Eva Andersson

Swedish Adult Education in Transition? Implications of the Work First Principle

The Swedish government recently launched a number of short-term initiatives within the framework of formal adult education. These initiatives are: vocational adult education, education for commercial drivers and apprenticeship education for adults. The new initiatives can be seen as education for the short-term needs of the world of work and we will argue that they can be understood in the light of a changing labour market policy, the so called work first principle’. In the late 1990s, when the Adult Education Initiative was launched, the government stressed that a person needs a general education of at least three years at upper secondary level in order to be employable. The new initiatives illustrate another view of reasoning, i.e. that specific vocational knowledge and contact with the workplaces are crucial for getting a job. The work first principle is reflected in the idea of adult education as a way to satisfy the short-term needs of the labour market having been squeezed into the larger aim of formal adult education as a way to upgrade formal qualifications for the long-term needs of society as a whole. The article identifies and analyses tensions and conflicting interests concerning adult education on a systemic level.

Vocational Education: The Tension Between Educational Flexibility and Predictability

The aim of this chapter is to analyse and problematise the most recent upper secondary school reform in Sweden in the light of European Union policy on lifelong learning. We identify and discuss three tensions that permeate the education system and relate to the motives behind the new educational reform. Firstly, there is a tension between keeping all upper secondary school programmes together versus separating the vocational programmes into their own track. Secondly, there is a tension between general and generic competencies versus work-specific competences. Thirdly, there is a tension between educational flexibility and working life predictability. Our main argument is that the new reform implies a return to a previous school form with two tracks, one preparing for higher education and one for vocational work. Further, that the Swedish upper secondary education is moving away from the lifelong learning policies where vocational education is concerned. The educational life courses for those who have chosen a vocational programme risk being less flexible and more predictable.