Concluding Reflections
In the introduction we asked what has become of
the vision of a school for all in Sweden. We also looked back and asked what
the practical implications of the school for all vision really were. Did it
ever become realised or was it just political rhetoric? Does the moral ideal of
democracy which is salient in a school for all, still underpins the educational
policy, and can one conclude that educational practice in the 2010th
decade apprehends students’ diversity as an asset in teaching and that it is
important that students participate and learn in school out from their own
conditions? Finally we asked if it could be stated that a school for all still
holds true but is instead fulfilled through strengthening the rights of each
child in school.
The
historical review demonstrates that the idea of a nationwide school system for
all has roots far back in the 17th century and that steps were taken
at points, e.g. 1649 with the proposal of a three level school system and 1842
with the folk-school reform, but that it was not until the 1960s and the
economic upswing after world war II that it became possible to finance an
expansion that included all children and thus also the building of new school
houses and other supporting resources. After world war II the moral ideal of
democracy was in focus and although the different political parties had not at
all been in agreement in the preparatory work of the comprehensive school
reform they after its decision became almost strangely devoted to the ideal of
a school for all which should foster the students into democratic citizenship
and give them a better life. This is, we argue, the manifest result of the
school for all vision the creation of a nationwide school system on the
foundation of equity and democracy. Every child has today access to this system
and the great majority of students like it in schools and they think that they learn
there and get relevant support from their teachers. And furthermore almost
every child belongs to the system of primary and secondary schools, very few
per cents reside in special schools.
In today's
neo-liberal educational policy the concept a school for all is not a part of
the rhetoric. However, equivalence in terms of equal opportunities for all
students to education regardless of geographic, social or cultural affiliation is
still on the agenda. What is not, however, pointed out in today's political
rhetoric or in the concrete policy measures is the moral ideal of democracy
that sees the differences as an asset in teaching and in which everyone will
participate according to their circumstances and where inclusion, equity and
participation is the key words. All students’ rights to receive support and
assistance, regardless of conditions and capacity to achieve the school's
knowledge objectives are emphasized. But that the goals could be adapted to
students' conditions and that the differences could also be seen as an asset is
difficult to read into the policy that is advocated. The increased focus on
children's rights in a legal meaning also raises concerns in relation to the
concept of a school for all. Is there a shift in the perception of students as
right holders in a moral sense to right holders also in a legal sense? If so how
does this affect the view of a school for all? Is there a risk that schools and
students and their parents are seen as counterparts instead of partners and
that the distance between them will increase?
One could
argue that the moral ideal of democracy underpinned the interest of the inner
life of schools that was significant for the Swedish educational policy work
during the 1970s. The imperative from this ideal was to make it manifest in the
educational practise. As in many other countries this resulted in research
about the culture of schools and the resistance to change. Local school
development projects increased as a result of this interest. From this research
we can learn that schools are organisations embedded in an educational
institution loaded with traditions. To make life change for teachers and
leaders as well as for students in these organisations long-term improvement
work is required focusing both at the teachers’ (and students’) views as well
as practical business of teaching and learning. The focus on local school
development could be said to maintain such a long-term practical improvement
work. With the new agenda introduced by the new liberal Alliance the interest of
this inner-life has taken on a different turn. The Alliance could be said to
still keep an interest of what is happening in schools, but instead of foster
local improvement work to solve difficult issues, they make regulations and
laws from it, and expand the control system, in line with other countries in a
manner that make them appear like transnational technologies. The difficulties
is solved on a juridical level and on a control level instead of a social level
which e.g. the former Agency of School Development did by fostering dialogues
with school leaders and stakeholders in the municipalities.
The
intensive use of a juridical and control level in Swedish educational policy
and practise shall be understood in its historical context. Those levels have
as the historical review shows always been of great importance. In fact, the
state’s relationship to local school actors has varied during the decades. As
we have told there was a period in the 1950s where control was intensified with
more testing. In the 1970s and 1980s there was a period when instead the local
responsibility was focused. And now in the NPM-era the state and its
control of the local actors again are intensified and this time with global
economic organisations at their back. We argue that this control regime in fact
overshadows the learning, equity and democracy agenda that still are there in
the curriculum. The PISA focus on reading, maths and science put important
values of democracy, aesthetics and social sciences in the back.
The meaning
of a school for all was during the years after the comprehensive school reform
in 1962 elaborated in a homogeneous society where national unity, a common
curriculum and strong national governance was necessary to raise the quality of
the school system. Today, we have a multi-ethnic society and a strong commercially
driven youth culture, along with a digital, virtual reality that takes much of
the students’ time. Not all people consider school as a way to a better life. In
this context, the idea of school for all should continually confront itself
with the new societal challenges, and revise its content and methods in a way
that helps its essential qualities to survive. So far, the tools provided by
the transnational technologies, have been of no help to solve the heavy
challenges that our teachers are confronted with every day. The key word to
make the ideal of school for all survive is flexibility. Therefore we argue
that the national directives should not be too strict. Decentralisation and a
local space for development is a step in the right way. It is important to
encourage teachers’ professionalism and creativity, broaden the scope of
quality and not putting it in chains by controlling quantitative learning
outcomes. Another key word is confidence, a word that does not seem to exist in
the economists’ vocabulary.
We argue
that the interest from the state and society of what is going on in school is
one part of the confronting way to renew and improve the vision of a school for
all. According to Luhmann (Seidl & Becker, 2005) organisations are basically closed
systems and they have to be challenged in order to improve. From the research
on the inner lives of school we know that it is difficult for principals and
teachers to invent problems and take actions outside the meaning of that which
is constructed inside the organisation. This means that one cannot just inform
schools and leave the responsibility with them. Instead of an intensive use of transnational
technologies in the form of legislation and controlling, we argue for an
informative technology combined with a rather intensive interaction and
communication between school organisations and state organisations an
interaction in which people meet and communicate in a way that creates
communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) where both parties can learn and
improve their respective residence of organisation. This will not only improve
school organisations but also state organisations or those authorities
responsible for school review information and improve strategies. In the
NPM-era of economic interest this perhaps appears costly and unnecessary since
one can think that the information already are there and it is just to follow
it and correct the organisation of schools.
We suggest
the this combination of an informative technology that review school results
combined with an interaction and communication strategy could constitute a new
vision where school organisations become fundamental parts of the society; a
vision where schools are not just organisations where all students can acquire
knowledge and skills to join the work force, but where schools are the very
residence for cultivating human ideals as democracy and equity. Long ago the
vision of creating a nation-wide school system where all children could enter
seemed ambitious and costly. In a similar way this vision of a society-wide
school system where many societal organisations interact and learn can seem grandiose
and resource consuming. But it is worth to hold as a vision to strive for,
because the vision of a school for all is under serious threat. There is no
way back. We need a new vision that takes us into the future, a vision that will
take the ideal of a school for all and a school for every child to a school for
the whole of the society to engage in.
Va kul att läsa den här texten med tanke på de samtal jag hade möjlighet att delta i när jag var med på det första Nordnet seminariet! Jag tycker det är en viktig text ni bidrar med, och den början till en vision för framtiden som formuleras i sista raden känns oerhört central idag!Den skola vi har nu, vilken av en kollega (Marie Tanner) beskrivits som "en skola för varje" är inget värdigt alternativ till visionen om en skola för alla.
SvaraRaderaGårdet att förstå visionen som vi försöker formulera i slutet tycker du?
SvaraRaderaJag tycker absolut att det går att förstå visionen. Men neoliberalerna kommer alltid att se skolan i ljuset av diverse jämförande studier, där Sydkorea och snart även Kina når högt. Kan denna vision mätta även en neoliberal?
SvaraRaderaRoligt att få läsa!