Combating low completion rates in Nordic welfare states: policy design in Norway and Sweden

ABSTRACT

Low completion rate in upper secondary education is seen as a big problem in the Nordic countries. School failure has shown to dramatically increase the risks for unemployment and labour market exclusion with severe consequences for both society and the young person. This paper analyses national policy measures to combat low upper secondary education completion rates in Norway and Sweden, often regarded as representing a social democratic welfare model and a universalistic transition regime. The analysis demonstrates that although this issue has received extensive political attention, the two countries display somewhat different policy designs. The Norwegian approach is proactive and targeted while the Swedish policy is more general and directed towards reforming organisational structures in upper-secondary education. In sum, our analysis demonstrates that national governance structures shape and influence policy design in the context of an increasingly diversified Nordic social democratic welfare state regime.     

Diversifying Likes

News sharing and commenting are arguably some of the most interesting aspects of how news is consumed and interacted with online. Finding answers to questions regarding who engages in these ways, what type of content gets engaged with, and why certain items are shared and commented upon but not others, are of the utmost importance for those who want to navigate the complex echo system of online news flows. The paper at hand addresses the latter two of the three posed questions—what gets shared or commented on, and why—in the context of the social networking site Facebook. Detailing the influences of Reactions, an expansion of the “Like” button, launched during the spring of 2016, the presented analysis finds that Reactions such as “Love”, “Haha”, “Wow”, “Sad” and “Angry” emerge as somewhat unpopular compared to the original “Like” functionality. Moreover, while more positive forms of Reactions appear to have a hampering effect on the willingness of news consumers on Facebook to engage by means of sharing and commenting, more negative varieties of Facebook Reactions appear to yield adverse influences.     

瑞典高等教育改革历程述评

文章从瑞典高等教育改革历程出发,对每一时期改革的背景、动因与主要内容进行了阐述,并予以扼要地分析,以揭示瑞典高等教育改革的特征。     

Equivalence and performance gaps in Swedish school inspection: context and the politics of blame

This article analyses and critically discusses how context is relevant when constructing and upholding an equivalent education for all within the neo-liberal educational regime of marketisation and accountability. At the centre of the article is a study of national school inspection reports in four municipalities in Sweden, exploring performance gaps, equality and justice in an educational system, that for decades has emphasised universal welfare, justice and equality. By drawing on the concept of ‘the politics of blame’, findings show that accountability and blame are constructed in complex ways. Although teachers and schools are blamed for low expectations with little contextual consideration by Swedish Schools Inspectorate, local governments are blamed for not redistributing resources. This can both challenge and strengthen the contemporary regime in governing education.     

瑞典职业教育与普通教育的相互沟通

职业教育与普通教育相互沟通、相互渗透是战后瑞典教育发展的重要特征。高中职业教育机构与普通教育机构一体化，职业教育内容与普通教育内容相互渗透是瑞典职业教育与普通教育相互沟通的主要方式。     

瑞典小学全国统考引起的学生考试焦虑研究

近年来瑞典教育在国际排名中呈现下降趋势。为此,瑞典已推出多项旨在提高教育质量的改革措施,最新的改革是在小学教育中实施全国统一考试。标准化考试的一个可能的不利因素是带给学生考试焦虑,而考试焦虑可能影响考试成绩。本研究选择了三年级的40名学生样本,运用现代化的标准测试来测量学生在数学和瑞典语两门学科的考试焦虑。结果表明,考试焦虑与瑞典语的成绩不佳有关;数学笔算成绩与考试焦虑有着显著的相关关系。     

Double gestures of inclusion and exclusion. Notions of learning outcomes,autonomy, and informed choices in Swedish educational and vocational guidance

Taking as its vantage point a citation from the critical educationalist Thomas Popkewitz, “double gestures of inclusion and exclusion,” the aim of this article is to describe and contextualize the project of inclusion in Swedish educational and vocational guidance, and to identify and to analyze the potentially excluding discourses that may be inherent in that project. Empirically, the article starts with an account of how career counselors describe the desired learning outcomes of their professional activities. The accounts are given in interviews where they comment on the conditions for migrant youth in the transition from school to work, and the professional considerations that follow from these conditions. Among these desired learning outcomes, learning to be an autonomous individual capable of informed choosing is the most central. The emphasis of autonomy and informed choosing is in several ways related to the goal of work life and societal inclusion; on the other hand, a perceived lack of autonomy during the process of choosing secondary education is allegedly ascribed to the category of immigrants, and the immigrant condition. Thus, in the project of inclusion, a potentially excluding way of describing the migrant other is articulated, and “the double gestures of inclusion and exclusion” are hence performed. Still, it is also held that the pursuit of autonomy – as an end goal for the counseling and guiding process – is not unconditional, and it is recognized that certain conditions call for the development of other counseling strategies and learning outcomes.     

The Internet as a source of information about sexuality

To use the Internet for sex educational purposes and for sex information has been recognised by prior research as benefits of the technological development and important areas to investigate, but few empirical studies have so far been conducted. The purpose of this study was to identify those who use the Internet to seek information about sexual issues and to examine the reasons for using the Internet for this purpose. A total of 1913 respondents completed an online Swedish questionnaire about Internet sexuality and the 1614 who reported using the Internet for sexual purposes were selected for analysis in the current study. More than one-half of these respondents claimed to use the Internet to seek information about sexual issues. The results showed that men and women of all ages used the Internet for this purpose, suggesting that the need for sexual education persists even in the adult years. The reasons for seeking information were primarily to get knowledge about the body, about how to have sex, and out of curiosity. Knowing who seeks information about sexuality on the Internet and the reasons why may be helpful in identifying the needs of different groups of individuals as well as tailoring the information provided, both online and offline.     

瑞典学习圈对我国农村成人教育的启示

学习圈是由成人自发组织的学习小组,也是瑞典成人教育中常见的一种形式。它的高效、灵活、低成本的运行模式有力地推动了瑞典成人教育的发展。本文详细阐述了瑞典学习圈的特点,分析了当前我国农村成人教育的现状及面临的挑战。最后,文章结合瑞典学习圈成功的经验和我国实际情况,针对我国农村成人教育存在的问题,为促进我国农村成人教育发展提供参考意见。