Western world. The assumption of a direct connection between education and economic development is scrutinised and an alternative hypothesis, that cyclical economic crisis interplays with education reforms, is investigated. In a convincing and clearly structured argumentation combining relevant theories and rich empirical data, Waldow gives some new answers to why the idea that the relationship between education and economy can be understood and governed by rational (national) governance must be considered as a chimera. I will start the review by offering some of them. One of the major contributions, as will be highlighted later, of Waldow's analysis is the methodological approach to investigate the connections as time-bound discursive constructions that are framed in specific ways and serve particular interests. The third area that will be commented on in the following sections is the questions of periodisation and how to deal with continuities and discontinuities following longer historical trends.

Subject headings

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

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

Keyword

Education

Pedagogik

Pedagogik

Pedagogics

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rec (subject category)