The Nordic countries are often perceived as a coherent group representing the Nordic model of welfare states, with a strong emphasis on the public provision of universal welfare and a strong concern with social equality. But today we see a change in the Nordic model as part of a global knowledge economy. The aim of this article is to examine…

Homeschooling is legal and growing in many countries but is virtually forbidden by law in Germany and a few others. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has reviewed and upheld this ban. Is home education a human right? How do these courts employ their jurisprudence of proportionality to find banning home education does not violate relevant…

This study considers the extensive critique of the impact of the "market" or "neoliberal" model on learning and its outcomes in the light of alternative models. The purpose is to consider the potential impacts of the market on learning and its outcomes and to contextualise critique by considering alternative coordination…

This article considers the place of theory within education in two contexts -- Sweden and the UK -- and advances the argument that both governments and academics themselves have contributed to a 'theoryless' education. Examples are offered from the fate of education science in Sweden and, in the UK, from responses to the Research Excellence…

During the last several decades, educational reform in Sweden has been at once contentious, fast paced, and uneven as control of Parliament and educational policy shifted between left- and right-wing political factions. These political power shifts within Parliament created tension between national and local municipal governments and provoked…

The author, a former headteacher and now a county councillor, argues that the structural changes to the education system put in place in the first weeks of the new government in the summer of 2010 will exacerbate the gap between the highest and lowest achieving schools, will destabilise the state-funded education system, will expose it to…

In this paper the authors focus on the consequences of economies and cultures of speculation in the field of education. Education is one of the arenas where the logics of speculation are being played out. It is argued that the major shifts in educational policy over the past decades in Sweden derive from what Ian Baucom aptly called…

Examines the history of Swedish teacher education, looking at a new teacher education that began in 1988 for elementary and middle school teachers educated to teach grade 1-7. The article focuses on four paradigms (traditional craft; academic; progressive, critical-social; and personalistic), and it discusses teacher education regulated and…

Describes the 1968 initiative in Sweden to establish a national continuing education program and its lack of government support under the current administration. Suggests that the program was never comprehensively implemented, and argues that these policy shifts present education policy as an arena for ideological struggle. (40 citations) (MAB)

Although young children have no influence on the political process, they do have ardent advocates in Canada, Sweden, and the United States. Decision makers and advocate groups in the three countries, however, differ rather markedly, with Canada taking a middle course between the factionalized United States and the highly integrated Sweden. In the…

This essay explores issues of higher education leadership, accountability and relationship with outside influences in a critique of recently proposed Swedish legislation on higher education. The paper hypothesizes that the ideal is a body of professionals as independent and responsible through their own internal professional norms. The paper…

Provides an overview of the policy, since the 1950s, of regionalization in Swedish higher education. Identifies three key decision-making processes during the period and investigates each with respect to the role of analysis in politics. Summarizes findings and discusses their implications. (MH)

Nineteen articles on the status of the relationship among educational research, policy, and practice around the world are collected in the 1985 edition of the "World Yearbook of Education." Contributors address the development of national policies on educational research in countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and…

This paper reports the results of research examining the long-term success of Sweden's educational reforms. The paper's first section describes the Swedish educational system's structure, noting the roles played by the national government, local governments, and the National Board of Education. The second section of the paper looks at Sweden's…

The educational surveys of which some account is given in this bulletin do not by any means represent all the foreign investigations that have been made; it is believed, however, that they will serve to acquaint American students of education with certain foreign types, and at the same time throw some light on the history of surveys and of…