Guadalupe Francia

Dilemmas in the Implementation of Children's Right to Equity in Education in the Swedish Compulsory School

In order to illustrate and discuss the impacts of neo-liberal educational policies on equity, this article analyses the effects of different kinds of decentralisation strategies on the implementation of childrens right to an equitable education in Sweden. It begins with a comprehensive overview of the changes implemented in the Swedish compulsory school system during the last two decades. It analyses the processes of transfer of authority and responsibility and discusses the complexity of interpreting these processes in terms of equity. This article examines the complex and contextual nature and consequences of decentralisation and centralisation strategies in order to better understand the implementation of childrens right to equity in school practice. Although this analysis is based on the Swedish experience, it can contribute to a better understanding of the impacts of neo-liberal educational policies on equity in other European contexts.

Children’s right to equitable education: A welfare state’s goal in times of Neoliberalism

This article employs Social Representations Theory as a theoretical instrument to analyse the right of children to an equitable education. It analyses how social representations of students and students’ performances can be used by political actors as an interpretation system to manage contradictions in the equity education policies implemented in Sweden. A textual analysis of website propaganda of eight political parties produced for the Swedish electoral campaign in 2010 is used as research methodology. It is suggested that social representations of students and student performance in the Swedish 2010 electoral campaign function as an interpretation system that enables political parties to deal with the contradiction between the goal of equitable education for all children and the goal of developing diversity and free choice. The absence of a critical perspective about the negative impacts of market-oriented strategies on children’s right to equity characterised the analysed texts. Further, the dominance of representations of students as individuals with a right to an individualised education according to their own capacities, interests, learning times and styles makes it difficult to critically question the neoliberal model based on the vision of “one school for each student.

Education for the other: policy and provision for Muslim children in the UK and Swedish education systems

Abstract The European Convention on Human Rights has been signed by both the UK and Sweden as well as other European states, providing legal justification for accommodating the educational needs of religious minorities. This legal entitlement is explored in the paper, with particular reference to parental choice for schools based on an Islamic ethos. How the UK and Sweden have responded to accommodate the religious convictions of Muslim families is the focus of discussion, drawing on historical and policy backgrounds. The paper also draws on the theoretical work of Kumashiro and the concept of ‘Education for the Other’, examining the positioning of minority groups within the broad context of a multicultural society and the challenge of accommodating religious convictions in a climate of increasing support for cultural assimilation.

Children’s rights and violence : A case analysis at a Swedish boarding school

Drawing on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the article highlights various conceptions of violence at a Swedish boarding school and is based on a critical discourse analysis of different educational and media documents. The investigation indicates that ambitions to protect children from violence need to overcome the dichotomy of private and public in order to protect children affected by violence in the borderland between the private and public spheres.