Upgraded curriculum? An analysis of knowledge boundaries in teaching under the Swedish subject-based curriculum*

This article offers a contribution to the current debate about knowledge and the curriculum, especially initiated by social realist writers. The enacted Swedish subject-based curriculum for compulsory schooling is examined and is also used as a significant case with the aim of discussing practical implications of social realist claims regarding knowledge and the curriculum. Video-recorded lessons from grade six in six different Swedish schools, in combination with teacher interviews, are explored within the scope of a curriculum theory framework with the purpose of illuminating dominant patterns of knowledge boundaries and knowledge conceptions. The study shows how the Swedish subject-based curriculum frames teaching in a direction where a disciplinary knowledge conception with fixed knowledge boundaries predominates over other knowledge forms. The subject-based curriculum also appears to produce an ‘overloading’ of content, which implies that pupils’ questions and experiences are avoided and dismissed in the teaching practice.     

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.     

Local education authority’s quality management within a coupled school system: Strategies,actions, and tensions

Journal of Educational Change - International policy trends point to an increased focus on student achievement, teaching quality, and school outcomes. Attention to Swedish students’ poor...