A Critical Review of Ideology, Policy and Circumstances in the Swedish Context Related to Inclusive Education Organisati
Building on experiences from interventions in schools this chapter will analyse ideologies and socio-cultural values that has influenced – both overtly and subtly – the educational organisation in the Swedish school system, in ways that may thwart the tra
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6. A CRITICAL REVIEW OF IDEOLOGY, POLICY AND CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE SWEDISH CONTEXT RELATED TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION ORGANISATIONAL CLIMATE AND STUDENTS’ WELLBEING
INTRODUCTION
Building on experiences from interventions in schools this chapter will analyse ideologies and socio-cultural values that has influenced – both overtly and subtly – the educational organisation in the Swedish school system, in ways that may thwart the traditionally agreed-upon humanistic values of fairness and virtue that are although in a way still supposed to be in force. These forces that influence the learning environments of schools and classrooms therefore may counteract the efforts to build developmentally healthy and effective learning environments. THE SWEDISH CONTEXT OF EDUCATIONAL REFORMS AND EMERGENT CRISIS
The Swedish educational system has been reformed several times in the last 20 years with the aim to make it more effective. The reforms have been inspired partially by the same international trends that have been applied in other educational systems and are characterised by standards, choice, competition and testing (Diefenbach, 2009; Allodi Westling, 2013b). In another sense the application of some principles of New Public Management and free market has been particularly radical in Sweden, for instance regarding its decentralisation to the municipalities and the rapid introduction of a tax-revenue funded Independent School system. These reforms, according to several analyses, have led to probably unintended but nonetheless negative consequences for the functioning of the whole educational system (Levin, 2013, Allodi Westling, 2013b). The reforms were introduced with strong determination and with the intention to make the system more effective. However according to several official analyses, the educational system in Sweden has become less equitable (OECD, 2103; OECD, 2014) with significant changes during the last ten years. The students’ achievements according to several assessments show a large decline in Literacy, Numeracy and Science. Consequently,
F. Dovigo (Ed.), Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Practices, 97–116. © 2017 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
M. Westling Allodi
the Swedish educational system has been strongly recommended to implement further new reforms in order to address these issues and improve its equity and performance (OECD, 2015). Considering that many ambitious, well-intentioned and comprehensive reforms have been introduced previously, which have nevertheless resulted in the present poor outcomes, it may be important to understand the possible effects of the previous attempts, and furthermore to make good use of these insights when planning new initiatives and improvements. AIMS AND OUTLINE OF CHAPTER
The aim of this text is to contributing to shed light on processes that seem to have emerged in this educational context, looking at observed phenomena and tendencies, and relate them to ideologies, social and cultural values and goals, which may have been incorporated in various parts o
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