This article analyses the introduction and, later on, reconstruction of compulsory school technology in Sweden 1975-1995. It focuses on two curricular reforms and different attempts to increase the legitimacy of technology as a school subject. The article builds upon theories from science studies and the term boundary-work is used to analyse the…

"The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" (1906-1907) by Selma Lagerlof and "Scouting for Boys" (1908) by Robert Baden-Powell are characteristic of their time and their respective national and cultural contexts--the Swedish nation state of the early twentieth century and the British Empire. Taking its cue from recent theories on…

In recent decades, the concept of social capital has had an enormous impact on the social scientific debate. Despite its vagueness, the concept expresses a distinction that is of significance for the maintenance and depth of democracy. At the same time, the overarching thesis put forward concerning the fundamental role of associations and social…

In this study, international recommendations for history education issued by UNESCO and the Council of Europe are compared with the construing of history in national guidelines, teachers' perceptions and the results of students' work in history in Sweden. The study shows how history education from the 1960s onwards could be critical and oriented…

The aim of this article is to identify a technical domain of knowledge in the curriculum of the Swedish elementary school and views on elementary school technology of two interest groups--school teachers and engineers. Gradually during the early to mid-1920s there was increased technical content in the Swedish elementary school, if we look at the…

Papers from the proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society was submitted in two volumes. Volume 1 contains papers submitted at the conference held in Sofia, Bulgaria, June 14-17, 2016. Volume 2 contains papers submitted at the 4th International Partner Conference of the International Research Centre…

In 2004, history was introduced by a Parliamentary decision as a new core subject in the Swedish upper secondary school system. This event constituted a major break--history now became a compulsory subject for all upper secondary school students after having been subject to a continually diminishing number of teaching hours ever since 1945. This…

This article analyses reforms addressing and affecting the curriculum and organisation of Swedish upper secondary education over 40 years, up to an initiative by the present non-socialist government. The aim is to analyse the current reform of upper secondary education and relate it to previous reforms during a 40-year period in terms of…

This article presents a brief analysis of teacher education in five European countries: Italy, Germany, England, Sweden and Finland. In the post-industrial world, the sense of teaching has profoundly changed, influenced by a rapidly evolving socio-economic context. The responses given by each country are different, but two tendencies emerge: on…

This review of 30 years of research in small rural schools in Sweden includes projects focusing directly upon rural education and rural schools, reports from national agencies, and official statistics. Two main foci were found: (i) the quality of education and pupils' academic performance, and (ii) the economics of running schools in different…

The paper analyses quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) policy and activities in mandatory schooling at national level in Sweden. Two studies are reported: a textual analysis of national policy documents concerning QAE, and an interview study conducted with national policy brokers. Questions addressed are: What are the characteristics of Swedish…

This paper examines the increasing interest of Swedish schools to construct, analyze, assess and control the individual progression and social integration of students using biographical registers. I argue that this tendency--involving biography as a form of governance--can be seen as a revision of early 20th-century biographical research by the…

Indeed, for more than a century, most Western nations have made school compulsory in order to teach all children, and it was widely believed that compulsory schooling would eradicate illiteracy and guarantee progress. However, this approach was questioned by a historical study of elementary schooling. Egil Johansson explained in his study how all…

This paper is the result of an explorative study, based on the in-depth meta-analysis of a corpus of contemporary pieces of research in which there was found clear references to veteran theatre teachers talking about their work. Following that, extracts from interviews of experienced theatre teachers were analyzed. The major aim of this study is…

This article explores the development and effects of Swedish post-war policies on the emergence of a research base for teacher education. From 2001 onwards, it is possible to undertake research and postgraduate studies within teacher education in Sweden, which prior to the 2001 reform was not possible. The article draws on a variety of frameworks…