What is the meaning of special education? Problem representations in Swedish policy documents: late 1970s–2014

In Sweden, as in many other countries, inclusion has been on the political agenda for a long time and has served as a blueprint and guiding principle for practical work in school. However, inclusive education has, by and large, been associated with special education measures, which seriously limit the chances of achieving the vision of inclusion. In this article, we analyse how the meaning of special education is constructed in policy documents from four distinct time periods of Swedish education policy from the late 1970s to 2014. The paper draws on an approach to scrutinise the process of problematisation in public policy-making. Based on the analysis, we argue that there are prospects of a hegemonic intervention regarding the meaning of special education during later years in Swedish education policy, emphasising an individual perspective and individual deficiencies. In contrast to inclusive ambitions, this perspective advocate segregated support measures. Finally, based on previous research and tendencies within the field, we present arguments in the concluding discussion why this hegemonic intervention in education policy also might attract the support of school personnel at the local school level and some potential consequences of the expansion of special education in Sweden.     

Did the Vikings really have helmets with horns? Sources and narrative content in Swedish upper primary school history teaching

The topic of this article is history education in upper primary school. Traditionally, the history subject has had a narrative orientation at this school level in Sweden, but it is also pattern that is discernible internationally. The recent Swedish upper primary school syllabus places more emphasis on the procedural aspects of the subject. In Sweden, the teachers are in the process of changing their history teaching accordingly. What happens in such a process? This is the broad issue discussed in this article. The empirical material is a series of lessons on the subject of ‘Vikings and Sources’ in a 4/5 grade class in a Swedish upper primary school. In the course of the study it becomes apparent how strong the tradition of a narrative history subject is and how difficult it can be for a class teacher to deal with a concept such as sources from a disciplinary perspective. Instead, it tends to be addressed in more general terms.     

Challenges and dilemmas – a conceptual approach to children’s diversity in school

The aim of this article is to discuss and problematise issues related to conceptual approaches to differences among children in the world of school education. The article is based on results from a Swedish study on categorisation of schoolchildren’s ‘problems’ from a historical perspective. Its central questions are: ‘What concepts are used to formulate children’s various educational needs, and how can these concepts be understood?’ Supported by an ecological analysis model, complex situations in the categorisation and problem-solving process are clarified. Using terminology to refer to pupils’ diverse abilities and needs involves aspects of categorising. An understanding of how this works may bring more profound knowledge of obstacles to children’s learning. The categorisation process illustrates effects both at individual level and more generally. Categorisation may be regarded as a useful practice for understanding children’s differences better, and thereby finding the best ways of responding to them. However, categorisation based on abilities and needs also adds a challenge to the important idea of inclusion. The article discusses categorisation as a basis for educational problem-solving and the implications of categorising children’s varying abilities and experience of school education. The theoretical premises enhance understanding of the dynamic nature of terminology usage, and thus future prospects of meeting challenges that may arise, in schools.     

Personalised learning as repressive tolerance: a comparative ethnographic analysis from research in three Swedish schools

The idea of personalised learning is built upon a liberal tradition that values tolerance in enabling the process of human autonomy. In this article, we elaborate on this notion, its theoretical base and effects on the learning conditions of upper secondary school students. We draw upon data from three different studies of the Swedish upper secondary school. The aim of the article is to elaborate on values that are implemented and how these values affect how the notion of tolerance can be used as a tool to explore and explain the idea of personalised learning. For the purpose of analysis, we use parts of Kyle Moore and Walker's [2011. “Tolerance. A Concept Analysis.” The Journal of Theory Constructing & Testing 5 (2): 48–52] work. Our analysis shows that personalised learning was legitimised in our studied settings, but in its extension it did not benefit and challenge the ongoing learning and development of the students. In fact, tolerance appeared repressive and confirmed status quo.     

Equal Opportunities in Educational Systems: the case of Sweden

Education is stated as a basic right, but school attendance can become a burden for pupils experiencing school failure or difficulties. The aim of this article is to reflect about general and specific factors of the Swedish educational system and to identify facilitators and obstacles to the possibility to offer equal opportunities to all pupils. Findings from research and trends in the official statistics are related to social and educational theories in order to identify their meanings and implications.     

‘If It Ain't True,Then It's Just a Book!’ The reading and teaching of faction literature

This article examines issues related to the reading and teaching of faction literature in school. Faction is defined not only as a literary genre but also as a form of reading applied to the reader. The article discusses young people's encounters with novels ‘based on a true story’ as well as the challenges this means for literature instruction. We also analyse the relationship between teachers' approach to faction literature in the classroom and syllabus formulations regarding appreciative forms of reading. The empirical material mainly consists of instances of teaching in the subject of Swedish from three upper secondary school classrooms. Our analysis suggests three areas in which the students' reading of faction becomes complicated in the way that the text's factual accuracy is often taken for granted. To meet these challenges a reflective literature instruction is required. We also demonstrate that the idea of literature mainly as a source of knowledge of life is strongly advocated in the syllabus.     

Different Methods – Different Results: How the Swedish Results in Mathematics Vary Depending on Methodological Approach

The results for TIMSS population 2 in Sweden indicated that Swedish student achievement in mathematics was average. There were even mass media reports that indicated that Swedish students had some of the lowest results in mathematics. The issue that is addressed in this article is whether the performance of Swedish students is average or even low. To answer this, the basis of comparison between the different countries needs to be discussed. Mass media, for example, based its comparison on all 45 countries participating in TIMSS population 2 and in its national TIMSS report, the Swedish National Agency for Education presented a different selection of countries. The report compared the results of the 25 countries that met the sampling requirements set by the TIMSS International Study Centre. This focuses the discussion on what approaches are used when comparing results from different countries in an international comparative study. In this article the TIMSS results, as presented by the Swedish National Agency for Education, are compared with the results obtained with other methodological approaches. The comparison is based on the importance of three variables for the results of the comparison: equal number of years in school, the selection of countries, and the contents of the textbooks in the different countries. The results indicate that the number of years in school, as well as the content of the textbooks in each country, are important factors when comparing the results for different countries.     

Agents and subjects: schooling and conceptions of citizenship in early nineteenth-century Sweden

This article aims to analyse how the emerging Swedish school system in the early nineteenth century can be understood within the context of a gradual break-up of the estate society and its replacement with a class society in which citizenship was an important foundation. This is done through the discussion of the conceptions of citizenship on two levels. The first is the national level, focusing the national debate on education, and the second is the local level, investigating the local schools and the school setting. The main result is that the conceptions of citizenship in the school context were formed along two major lines: an inclusive social and civil citizenship and an exclusive, active and political citizenship. Consequently, the emerging Swedish school system simultaneously fostered these two citizenship conceptions, which coexisted in an educational system that was able to cast pupils as either subjects (comprehensive citizenship) or agents (designated citizenship).     

Feel the Fear: Learning Graphic Design in Affective Places and Online Spaces

This article explores the idea of pedagogic affect in both onsite and online graphic design learning spaces, and speculates on the role that this affect plays in the formation of the design student. I argue that embodied design knowledge is built by interactions with design professionals, activities that mimic the daily work of designers, and practices of display such as exemplar student work galleries within design schools. Therefore bodies in motion, and the places they move within, take on more importance in the making‐up of a graphic design student than we may expect. This idea has obvious implications for online design learning. Drawing on concepts from both Actor‐Network Theory (ANT) and Non‐Representational Theory (NRT), this article works three empirical instances of affect. The analysis presented is targeted towards exploring the contribution of affect to teaching in onsite and online learning spaces. As the practices described here carry through time and space to other design schools, the findings put forward have implications for a broad suite of practices in design education. Thinking through how affect plays out in the onsite design school points the way towards the creation of more vibrant online learning spaces.     

Somali Swedes’ Reasons for Choosing a Muslim-Profiled School—Recognition and Educational Ambitions as Important Influencing Factors

This article analyzes choice strategies among a group of Somali Swedes at a Muslim-profiled compulsory school. In the Swedish debate these schools are alleged to be divisive, with values incompatible with the goals of Swedish schools. The study explores whether there are other reasons behind school choice than the school’s faith profile, concluding that for the group in question, it is also important to find a school in accordance with high educational ambitions and respect for rather than discrimination toward their faith, culture, and skin color.     

Bad behaviour in school: a discursive approach

Disturbing, problematic, or challenging student behaviour is said to be among the greatest challenges facing today’s school life. However, despite the apparent commonsensical nature of the issue, there is no commonly agreed upon definition for such events, and there is often very thin analysis of what actually becomes disturbed, challenged, or problematised in such instances. In this article, disturbing behaviour is seen as a discursive practice that produces reality; it is a historically and socioculturally formed coming-together of various intersecting power-related discourses that make claims about individuals and contexts. Informed by post-structural approaches, this theoretical article looks at how ideas of disturbing behaviour come to be formed within the discursive environment of school. The article argues that behind the idea of disturbing behaviour are the ideas of a normal developmental course and an idealised student, as well as increasing emphasis on management and measurement in school.     

The assessment of severely intellectually disabled students

In 1995 it became mandatory to establish individual educational plans (IEPs) for children with special educational needs in the Swedish compulsory school. On the basis of the pupils' needs, such a plan should contain information about the pupils' school situation and performance, the class, teaching etc. The aim of this article was to study how special educational needs are defined and described and what support measures the school is suggesting, using IEPs from a sample of Swedish compulsory schools. Our study is based on an analysis of IEPs for pupils with special educational needs in the nine‐year compulsory school in a municipality in northern Sweden. A strategic selection of three compulsory schools was made and we restricted the study to grades 3, 6 and 9. The method used to analyse the IEPs was content analysis. Using different theories within the field of special education and disability studies, we have tried to discern to what extent the problems described, and the proposed measures (intervention), are related to predetermined theoretical models of disability and special needs education. Our analysis indicates that difficulties are predominantly attributed to the pupils' shortcomings and individual characteristics, and the same holds for the recommended measures. Another interesting finding is that a number of the plans were established without involving the parents, and many of them did not even know that their child had an IEP. Finally, we discuss our findings in relation to different research traditions within the field of special education.     

Tolerance of intolerance: values and virtues at stake in education

The article addresses the issue of the tolerance of intolerance in an educational context. It concerns a real case in a Swedish upper secondary school some years ago, when a student was suspended from school owing to his sympathies with Nazi ideas. One hundred and twenty student teachers' responses to this decision were analysed in respect of the idea of toleration as a crucial value and tolerance as a virtue in a liberal democratic society. The main findings show that the suspended student is seen as a democratic risk factor by a majority of the student teachers. On the other hand, those who disagree, maintain that the school's handling of the situation and the attitude towards Sven, the suspended student, could be a democratic risk factor. The findings are discussed in the light of different views of democracy and human rights and of ‘the ethos of the teacher’. The article considers the idea of zero tolerance and maintains that the findings are in line with the related tendency to consider youth as a risk, instead of being at risk.     

Swedes Can’t Swear: Making Fun at a Multiethnic Secondary School

During the last decade, Sweden has witnessed a significant increase in public attention concerning the following interrelated linguistic phenomena: (a) a linguistic style labelled “Rinkeby Swedish,” (b) specific “Rinkeby Swedish words” that have been perceived as disparaging in Swedish public debate, and (c) a specific young male immigrant identity indexed by this linguistic style. Drawing on ethnographically collected data and naturally occurring talk in a multi-ethnic Swedish upper secondary school, this article examines a possible shift in language ideology, whereby tabooed words and urban youth styles are not dismissed by the school institution but are incorporated in teaching activities. Furthermore, it is argued that there are reasons to look for other interactional accomplishments than solely identity in the use of urban youth styles. The article shows how identity may be used as a resource in the construction of social hierarchies as well as interactional enjoyment among some male students.     

运用化归数学思想,把握初中代数基本建构

化归思想是初中代数学习的重要思想,有助于学生完成代数基本建构。基于此,本文在分析化归数学思想内涵的基础上,结合代数问题解答例子从化归思想理解、运用和拓展三方面提出了初中代数教学运用化归思想的方法,为关注这一话题的人们提供参考。     

影响中小学执行力提升的原因及对策

执行力作为学校管理的又一新理念,是决定学校成败的一个重要因素,是学校核心竞争力形成的关键,也是学校竞争力的核心。全文从中小学执行力现状、影响中小学执行力提升的原因及如何提升执行力等方面加以阐述。     

Shared places,separate spaces: constructing cultural spaces through two national languages in Finland

Finland is a bilingual country with 2 national languages, Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish-speaking school institution aims to protect the minority language by maintaining a monolingual school space. In this article, the construction of linguistic and ethnic difference in educational discourse and practice related to the national languages in Finland is analyzed by using discourse analysis, feminist and post-structural theories. By analyzing ethnographic data and public debate, we argue that discursive and material practices related to spatiality have a significant role in constructing difference and otherness in the Finnish school context. Essentialist categories are produced but also contested from the positions within the cultural spaces at school and in society at large.     

Focus group dialogues as a method for identifying a school's developmental needs

In this article a study is presented in which teachers describe the working situation at their school. The aim of the study was to find out in what respects the school needed to be developed. The study was a case study and the method for collecting data was focus group dialogues. All teacher teams at a Swedish secondary school participated. The teacher teams focused on structural problems for the school. When analysing the activity in the team dialogues, problems on the group level also appeared. The necessity of teacher dialogue when initiating school development is observed and the functioning of the group is recognised as important.     

A conflict among geniuses: challenges to the classical paradigm in Sweden, 1828–1832

This article examines challenges to the classical paradigm of education in Sweden that followed in the wake of state-initiated attempts at school reform in the first decades of the nineteenth century. When the internal disputes of the so-called ‘Genius Committee’ resulted in a failure to overcome the increasing divide between reformers, a prolific opportunity to argue the value of practical subjects and natural science arose. This article demonstrates that this conflict over knowledge was characterised by a humanistic consensus that rested on the idea of formal education as well as on the shared commitment to a moral education. As a result, challengers attempted to attribute the same value that gave classical study its supremacy over their rival subjects. The article argues that this aspect of the European educational debates is an overlooked key to understanding the continued relevance of classical education throughout the nineteenth century.     

Parental governmentality: involving ‘immigrant parents’ in Swedish schools

In Sweden, calls for partnership between state institutions and local communities punctuate discussions of a number of areas of public policy. In this article, the discourse of partnership is analyzed in recent developments in Swedish educational policy, and particularly the involvement of ‘immigrant parents’ as partners collaborating with the school. In the article it is argued that, in partnerships between the school and ‘immigrant parents’, the ‘rules of the game’ are most often dictated by one of the partners (i.e. the Swedish school). Here, ‘immigrant parents’ are by various techniques being ‘measured’ and exhorted to adapt to an imagined ‘Swedish normality’, in order to become a ‘responsible’ parent and equal partner.