This article addresses the fact that local school practices in Sweden today seem to be under constant change as a consequence of the ongoing and forceful neoliberalisation of society that has been going on for about three decades. The pressure on teachers and school leaders has increased due to school rankings and quality assessment has become an…

Having a job, or being employed, is associated with a number of positive effects. Although policies in Sweden support the right of people with disabilities to work and highlight access to employment as a priority, this group of people continues to lose out in employment against other citizens. However, little is known about actions or initiatives…

This article is the first of four articles exploring democratic schools co-founded by teenage students in Norway and Sweden. Our larger project explores the relationship between democracy in education and educational dialogism. Both democracy in education and educational dialogism are partially rooted in the idea that education should be a…

This paper investigates trends in the study of Modern languages or second foreign languages (SFLs) in Swedish lower secondary school between 2000 and 2018. Over the last decades, SFLs, i.e. French, German and Spanish, have been the target of several policy measures as a response to a declining interest. However, few reports on their impact have…

This article discusses dis/ability and physical education teacher education (PETE). The aim is twofold. First, I explore how dis/ability is problematised in PETE syllabi from nine Swedish universities. Bacchi's "What's the problem represented to be?" approach for analysing policy texts is used. The centre of attention thus shifts from a…

Purpose: This paper examines how vocational civics teachers navigate structural constraints and their understanding of the challenges involved in preparing vocational students for democratic citizenship. Design/methodology/approach: Using a discursive psychological approach to analyse interview material, the study discusses identified discourses…

This article discusses young people's transitions from school to work at a time when educational systems have become more closely connected to the economy than ever before. The serious situation of high unemployment, unstable employment conditions and poverty among young people and young adults in Europe is highlighted. Using Sweden as an…

This paper provides evidence on the sources of differences in inequality in educational scores and their evolution over time in four European countries. Using Programme for International Student Assessment data from the 2000 and the 2006 waves, the paper shows that inequality decreased in Germany and Spain (two "decentralised" schooling…

The main aim of the study is to explore the role of self-assessment in EFL learning in developing lifelong language learning skills and in furthering the development of more comprehensive and thereby fairer assessment practices. The study explores how students perceived their own general and specific writing abilities in relation to syllabus goals…