“Great Location, Beautiful Surroundings!” Making Sense of Information Materials Intended as Guidance for School Choice

Abstract

Following international trends during the last decades of the 20th century mechanisms of marketization, freedom of choice, and competition were introduced into the Swedish compulsory school system, thereby transforming it into one of the most de‐regularized in the world. The overall aim of the pilot study presented here is to shed light on a phenomenon that has occurred as an effect of the shift in policy—namely on the information or marketing material which is directed from schools to families as guidance for school choice. The primary aim is to generate a conceptual basis for further research into the choice‐related communication between schools and families. The information material analyzed consists of three annual volumes of a brochure, produced by the local education office in a middle‐sized Swedish city area. Aside from picturing the content in terms of 145 symbolic expressions, sorted into 10 thematic categories, the results show how the material can be understood as made up of emotional imageries that give little guidance but that carry salvation stories on education and learning that have a transformative potential, as it opens up a new space for the governing of institutions and individuals.

Keywords:

• school choice
• school information material
• school marketing

Notes

¹ Seven schools were disregarded for only being mentioned in one of the annual volumes. These schools were either shut down or established during the period 1993–2005.

² Both steps of reduction were conducted to maximize the variance depicted in the symbols and themes, hence we created a new symbol/theme rather than forced expressions/symbols together.

³ Because of the subjective nature of the inductive interpretations we refrain from reporting any frequencies or proportions in the presentation. Even though it might be considered interesting, the numerical outcome is not directly relevant for the aim of this study.