Neoliberalisation and educational reforms: impacts on teachers in a single school context

ABSTRACT

Similar to many countries in the Western world, educational reforms in Sweden have dramatically changed the educational system in the last few decades. The two reforms that we address in this paper concern “The Career Services for Teachers Reform” and “Teachers Salary Boost” which were implemented at the national level in Sweden in 2013 and 2017, respectively. In this ethnographic study we focus on the design features of these two contemporary reforms and how they impact on both the social and educational life of teachers and school leaders at a secondary high school. However, this change in organisational logic was not only a major digression from the academic tradition and its traditional character of “merit before birth”. Due to design features within these reforms, the door to nepotism, real or imagined, was now wide open. Moreover, in the same way as these reforms represent something new to Swedish education, and to the teaching profession in particular, it is just one more step on a road already mapped out via the ongoing neo-liberalisation of society at large.

KEYWORDS:

• Teachers
• school leaders
• neo-liberalisation
• Sweden
• working conditions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In fact, we have empirical data from discussions inside the Swedish house of parliament that strongly supports this claim. But, for ethical reasons, we cannot use it.

2 Traditionally, in Sweden, teachers had the possibility to get a formal appointment as Lecturer even if they did not teach in higher or further education.

3 In Swedish “licentiatexamen” which actually is a bit more/higher than a Master.

4 As well as the large quantity of research that has followed in the same vein.