Teachers' Experiences with School Choice: Clashing Logics in the Swedish Education System

Abstract

This paper explores the school choice reform in Sweden, a country where a drastic shift in education policy has taken place that includes fast expansion of market solutions and strong state support for competition. Although there are studies examining the school choice reform, few focus on the effects of this reform from a teacher perspective, especially so in the context of Sweden. To this end, this paper examines how Swedish upper secondary teachers in independent (private) and public schools experience their work in relation to school choice reform. This study uses qualitative interviews of 58 teachers from five municipal and three independent upper secondary schools. Its theoretical framework relies on Freidson's distinction between the logic of the profession, the bureaucracy, and the market. The findings indicate that the traditional position of teachers-a position that must negotiate the tension between the logic of the profession and the logic of the bureaucracy-is now in fact challenged by the logic of the market. This study argues that values linked to the logic of the market are imposed on the teachers, and these market values clash with the teachers' values, values based on the logic of the profession.

Educational marketization the Swedish way

“…Free school representatives tend to be more positive than teachers in public schools, and school leaders tend to accept and adapt to the market situation more readily than their co-workers. However, there seem to be few expressions of collective resistance by teachers and other staff to the numerous forms of education's marketization (Holm and Lundström 2011, Lundström and Parding 2011.…”

Performative Technology Intensity and Teacher Subjectivities

“…Of particular interest here is how such reforms have contributed to a form of marketization of the school system (e.g., Holm & Lundström, 2011;Lundahl, Erixon Arreman, Holm, & Lundström, 2013). In fact, following the free school choice reform and the establishment of a number of new schools and education organizers, a market for school choice has emerged (e.g., Erixon Arreman & Lundström & Parding, 2011;Lundahl et al, 2013). The voucher system has been important in this sense, implying that schools-regardless of whether they are public or independent-are paid in relation to the number of pupils that they are able to attract (see, e.g., Erixon Arreman Lundahl et al, 2013;Wermke, 2013).…”

Inauthenticity at Work: Moral Conflicts in Marketoriented Welfare Organizations

“…Common among the other human service workers are similar experiences of a reduced possibility to carry out their work in what they perceive as a moral way, that is, in accordance with values about recognizing the other's life situation, individual capacities, development and needs, because the margin of maneuver in personal encounters has been curtailed by stricter guidelines and goals and more documentation work. Especially the teacher and authority professions have been described as occupations with relatively high levels of discretion and autonomy, which have been diminished by the introduction of market-based governance (Farrell and Morris, 2003;Lundström and Parding, 2011;Taylor and Kelly, 2006). It is likely to think that the ability to authentically realize oneself and one's values at work is connected to at least some measure of discretion in different situations (Sheldon et al, 1997).…”