Academies (and free schools) in England and independent grant-aided schools, "fristående skolor" (or "friskolor"), in Sweden have been the subject of much academic debate, but there is a paucity of comparative research relating to policy development or outcomes. This paper adopts a comparative perspective, outlining the…

In this article, using data from ethnographic research, we try to present some glimpses of the way education is described as an experience and possibility "from below", by pupils who grow up and study in schools in the most segregated and territorially stigmatized suburbs on the outskirts of our major cities. What we feel they describe…

The aim of this article is to outline some major defining aspects of the Swedish controlled school market and to describe and analyze how a number of urban school leaders in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Malmo define, understand, and respond to the competition they see. Based on interviews with school leaders and research on a wide range of…

This article takes as a starting point the segregation of urban areas and discusses schooling in the neighbourhoods typically associated with problems and challenges, in order to explore young people's responses to their schooling and social positions. Such responses include individual acts, such as rejecting further schooling or dismissing the…