This paper discusses a contemporary debate concerning the separation of teaching qua instruction from the social needs of students and the implications that such a bifurcation might have for the overall idea of what a teacher is. Drawing from the work of Rousseau and Arendt, our aim is to argue for the necessity of understanding education as a process of formation, and by doing so, highlighting the importance of establishing trusting intergenerational relationships. Starting with Rousseau’s conception of formation in Emile, we will illustrate how education as formation necessarily entails a process of ethical maturation guided by the educator qua self-sufficient adult. The role of the educator, in this account, moves from a passive to a gradually more active educator as Emile passes from childhood to adolescence. We will then turn to Arendt’s critique of Rousseau’s ‘negative’ education and of the subsequent modern dismantling of adult authority. Having outlined some of the continuities and tensions between Rousseau and Arendt’s understanding of formation we will end this paper by arguing for the importance of appreciating the reciprocity of the teacher-child relation in a contemporary understanding of education.

In this chapter we use the Swedish example of entrepreneurial learning as a springboard to discuss the curious alliance between student-centered progressive education and the economization of education. In doing so we wish to highlight the effects of this alliance on the relationship between teaching and learning and, consequently, on the teacher-student relation. In order to do this, we will first examine the conditions for the economization of contemporary education, and its impact on the teacher-student relation. Having done so, we will turn to progressive education, examining the link between the ideal of student-centeredness and the economization of the role of the student, as well as looking closer at the contradictory figure of the entrepreneurial teacher. The chapter concludes with a discussion on some inherent tensions visible in entrepreneurial learning, being at once an effect of the economization of education and a pedagogical project firmly rooted in progressive ideals. 

In this essay, our point of departure is the tension between the modern idea of childhood associated with the notion of the child as being, and the idea, found in both Rousseau and Arendt, of education as formation and becoming. The idea of children as political actors has become increasingly influential within the contexts of childhood studies, educational as well as child-welfare policies. As a result, in the general understanding of the role of children in society, the conceptual boundaries between adults and children have become blurred. From the point of view of educational philosophy, this is interesting because it highlights the problematic tension between an image of the child as already complete and the foundational idea of education as a process of formation. Using Taika Waititi’s recent film Hunt for the Wilderpeople as an example we aim to illustrate some of the possible consequences of blurring the boundaries between generations and to investigate how this might impact our understanding of education as formation in the making of moral human beings.

In this essay, we argue that Rousseau’s lawgiver is best thought of as a pedagogical fiction. It is fictional as it reflects an idea that is entertained despite its contradictory nature, and it is contradictory in the sense that it describes “an undertaking beyond human strength and, to execute it, an authority that amounts to nothing” (II.7; 192). Rousseau conceives of the social contract as a necessary device for enabling the transferal of individual power to the body politic, for subsuming individual wills under the general will, and for aligning the good of the individual with the common good. For the social contract to be valid, however, it needs to be preceded by a desire to belong to a moral community that can induce people to join willingly, and that will grant legitimacy to the laws established. If the social contract is the machinery that makes the body politic function, the lawgiver is “the mechanic who invents the machine” (II.7; 191). In this paper we will look closer at the pedagogical functions of Rousseau’s mythical lawgiver by first examining the relationship between the social contract, the general will and the lawgiver. Then, we aim to flesh out a pedagogical understanding of the figure of the lawgiver by way of the two educational dimensions of accommodation and transformation. Finally, we will argue for the importance of understanding Rousseau’s lawgiver as a fictional device allowing for the fundamental and enduring educational task of balancing between the preservation and renewal of society. 

This paper argues that Rousseau’s lawgiver is best thought of as a fictional teacher of peoples. It is fictional as it reflects an idea that is entertained despite its contradictory nature, and it is contradictory in the sense that it describes ‘an undertaking beyond human strength and, to execute it, an authority that amounts to nothing’ (II.7; 192). Rousseau conceives of the social contract as a necessary device for enabling the transferal of individual power to the body politic, for subsuming individual wills under the general will, and for aligning the good of the individual with the common good. For the social contract to be valid, however, it needs to be preceded by a desire to belong to a moral community that can induce people to join willingly, and that will grant legitimacy to the laws established. If the social contract is the machinery that makes the body politic function, the lawgiver is ‘the mechanic who invents the machine’ (II.7; 191). In this paper we will look closer at the pedagogical functions of Rousseau’s mythical lawgiver by first examining the relationship between the social contract, the general will and the lawgiver. Then, we aim to flesh out a pedagogical understanding of the figure of the lawgiver by way of the two educational dimensions of accommodation and transformation. Finally, we will argue for the importance of understanding Rousseau’s lawgiver as a fictional device allowing for the fundamental and enduring educational task of balancing between the preservation and renewal of society.

In 1958, Hannah Arendt published “The Crisis in Education” 1 addressing what she considered to be the poor state of contemporary American education. While the causes of this educational crisis were identified as being part of much broader processes of social and political change, education stood out as the social arena where the effects of these transformations were most obvious. The lack of authority in modern societies, in particular, was one of the most manifest symptoms of the crisis in education.. Arendt claimed that this lack of authority eroded the fundamental relation between teacher and student and the mutual trust necessary for safeguarding the social position of the teacher. In this paper, we aim to use Arendt’s concept of authority in order to diagnose a current crisis in Swedish education, and to argue that this may help us understand the role of the teacher from a perspective that is missing in the current debate on Swedish education.

In this article we aim to use the Swedish example of entrepreneurship in education as a springboard to discuss the unexpected alliance between student-centered progressive education and the commercialization of schools. In doing so we wish to highlight the effects of this alliance on the relationship between teaching and learning and, consequently, on the teacher-student relation. In order to do this, we will first examine the conditions for the commercialization of contemporary education, and its impact on the teacher-student relation. We will then turn to progressive education, and examine the curious link between the ideal of student-centeredness and the economization of the role of the student. The article will conclude with a discussion on some inherent tensions visible in entrepreneurial learning, being at once an effect of the commercialization of schools and a pedagogical project firmly rooted in progressive ideals.

In this paper we aim to use the Swedish example of entrepreneurship in education as a springboard to discuss the unexpected alliance between student-centered progressive education and the commercialization of schools. In doing so we wish to highlight the effects of this alliance on the relationship between teaching and learning and, consequently, on the teacher-student relation. In order to do this, we will first examine the conditions for the commercialization of contemporary education, and its impact on the teacher-student relation. Having done so, we will turn to progressive education, examining the curious link between the ideal of student-centeredness and the economization of the role of the student. The paper will conclude with a discussion on some inherent tensions visible in entrepreneurial learning, being at once an effect of the commercialization of schools and a pedagogical project firmly rooted in progressive ideals.

The aim of this article is to contribute to the ongoing discussion on teacher professionalism by analyzing the professional strategies of Sweden’s two teachers’ unions from an organizational perspective. Drawing on institutional theory, the article argues that the teachers’ unions’ focus on strategies of professionalization has as much to do with questions of legitimacy in the eyes of the public, as with any specific effort at transforming the practice of teaching in a professional direction. Against the background of two recent Swedish education reforms, the article shows that the unions are ‘trapped’ within a normative order emphasizing professionalization as the primary way of organizational development and legitimacy, resulting in a need for the unions to adopt professional attributes. In the case of the Swedish unions, this is accomplished through mimetic processes whereby union policies, aimed at the improvement of teaching, are modeled upon the medical profession, regardless of the differences between the technologies and practices of the occupations. In this way, the professional rhetoric of the unions is decoupled from the practice of teaching in order to maximize the public legitimacy needed for improving the declining societal status of teaching.

In this encyclopedia entry, Hannah Arendt's claim that education and politics must be kept apart is considered against the background of a discussion of Arendt's view of the State and its problematic relationship with the Nation.

The suggested system of teacher certification is intended, by the government, to increase the professionalism of teachers and to contribute to the overall professionalization of teaching. However, sociologists of professions claim that professionalism in resent years, as it becomes attached to ever more occupational groups, has become an effective discourse of organizational control used in order to govern deregulated or decentralized systems from a distance. Following this, the article argues that the system of certification is part of an ongoing reprofessionalization of Swedish teachers. As part of the state’s growing number of external control mechanisms surrounding the work of teachers, the system of certification is argued to contribute to a process in which the work of teachers is changed in line with the perceived demands of a knowledge economy in which effectiveness, competition and accountability are central values. As a result, what it means to be a teacher is slowly changing in the process of educational reform, contributing to the uncertainty expressed by Swedish teachers as to what it is they are supposed to achieve.

For a long time, one of the most important tasks for education in liberal democracies has been to foster the next generation in core democratic values in order to prepare them for future political responsibilities. In spite of this, general trust in the liberal democratic system is in rapid decline. In this paper, the tension between the ambitions of liberal-democratic educational systems and contemporary challenges to central democratic ideas is approached by reconsidering Hannah Arendt’s critique of political education. This will be done informed by her analysis of the tension between the concepts of state and nation. By showing how education, depending on its role as a tool of the state or the nation, may be a fundamental requirement for the establishment of a common world or the most efective tool for its destruction, the paper argues for the need to understand Arendt’s educational thinking in light of her wider political analysis. Rather than downplaying the provocative aspects of her critique, the paper argues for the need to use it as a starting point for thinking again how education may become an emancipatory undertaking capable of disarming contemporary threats to human plurality and freedom.

I detta kapitel diskuteras nutida förutsättningar för lärares yrkesutövande i relation till en ökande extern påverkan på svensk utbildningspolitik och vilka konsekvenser detta får för politikers vilja att skaffa sig ökad kontroll över lärares arbete i ett allt mer decentraliserat skolsystem. Dessutom ställs frågan om detta i förlängningen innebär att vad det betyder att vara lärare långsamt håller på att förändras i ett samhälle allt mer präglat av globalisering och marknadsanpassning? Utgångspunkt för diskussionen är det ökade intresse för utbildningspolitiska frågor som varit tydligt, inte minst i Sverige där frågor om skolans otillräcklighet vad gäller exempelvis förmågan att upprätthålla ordning och disciplin varit centrala liksom skolans oförmåga att få eleverna att uppnå de i läroplanerna fastställda utbildningsmålen. Denna utveckling är inte unik för Sverige utan går att finna i flera europeiska länder. I introduktionen till sin bok om den engelska skoldebatten konstaterar utbildningssociologen Stephen Ball; Education has become a major political issue, a major focus of media attention and the recipient of a constant stream of initiatives and interventions from government (Ball 2008, p. 1). Hur kan vi då förstå detta ökande intresse för de utbildningspolitiska frågorna? I takt med framväxten av en allt mer globaliserad världsekonomi och expanderande mellan- och överstatligt samarbete kring en allt större mängd frågor skapas nya förutsättningar för nationalstaternas möjligheter att bedriva politik på egna villkor, vilket får betydelse för hur nationella utbildningssystem styrs och organiseras. Från att ha varit en principiellt nationell angelägenhet har utbildning idag intagit en central roll på agendan hos ett flertal överstatliga organisationer, som exempelvis Organisationen för ekonomisk utveckling och samarbete (OECD) och den Europeiska unionen (EU), med konsekvensen att individuella staters inflytande över utformningen av utbildningspolitiken minskat. Samtidigt har utbildning kommit att knytas allt hårdare till den ekonomiska sfären och betraktas av många som en av de viktigaste produktionsfaktorerna i det globala kapitalistiska systemet. Precis som Ball understryker i citatet ovan, har detta resulterat i ett allt större intresse från politiskt håll att på olika sätt styra och kontrollera detta viktiga konkurrensmedel genom kontinuerliga reforminitiativ. Dessa har till stor del handlat om förändringar av utbildning, organisering och uppföljning av lärares arbete. Få yrkesgrupper har, som Ball (2008) understryker, under senare år utsatts för så många och skiftande reforminitiativ som lärarna, inte bara i Sverige utan också utomlands.

I denna artikel diagnostiserar vi den pågående svenska utbildningskrisen med hjälp av Hannah Arendts auktoritetsbegrepp. Vi argumenterar för att Arendt kan hjälpa oss att se att den svenska utbildningsdebatten vittnar om avsaknaden av ett trovärdigt auktoritetsbegrepp varför debatten fastnar mellan två olyckliga motpoler, en progressiv antiauktoritär bild av utbildning och en traditionell disciplinär bild av utbildning. Problemet med bägge dessa bilder hävdar vi vara att ingen av dem kan förankras i ett trovärdigt auktoritetsbegrepp (vilket Arendt visar att utbildning behöver). Den progressiva modellen misslyckas eftersom utbildning utan auktoritet är avhängig förhandling vilket i sig utesluter den hierarkiska ordning utbildning bygger på. Den traditionella modellen misslyckas eftersom den hänfaller åt disciplin och tvång vilket Arendt hävdar omintetgör en auktoritär relation. Vi visar också hur den svenska progressivismen på oväntade vis gift sig med en marknadslogik genom studentcentrerade projekt som entreprenöriellt lärande.

Syftet med artikeln är att problematisera en yrkeslegitimations eventuella effekter på lärares professionalisering. Artikeln tar avstamp i en diskussion om det professionella arbetets innebörd inom ramen för en transformerad statsapparat och argumenterar för att reformen framförallt bidrar till en diversifiering av läraryrket. Detta leder till att diskussionen om lärarnas professionella framtid inte längre kan föras med utgångspunkt i ett enhetligt lärarbegrepp utan behöver fokusera mer på relationen mellan olika lärarkategorier och hur dessa på olika sätt påverkas av en reform som i sig kan vara såväl professionaliserande som deprofessionaliserande.

The aim of this thesis is to critically investigate and problematize the Swedish Teacher Unions’ use of the concept of professionalism within the political negotiation of how to ascribe meaning and contetnt to the idea of teacher professionalism within contemporary Swedish education debates. Departing from two recent educational reforms – the certification of teachers and the reformation of teacher education – and using theories from the sociology of professions coupled with an institutional approach to the study of organizations this study analyzes how the Teacher Unions construct professional projects in relation to each other as well as in relation to the reforms of the current Ministry of Education. Viewing professionalism as an institutional logic, it investigates the different strategies employed by the two Unions and considers their effects on the overall professional ambitions of Sweden’s Teacher Unions. By doing so it highlights the complexities facing occupational organizations – such as unions – as they engage in political struggles over how the meaning ascribed to concepts like professionalism is negotiated. In this sense, the Unions are to be considered institutional actors using the idea of professionalism in order to promote their own ideas of how the future development of the teaching profession may best serve the interests of their members. The study is based on analyses of public Union documents, as they are considered the best way to access the "public voice" of the two organizations. The primary material consists of referrals in which the Unions respond to the suggestions of governmentally appointed public commissions suggesting how certain political initiatives are to be realized. In addition to these formal statements, debate articles by (primarily) the Union chairs are also included in the analyses in order to provide a sense of how the Unions place their policies in relation to the overall education policy debates of Sweden. The textual analyses draw on the ideas of "policy sociology" as sociological concepts are used to interpret and understand the policies of the Unions. It is not an analysis for policy, in the sense that it is aimed at providing the Unions with strategies for how they are best to accomplish their policy objectives, but rather a critical analysis of the policies they employ and how these can be understood in the context where they arise. A central argument of the study is that the fact that Swedish teachers are organized in two different Unions complicates the formulation of a common professional project on behalf of Swedish teachers in general. This is because the two Unions, though united in their wish to turn teaching into a "proper" profession, are constructing their professional projects from opposing points of departure, resulting in a process of intraprofessional boundary work, originating from the historical tension between different teacher categories. As a result of the internal struggles between the two Teacher Unions the position of Swedish teachers in general becomes weak in relation to national educational policy makers. As the Unions are forced to compete for political influence in order to gain support for their own policies, their professional projects become dependent upon the political system in general. The overall conclusion to be drawn from the study is that the idea of teacher professionalization in the context of Swedish educational policy making is a decidedly political process, somewhat removed or de-coupled from the everyday practice of Swedish teachers. As a consequence, the Unions are, above all, using the concept of professionalism as a symbolic resource by which to create legitimacy for their efforts of increasing the social status of teaching in society.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the professionalization policies of Sweden's teachers' unions in relation to - and in the context of - national and international education policy reform initiatives. Drawing on the tradition of organizational institutionalism, the paper argues that the teachers' unions focus on strategies of professionalization may have as much to do with questions of legitimacy in the eyes of the public, as with any specific effort at transforming the practice of teaching in a 'professional' direction. International trends stressing the need for educational effectiveness as a key factor of national competitiveness has not only had great influence on the education policies of most nation states and the way education systems are managed, but also - on a larger scale - on the meaning of 'professional' work in general and its application to teachers and teaching. From having been a concept describing a kind of occupational value, arising from within certain occupational groups based on autonomy, discretion and collegiality centered in high-trust relationships with state officials and clients, professionalism has - in the world of today - been high jacked by managers wishing to use its seductive powers for the implementation of reforms based on opposing values. This kind of 'professionalism' is imposed from outside occupational groups and is centered on values such as transparency, effectiveness and accountability coupled with massive systems of external inspection. In this latter case, the high-trust relationship between professions, the state and clients is replaced by notions of risk and doubt leading to a transformed relationship between professionals, their clients and new kinds of managers in public service organizations transformed in a corporate direction. In Sweden, research into the ways that notions of teacher professionalism have been effected and developed in relation to the developments sketched above have primarily focused on one or more policy reforms at a macro-level of analysis, or on the experiences of individual teachers at the micro-level. However, Sweden’s teachers’ unions – the only organizations of teachers of any political significance – are interesting, in this respect, as facilitators of Swedish teachers’ professional projects, but also in their role as formal organizations within the context of the Swedish public sector. Starting from discussions of organizational isomorphism and its consequences within institutional theory the paper aims to focus on this meso-level in order to understand the way that organizational pressures (national as well as international) may affect the way that the unions construct such professional projects and shape their policies for the future development of the teaching profession in Sweden. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The paper builds upon a qualitative content analysis of a number of different policy text produced by the Swedish teachers' unions; visionary documents, referrals to public commission reports and debate articles, signed primarily by the union chairs, from a number of Swedish newspapers. As the aim of the study is to analyze and discuss the 'public' voice of the unions as formal organizations, the use of such official documents and texts have been found very useful. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The preliminary findings show that the Swedish teachers' unions seems 'trapped' within a normative order emphasizing professionalization as the primary way of organizational development and legitimacy. In the case of Sweden, this is accomplished through mimetic processes whereby union policies, aimed at the improvement of teaching, are modeled upon the medical profession, regardless of the differences between the technologies and practices of the occupations. In this way, the professional rhetoric of the unions is decoupled from the practice of teaching in order to maximize the public legitimacy needed for improving the declining social status of Swedish teachers. References Ball, S.J. 2003. The Teacher’s Soul and the Terrors of Performativity. Journal of Education Policy 18, no 2: 215-228. DiMaggio, P.J. & W.W Powell. 1991. The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organization Fields. In The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, eds. W.W. Powell & P. J. DiMaggio, 63-82. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Evetts, J. 2003. The Sociological Analysis of Professionalism. Occupational Change in the Modern World. International Sociology 18, no. 2: 395-415. Evetts, J. 2009. New Professionalism and New Public Management: Changes, Continuities and Consequences. Comparative Sociology 8, 247-266. Fournier, V. 1999. The Appeal to ‘Professionalism’ as a Disciplinary Mechanism. The Sociological Review, 280-307. Lindblad R.F. & S. Lindblad. 2009. The Politics of Professionalizing Talk on Teaching: Boundary Work and Reconfigurations of Teachers and Teaching. In Re-Reading Education Policies. A Handbook Studying the Policy Agenda of the 21st Century, eds. M. Simons, M. Olssen, M.A. Peters, 754-773. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Meyer, J.W. & B. Rowan. 1977. Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83, no. 2: 340-363. Scott, W.R. 2008. Lords of the Dance: Professionals as Institutional Agents. Organization Studies 29, no. 2:219-238. Svensson, L.G. 2010. Professions, Organizations, Collegiality and Accountability. In Sociology of Professions. Continental and Anglo-Saxon Traditions, eds. L.G. Svensson, J. Evetts, 145-166. Gothenburg: Daidalos.

Tilltagande globaliseringsprocesser har under de senaste decennierna kommit att innebära stora förändringar för det sätt på vilket nationella utbildningssystem organiseras. Överstatliga organisationers allt större intresse för och inflytande över utbildningspolitiska frågor har, som en del av en större process av social omvandling, resulterat i en marknadsanpassning av välfärdssektorer såsom exempelvis skola och utbildning också i länder som av tradition primärt hanterat dessa frågor inom ramen för statens verksamhet. Som ett resultat av detta har begrepp som konkurrens, målstyrning och ansvarskyldighet, ofta sammanfattade i begreppet ”new public management”, kommit att bli centrala för de professionella inom dessa sektorer. Därmed utmanas, på grund av dessa förändringar, inte bara relationen mellan staten och de professionella, utan också själva innebörden i begreppet professionalism på avgörande sätt. Med utgångspunkt i dessa samhällsförändringar är syftet med följande paper att försöka formulera forskningsfrågor kopplade till läraryrkets professionaliseringsprocess. Detta görs genom att professionaliseringen av läraryrket problematiseras med utgångspunkt i professionssociologiska teorier som förstår professionalism som ett sätt att uppnå yrkesmässig förändring i denna ”nya professionella verklighet”. Som en del av detta diskuteras relationen mellan staten och professioner och på vilket sätt överstatliga organisationers engagemang i utbildningspolitiska frågor numera påverkar relationen mellan staten och de svenska lärarna. Med utgångspunkt i autonomibegreppet diskuteras dessutom lärarnas fackföreningars och lärarutbildningarnas roll som aktörer i denna professionaliseringsprocess. Vem/vilka driver frågan om läraryrkets professionalisering och varför, och vad syftar denna process egentligen till i en allt mer globaliserad kunskapsekonomi?

I den offentliga debatten kring läraryrket hävdas behovet av att öka statusen för lärarna som yrkesgrupp i syfte att locka ”bättre” studenter till lärarutbildningarna och som ett sätt att motivera högre lärarlöner. Läraryrkets professionalisering har därför varit ett viktigt mål för lärarnas fackliga organisationer. Framförallt Lärarnas Riksförbund har, i linje med detta, drivit på frågan om införandet av lärarlegitimationer som ett sätt att professionalisera läraryrket, något som nu ser ut att bli verklighet. Samtidigt pågår, i den internationella lärarforskningen, en diskussion kring huruvida tilltagande globaliseringstendenser och förändringar av utbildningssystemens organisation innebär att läraryrket snarare deprofessionaliseras än professionaliseras. Då utbildning blir allt viktigare som markör för konkurrenskraft på den globala marknaden samtidigt som västvärldens utbildningssystem allt mer decentraliseras, behöver staten och dess företrädare nya möjligheter att styra verksamheten på distans. Inom professionssociologin framförs av olika forskare tankar kring att professionalism, i det senmoderna samhället, kommit att användas just som en indirekt styrningsmekanism, vars syfte är att styra genom att via människors önskan om att uppfattas som professionella i allt högre grad reglera vad som är att betrakta som ”rätt” yrkesutövning. Det är först i samband med att den svenska skolan decentraliseras som talet om lärarna som professionella blir vanligt. Följande paper diskuterar införandet av legitimationer för lärare som en del av statens strategier för att skaffa sig ökad kontroll över lärares arbete i en decentraliserad skola och huruvida denna strategi i sin förlängning kan innebära en omprofessionalisering av läraryrket; skapandet av nya lärarsubjekt, anpassade till den globala kunskapsekonomins krav på effektivitet och ansvarskyldighet.

When approaching the question of the role of the state in education from the perspective of Arendtian thought, two problems present themselves. First, Arendt never formulated any comprehensive theory of the state of her own, even if she devoted a lot of attention to the shortcomings of the nation-state order that emerged in Europe between the two world wars. Second, some of the most distinctive ideas of her writings on education centers on the need for education to be conservative, non-political in character and kept apart from the world of politics. This may seem controversial in relation to contemporary debates on education. Recent attempts, however, to construct an Arendtian theory of the state provide some additional arguments for her insistence on the importance of keeping education non-political and sheltered from the world of politics.

Departing from the complexities surrounding any understanding of the concepts of 'teaching' and 'professionalism' and their possible interconnectedness, this paper is intended to explore who we may try to make sense of what is to constitute a knowledge base for teaching as a profession. Is it possible to overcome the seemingly persistent divide between basing teacher professionalism on some kind of pedagogical technology or in the academic traditions of already existing subject disciplines? How are we to account for the ethical and relational dimensions of teaching in relation to the rather instrumental way that teacher professionalism is constituted within contemporary PISA-driven educational policymaking? Or should we, perhaps, give up on the idea of teachers as professionals all together?

For a long time education was a strictly national concern. Its purpose was to contribute to national unity and to educate citizens suitable for the society in which they would live and work. Changes in the last thirty years, often termed globalization, have come to challenge this function for education in important ways. Drawing upon a minor study consisting of a textual analysis of the school policy debate present in the editorial and debate pages of the largest Swedish newspapers, this paper argues for an apparent collision of public discourses of the role of teachers in Sweden. Results show that a global discourse of education collides with the national curriculum of Sweden in the national policy debate on the overall purpose of the Swedish school system, and the role of the teachers working within it. In short, the national curriculums’ description of the complex nature of the teaching profession, with a strong focus on the fostering of democratically competent citizens firmly based in the defining values of Swedish society, are challenged by the global narrative of a knowledge economy where the purpose of the educational system is to generate competitive subjects with the skills to secure key positions in the global race for high quality jobs and property rights in a global economy. The analysis shows that based on the argument of a relative decline of Swedish students in the Timss and Pisa surveys of the OECD, leading politicians uses a disaster-like rhetoric in order to highlight the need for dramatic improvements of an educational system in deep crisis. This is because the declining results of Swedish students are interpreted as a risk for the future competitiveness of Sweden in a globalized economy. This, they contend, is due to the fact that Swedish teacher educations are infested with muddled ideologies focused on feel-good activities and questions of social competence, instead of the education of teachers who are effective instructors with in-depth knowledge about the subjects that they teach. The solutions to these problems, proposed by leading politicians, have strong connections to the global educational discourse and its focus on market style solutions of accountability and competition in creating effective schools and teachers.The paper concludes that this collision of public discourses of the role of teachers complicates the construction of a coherent professional identity among Swedish teachers, the result being that teachers lock themselves within a conservative view of their profession, seriously hindering the development of the teaching profession necessary for a more globalized world.

A central aspect of contemporary international education policy debates concern the need for improving the quality of teachers as one of the primary ways of increasing student results in international tests and evaluations. Such reforms, aimed at increasing the effectiveness or status of teachers in general, are often framed as being geared towards processes of teacher professionalization. However, the concept of professionalism, and consequently the desired outcomes of processes of professionalization, is not easily defined, opening room for political struggles over the meaning ascribed to it in different contexts. It is the overall intention of this paper to critically examine such political struggles over definitions of these concepts in the context of contemporary Swedish education policy making. Even if the paper draws on the case of Sweden, the discussion has wider implications as the political and institutional arrangements affecting the way education policies are currently framed are becoming increasing similar between countries, due to the fundamental influence of intergovernmental organizations such as the European Union (EU) or the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on national policy making in the area of education. The introduction of ‘professional’ terminology in relation to teachers in Sweden was not introduced by teachers themselves or their organizations, but was imposed upon them as an integral part of the political process of educational decentralization and deregulation. However, as the traditional bureaucratic hierarchies of the welfare system were dismantled the possibility of adopting professional terminology became available to occupations, and occupational organizations, not normally considered full-fledged professions. This led to an expansion of the use of professional terminology on behalf of a number of public service occupations (e.g. teachers, nurses, social worker) previously referred to as semi-professional. This transformation of the system of welfare provision constitutes a precondition for the Swedish Teacher Unions to adopt and use a professional discourse as a strategy for trying to improve the conditions of their members in different ways. This paper summarizes the results of a Ph.D-project aimed at analyzing how Sweden’s two Teacher Unions construct their own versions of teacher professionalism in relation to two recent Swedish education reforms, intended to increase the professionalism of teachers. Using theories from the sociology of professions coupled with an institutional approach to the study of organizations the paper analyzes how the Teacher Unions construct professional projects in relation to each other as well as in relation to the reforms of the current Ministry of Education. Viewing professionalism as an institutional logic, it investigates the different strategies employed by the two Unions and considers their effects on the overall professional ambitions of Swedish teachers. By doing so it highlights the complexities facing occupational organizations – such as unions – as they engage in political struggles over how the meaning ascribed to concepts like professionalism is to be decided. In this sense, the Unions are considered as a kind of institutional actors using the idea of professionalism in order to promote their own ideas of how the future development of the teaching profession may best serve the interests of their members. The unions’ focus on processes of professionalization is also considered as a kind of identity-work aimed at providing Swedish teachers with a clearly defined occupational identity within the framework of a transformed welfare system. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The study is based on analyses of public union documents, as they are considered the best way to access the "public voice" of the two organizations. The primary material consist of referrals in which the Unions are responding to the suggestions of governmentally appointed public commissions suggesting how certain political initiatives are to be realized. These commission reports are, after the referrals have been taken into account, transformed into green papers to be decided by parliament. In addition to these formal statements, debate articles by (primarily) the Union chairs are also included into the analyses in order to provide a kind of narrative sense of how the Unions place their policies in relation to the overall education policy debates of Sweden. The textual analyses draws on the ideas of "policy sociology" as sociological concepts are used to interpret and understand the policies of the Unions. It is not an analysis for policy, in the sense that it is aimed to provide the Unions with strategies for how the are best to accomplish their policy objectives, but rather a critical analysis of the policies they employ and how they can be understood in the context where they arise. In this sense the study is critical in its ambition to problematize the Unions' use of professional terminology. The analysis is guided by an abductive approach as the interpretations have been developed in a continuous process where theory has provided new insights in relation to the empirical material at the same time as that same material has required new theoretical tools to be put in use in order to provide reasonable explanations. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings The overall conclusion to be drawn from the study is that the idea of teacher professionalization in the context of Swedish education policy making is a decidedly political process, somewhat removed or de-coupled from the everyday practice of Swedish teachers.  A central argument of the study is that the fact that Swedish teachers are organized in two different unions are complicating the formulation of a common professional project on behalf of Swedish teachers in general. This is because the two unions, though united in their wish to turn teaching into a "proper" profession, are constructing their professional projects from very opposing points of departure, resulting in a process of intraprofessional boundary-work dependent upon the historical tension between different teacher categories. As a result of the internal struggles between the two Teacher Unions the position of Swedish teachers in general becomes weak in relation to national education policy makers. As the unions are forced to compete for political influence in order to gain support for their own policies, the professional projects of Swedish teachers are becoming very dependent upon the political system in general. As a result the autonomy of Swedish teachers, as an occupational group, is restricted, seriously limiting the prospects for teachers to become "professionals" in any traditional understanding of the term.

Taking the latest reformation of Swedish teacher education as a point of departure, the aim of this article is to analyze the way Swedish Teacher Unions construct a knowledgebase for teaching as a strategy of professionalization. The analysis shows that the unions construct such a knowledge base from opposing points of departure. Their professional ambitions are, thus, challenged by processes of intraprofessional boundary work complicating the construction of a unanimous ‘voice’ of teachers in Swedish education policy debates. This intraprofessional struggle over the meaning of teacher professionalism underlines the political nature of the use of professionalism in the transformed welfare sectors of today. In this respect, the article also underlines the importance of tradition in discussions of what is to be considered a professional teacher. Despite decades of political ambitions to unite Swedish teachers into one single profession, the historical differences between two separate teacher identities continue to fundamentally affect the policy positions of the Teacher Unions, a development that the recent reorientation of Swedish education policy seems to reinforce. As a result, the usefulness of talking about Swedish teachers as a single profession in the future may be questioned.

Talking about teachers as ´professionals´ has become commonplace within teacher education, education policies and in everyday discourse. However, the meaning ascribed to the concept of teacher professionalism in these different contexts is often not made explicit. What does it really imply for teachers to be ´professionals´ and how are we to make sense of the idea of professionalism when applied to teaching? In Sweden, a result of the introduction of the idea of teachers as professionals has been that the teacher unions have adopted an agenda of teacher professionalization as their overall policy objective. However, the professional projects of the two Swedish unions are fundamentally different concerning what is to constitute the knowledgebase of a teaching profession. The largest union, The Swedish Teachers Union, is strongly in favor of a view emphasizing the idea of a professional knowledgebase common for all teachers, grounded in the discipline of didactics. The other union, The National Union of Teachers, however, rejects such claims and argues that the only knowledgebase viable for a teaching profession must depart from the subject discipline taught by the teacher in question. Professionalism is, in itself, a contested concept. Hanlon (1998, 51) has argued that the classic version of social welfare professionalism is replaced in contemporary western societies by a kind of ‘commercialized professionalism’, aimed ‘to make professionals accountable and enforce financial and managerial discipline upon them’, resulting in a situation where professional success is measured in terms of profitability and effectiveness and not in terms of serving citizens. The view of teacher professionalism inherent in this political discourse is thereby centered on a particular discourse of ‘good teaching’, what Moore (2004) refers to as ‘the competent craftsperson’. This is a kind of teacher that works effectively with his/her ‘raw material’ in order to produce students whose knowledge can be easily evaluated, thereby also judging the technical skills of the craftsperson in question. Viewing teaching in this rather instrumental manner has been severely criticized within educational research, not least because it hides fundamental aspects of what it is to be a teacher, not least in relation to questions of ethics. From a more philosophical point of departure, Maxwell (2014), using metaphor theory, argues that speaking of teachers as professionals constitutes a metaphor that restricts our view of certain aspects of teaching while highlighting others. First, a professional view of teaching is unable to account for the socio-moral dimension of the occupation, resulting from the close and sustained interpersonal contacts that constitute a fundamental part of teachers’ work. Second, it hides the fact that teachers are accountable to multiple parties, such as children, parents, colleagues, taxpayers, governments etc., placing competing demands on them. It is the intention of this paper to expand on the analysis of how Sweden’s teacher unions define the concept of ‘teacher professionalism’ and how they use it in order to promote their policy priorities. In particular, it will discuss the implications this may have for how teaching is understood, within Swedish educational policy debates, as a ‘professional’ occupation. Is it possible to overcome the seemingly persistent divide between basing teacher professionalism on some kind of pedagogical technology or in the academic traditions of already existing subject disciplines? How are we to account for the ethical and relational dimensions of teaching in relation to the rather instrumental way that teacher professionalism is constituted within contemporary PISA-driven educational policymaking? Or should we, consequently, perhaps give up on the idea of teachers as professionals all together?

Taika Waititi’s recent film ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ (2016) portrays the coming-of-age of a young boy, Ricky, in a world with few recognisably responsible adults. While the film does not engage explicitly with formal education, it raises several questions central for understanding education as formation, highlighting the generational aspects of educational relations and pointing to the importance of an adult world taking responsibility for the formation and upbringing of the younger generation. Departing from a discussion on the role of formation and intergenerational relations in Rousseau and Arendt, we will draw on the film’s portrayal of an adult world in crisis in order to discuss some of its possible consequences for understanding education in terms of intergenerational relations and formation. This involves raising questions about the educational consequences of the absence of recognisably responsible adults and it involves investigating how this absence might impact our understanding of education as the formation and upbringing of educated human beings.

Detta är en essä om hur vi bättre kan förstå vad det innebär att vara lärare. Den tar avstamp i en aktuell skoldebatt om vilka uppgifter som egentligen ingår i lärares arbete och vad det betyder att vara lärare. Diskussionen om vad det innebär att vara lärare utgår i regel från att undervisning är kärnan i lärares arbete, men undervisningsbegreppet i sig är sällan föremål för diskussion. I denna essä gör vi en filosofisk undersökning av undervisningsbegreppet utifrån ett antal kriterier som vi menar vara centrala för att förstå den pedagogiska relationens olika roller. Vi föreslår begreppet lärarskap som beteckning för lärares liv och arbete.  

In 1958, Hannah Arendt published “The Crisis in Education” 1 addressing what she considered to be the poor state of contemporary American education. While the causes of this educational crisis was identified as part of much broader processes of social and political change, education stood out as a social arena where the effects of these transformations became most obvious. One of the most manifest symptoms of the crisis in education concerned the lack of authority in modern societies. Arendt claimed that this lack of authority eroded the fundamental relation between teacher and student and the mutual trust necessary for safeguarding the social position of the teacher. In this paper, we aim to use Arendt’s concept of authority in order to diagnose a current crisis in Swedish education, arguing that it may help us understand the role of the teacher in a way that offers a point of view missing in the current debate on Swedish education.

The aim of this chapter is to describe some fundamental developments within Swedish educational policy focusing especially on the idea of educational individualization as a way of placing the child at the center of the educational activity and thereby as a vital agent in the construction of a more equal and just society. We argue that these historical trends, coupled with the neo-liberal influences within contemporary educational policies, have created a strong discourse of childhood within Swedish society, centered on the concept of ‘the competent child’. However, contemporary neo-liberal transformations of the idea of educational individualization have far-reaching consequences in terms of what competencies children are to develop as well as for the overall relationship between the state and the individual in Sweden.

Allyson Larkin raises important questions concerning the promotion and consequences of ideals of global citizenship in the context of Canadian higher education. More specifically, she aims to problematize taken-for-granted assumptions about the discourses of global citizenship that correspond to the type of graduate Canadian universities are seeking to produce. In this comment, we aim to, very briefly, address similar questions in relation to the context of Sweden. Using the example of volunteer work, we will give a short historical background to Sweden’s international commitments in relation to developing countries as well as a brief sketch on how such commitments are organized within contemporary Swedish society. Finally, we will also comment on possible consequences for contemporary constructions of discourses of global citizenship and internationalization in relation to the field of Swedish higher education.