| 1. |
- Andersson, Per
(författare)
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National Policy and the Implementation of Recognition of Prior Learning in a Swedish Municipality
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of education policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 23:5, s. 515-531
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recognition of prior learning (RPL) has been part of adult education policy and practice for a long time, but in different ways and in different times and places. In Sweden, RPL has been an explicit part of the policy since 1996. This policy analysis starts with the current Swedish policy concerning RPL. The figures of thought expressed in official policy texts are traced in, and compared to what is expressed in, the (discursive) practice of a case of local policy and development initiatives. The objective of the analysis is to see how the policy in official texts is reproduced and transformed at the local level. The theoretical starting point is the Foucauldian concept of ‘governmentality’, and RPL is seen as a technique for governing adult education, the adult learner, and also adult learning. The analysis focuses particularly on the governing of adult education, expressed in the ‘salvation narrative’ of RPL, and in ideas of what RPL is and how it should be organised. Indirect as well as direct techniques of governing are identified in the governing of and through RPL.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Per, et al.
(författare)
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Recognition of prior learning as a technique for fabricating the adult learner : a genealogical analysis on Swedish adult education policy
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of education policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 20:5, s. 595-613
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article focuses on the recognition of prior learning and the figure of thought it represents in Swedish policy on adult education. It can be seen as a technique for governing the adult learner and a way of fabricating the subject. We are tracing this thought back in time to see how it has changed and what it consists of. The material analysed consists of Swedish official documents published between 1948 and 2004. We draw on two concepts from the Foucauldian toolbox: genealogy and governmentality. The result shows that this technique for governing and fabricating the adult subject is not new. It has been present during all periods analysed. However, there is a difference in how the ideas of competence and knowledge are stressed. Today the focus is on the subject's specific experience, which means competence. You are constructed as an adult with experiences that are to be evaluated. During the 1960s and 1970s the focus was rather on general experience. There was also discussion concerning the subject's ability to study. During the 1950s this figure of thought focused on ability was dominant. Those with the talent/ability to study were to be accepted for adult education.
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| 3. |
- Dahlstedt, Magnus, 1975-
(författare)
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Governing by Partnerships : Dilemmas in Swedish Education Policy at the Turn of the Millennium
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of education policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 24:6, s. 787-801
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years, governing through partnerships has become more and more common and is today reflected in a range of policy areas. In the following article, governing through partnerships is analysed in Swedish education policy around the turn of the millennium, where the notion of partnership has had a large impact. Using as its point of departure a theoretical perspective inspired by Michel Foucault, the article analyzes the calls for partnership in Swedish education policy as part of a set of governmental rationalities forming individuals into partnering, i.e. active and responsible, citizens. In the article, some of the long-term consequences of the uses of the concept of partnership in Swedish education policy are discussed, focusing particularly on issues of inclusion/exclusion and democratic regeneration. With the idea of governing through partnerships, it is argued that the political landscape is redrawn. The role of the State, for instance, is increasingly to leave room for various voluntary and independent actors and associations, to co-ordinate and interact, as a partner, among others, rather than directing society ‘from above’.
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| 4. |
- Fejes, Andreas
(författare)
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The Planetspeak Discourse of Lifelong Learning in Sweden: What is an Educable Adult?
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of education policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 21:6, s. 697-716
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article focuses on the idea of the educable adult subject in Sweden and the ways this idea has re-emerged in different practices during the twentieth century. It's a policy analysis where official documents from the twentieth century and early twenty-first century concerned with adult education in Sweden are analysed based on the Foucauldian notion of governmentality. The results show that the idea of the educable adult subject has been present during the major part of the twentieth century. But there are differences in how it is inscribed into the practices. The main difference is that the educable subject today is created in relation to a new rationality of governing where it is governed and constructed through its own choices and actions instead of through institutions based on knowledge produced by the social sciences and experts. Further, the ambition today is that everyone should be included in lifelong learning. At the same time, these ambitions also create exclusion. What happens to those who cannot or do not want to participate in lifelong learning? I argue that such practices of inclusion/exclusion are present in all the documents analysed, but that today, this practice has taken a specific shape.
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| 5. |
- Lund, Stefan
(författare)
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Choice paths in the Swedish upper secondary education : a critical discourse analysis of recent reforms
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of education policy. - : Routledge, London. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 23:6, s. 633-648
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Decentralisation policy in Sweden emphasises school capitation allowance, the local upper secondary schools’ decision-making and pupils’ choices in contrast to previous bureaucratic governing. The aim of this article is to discuss how pupils’ educational choice paths are a part of the different kinds of integration and differentiation processes within upper secondary education. By doing so, the intention is to make a theoretical contribution to the ongoing discussion in this research field. In the light of Habermas’s theory of communicative action combined with Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, educational choice paths have been studied as a process within three educational practices in a local quasi-market in Sweden: (1) choice of upper secondary school, (2) choice of upper secondary programme, and (3) choice of courses and subjects within a programme. Someof the results demonstrate that pupils’ choice paths can be vocation-oriented, careeroriented and consumption-oriented. It is argued that these different types of choice pathsare related to a market discourse. Other results demonstrate that pupils’ group-oriented, interest-oriented and tradition-oriented choice paths are built upon an active citizenshipdiscourse, which is about creating meaning in terms of seeking knowledge and establishing social relations in upper secondary education. The analysis of these two paramount discourses indicates that pupils’ integration and differentiation processes are ambiguous.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Segerholm, Christina
(författare)
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'We are doing well on QAE' : the case of Sweden
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of education policy. - : Routledge. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 24:2, s. 195-209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paper analyses quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) policy and activities in mandatory schooling at national level in Sweden. Two studies are reported: a textual analysis of national policy documents concerning QAE, and an interview study conducted with national policy brokers. Questions addressed are: What are the characteristics of Swedish QAE activities? What European and international ideas on QAE are considered relevant to Swedish national policy? To what degree is international QAE policy disseminated across the Swedish school system? And, does Sweden influence international QAE policy in any way? QAE activities are analysed in relation to the European Union's and international organisations' efforts to influence national education policy. Results show that Sweden was historically early equipped with means to control quality in schooling. By the end of the 1990s, there was a marked increase in national regulations, increasing the number of QAE activities directed at Swedish schooling. The development of QAE in Sweden, therefore, has been related to a shift in governing policies and practices towards governing by objectives and results; and national QAE policies have successively strengthened this governing doctrine. Finally, Swedish national brokers maintain an image of doing quite well on QAE policy and practice compared to other European countries.
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| 8. |
- Säfström, Carl Anders
(författare)
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The European Knowledge Society and the Diminishing State Control of Education : The Case of Sweden
- 2005
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Ingår i: Journal of Education Policy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0268-0939 .- 1464-5106. ; 20:5, s. 583-593
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this article I explore the changing relation between education and the state as this is expressed through a new language of education within Sweden, structured by terms such as the knowledge society, life-long learning and validation. I read closely a policy document on life-long learning, taking as my point of departure the 'authentic state', a state that is possible only when the desires of individuals for a good life are made the conditions of democratic society. What the reading illuminates is that what is taken for granted within the new language of education is instead an 'agentic' state in which the will of the individual is subordinated to the will of the state and that this is most profoundly expressed through the subject position offered the individual, what I call Homo economicus. Thus the knowledge society tends to be a society that excludes the idea of education understood in any terms other than economic ones.
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