Inclusion, Exclusion, or Segregation: Parents' Position in Education in Sweden

• In Event: The Nordic Model of Education and Home-School Relations

Abstract

In Sweden, along with the changing governing model in terms of centralization, decentralization, marketization and privatization of education, as well as the performative turn in education (Lindblad, 2018), the overarching values of the Nordic model such as social justice, equality, equal opportunities, integration, and democratic participation for all students irrespective of social and cultural background and abilities (Imsen, Blossing, & Moos, 2017; Lundahl, 2016) have been challenged. These challenges have also affected the relationship between home and school, and parents' position in education. The presentation aims to describe, analyze and discuss how the Swedish parents’ position in education has constructed and reconstructed in educational policy and practices over time. This presentation addresses parents' position regarding (a) how their role and responsibilities in education have been defined and argued for in the policy documents; (b) what their real position in education has been.

The analysis is based on a review of selected central educational policy documents such as School Laws, government official report series (e.g. SOU), and national curricula from various periods, and relevant research literature in the Swedish education context (e.g. Bergnehr, 2015; Dahlstedt, 2009; Erikson, 2004; Gu, 2017; Kristoffersson, 2008; Smith, Helgertz & Scott, 2016). The preliminary analysis reveals that the rationales behind the policies are linked to the various phases of Swedish educational reforms. Since the decentralization, marketization and privatization reforms, more demands have been placed on parents’ own responsibility for and ability of engaging themselves in education. Ideas about parents’ involvement have shifted focus more to parents’ support role in children’s learning outcomes and academic performance in relation to the curriculum goals. Gaps exist between the rhetoric of school-home partnership and collaboration and the reality of parental involvement. The issues of segregation between different parent groups and the exclusion of parents due to their different socio-economic and cultural/linguistic conditions have increased.

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Author

• Limin Gu, Umeå University