Ann-Sofie Holm

Privatisation of public education? The emergence of independent upper secondary schools in Sweden

This article explores the upper secondary (or post‐16) school market. The study on which it is based, funded by the Swedish Research Council, was entitled ‘Upper‐secondary education as a market’. Empirical data include official statistics, policy documents, school publications, company reports and school visits. Printed and other news media were also scrutinised to identify how the marketisation of education is represented in public discourse. A number of themes emerged from the study which included mapping the expansion of the school market, chains of ownership and influence, marketing strategies, choice and the school market and issues raised in the media. These imply that there is a new market discourse which represents a clear break with previous social democratic education policies primarily aimed at enhancing citizenship and wider democratic values within an inclusive public school. However, critiques have also emerged including a call for strengthened regulations of and control over independent schools and concern about an education market equated more with shares and profits rather than pedagogy and student citizenship.

Market competition in upper secondary education: : Perceived effects on teachers’ work

The development and expansion of market solutions is one of the most important changes in Swedish education in the last 30 years. The aim of the article is to describe and analyse how students and staff in upper secondary schools perceive the impact of market competition on teachers work. Three groups of actors in two Swedish regions were interviewed: students, teachers and principals. The interviews were carried out at eight schools in five municipalities, at both public and independent schools. The results show that competition relations are more complex than is often assumed. Intensification of teachers work is a common theme in the interviews. Traditional professional values and identities are challenged by the market competition and a market-oriented teacher is shaped – whether the teachers like it or not. The extension of teachers tasks is increasingly about marketing. A new type of service-minded and flexible teacher is created. Regarding the effects of competition on teacher performance, the results are contradictory. The quality discourse is problematised as there is no evident link between winners in the school competition and the quality of teaching and student outcomes. The Swedish case is interesting in the international literature as an example of a rapidly growing upper secondary school market which is closer to the logic of the market than many other nations school systems.

“Living with Market Forces” Principals’ Perceptions of Market Competition in Swedish Upper Secondary School Education

The Swedish education system has undergone major restructuring since the early 1990s. The new policy, including e.g. decentralisation, accountability, school choice and a tax-funded voucher system, has led to an expanding “school market” .This article explores how upper secondary school principals perceive the increased competition among schools and its impact on their work and the school organisation. The data emanate from interviews with principals at eight schools in five municipalities. The presence of the market in everyday work is perceived as a reality, even if its significance varies. The principals argue that competition increases the staff’s efforts and improves school development. However, it is also perceived as problematic since it causes increased stress and uncertainty. The principals’ professional identities seem to have changed from a pedagogical role to a more economics ditto. Most principals are pragmatic and make efforts to handle the new policy context the best they can.

Gender Patterns and Student Agency: secondary school students' perceptions over time

This article focuses on students perceptions of gender relations in school over the last three decades. The analysis is based on data from three inquiry surveys in Swedish secondary schools from 1974, 1992 and 2005, and compares how young students (a) perceive the behaviour of boys and girls in a classroom situation, (b) value different aspects of family and work in their future lives, and (c) experience the power relations between girls/women and boys/men. The analysis indicates both stability and change. In some aspects, the students perceive certain classroom behaviour as highly gendered, but in parallel there is a trend that girls have taken on a more active role in the classroom and are more career-oriented than before. But even though girls seem to have expanded their positions of agency over time, they have not improved their overall status in the gender hierarchy. Rather, the results point in the opposite direction, since the general opinion is that it is more favourable to be male than female. Compared to 1974, this is expressed even more strongly in 2005.