Educational discourse is becoming increasingly globalized. This trend is particularly pronounced in the area of assessment, where notions of accountability, comparability, and competition have become prevalent in many countries. Scholars have critiqued this trend. They contend that global assessment discourse provides educators with…

Starting from theoretical issues concerning places for children and from historical studies of childhood and education, the present article deals with the history of the school playground in a Swedish context. The focus is on a school playground debate in the 1970s, in which school playgrounds were the subject of lively discussion and the object…

The article offers a comparative perspective on how educational policy is influenced by two key phenomena that sent something akin to shockwaves through the Western world, and that in both cases highlighted basic deficiencies within the school system. The case of Norway and Sweden in particular, as well as the role of new technology, is examined.…

The question of what role free schools should perform in the Swedish educational system has been a contested subject between three ideological, theoretical, political and policy tenets. The first, "contribution to pedagogical diversity in a controlled school market" reflects a traditional social democratic view. The second,…