The purpose of this paper is to present a newly initiated research project exploring young people’s ideas about a good life and the future in various educational contexts. This paper focuses on one study that examines conditions grounded in present education while pointing toward the future envisioned by ninth-grade students. The broader project adopts an interdisciplinary approach, and its results will contribute to the development of cross-curricular work between social science, religious education, and career counseling in diverse educational settings.

In the paper, we present findings from the first study within the project, which investigates young people’s conceptions of their future adult lives and what they consider important and meaningful. The discussion centers on how students construct narratives about everyday life, work, family, relationships, and living conditions, as well as what they themselves identify as significant.

The theoretical perspectives informing the project draw on discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2003), the concept of “happy objects” (Ahmed, 2010), and forms of capital (Bourdieu, 1991), in relation to what students describe as important investments for the future.

The analysis of students’ narratives reveals opportunities and tensions between the demands and expectations of school and society and students’ dreams and aspirations. Consequently, the study relates to value-based education and teaching about existential questions and civic education.

The method employed in this study is based on a writing assignment completed by ninth-grade students in compulsory school. The assignment focused on topics related to everyday life and ideas about the future. This study draws on 41 narratives collected from three classes in Swedish compulsory schools during the spring semester of 2025. Through narrative discourse analysis, the study illuminates how young people envision the future in relation to contemporary social norms and ideals of a good life.

The results of this study will provide new insights into teaching content and practices concerning the good life, hope, and future aspirations. Furthermore, the study will contribute to education on these issues across various contexts, including social studies, religious education, values education, and career guidance.

Bodil Liljefors Persson and Frida WikstrandFaculty of Education and SocietyMalmö University

 This paper examens narratives of dreams of the future among young adults (19-20 years) graduating from upper secondary school in a Swedish city in June 2020. School had been closed since the middle of march and all festivities, such as travelling with classmates, parties and prams in relation to the graduation had been canceled. The pupils were on the verge of entering adulthood with all kinds of plans and dreams about travelling, working – jumping into their life after school - but the springboard was missing, and many had to reconsidering their immediate plans. In the interviews the participants talk about life after the pandemic and how covid-19 and the experience of home schooling affected how they thought about work and life in the future. The aim of the paper is to analyze how young adults, graduating from upper secondary school during the pandemic, talk about “a good and happy life”. The study is based on 15 qualitative interviews with participants graduating from theoretical upper secondary programs. 14 of the participants came from a middle-class background, eight were women and seven were men.  Sara Ahmeds’ (2010) concept “happy objects” is used to understand what is viewed as important for a good life and as a promise of a happy future. This critical approach is used to understand various ways of talking about the future and what investments is seen as important for a happy and fulfilled life. Some findings point at romantic relationships, children and living in suburban households as important happy objects. The one aspect that is affected by the pandemic is the wish to have a permanent workplace a with good and stable colleagues. However, the participants own upbringing and family traditions of living abroad or in a close relation with extended family indicates that the various happy objects tend to be inherited.   

The development of education programmes in career guidance and counseling (CGC) has followed different paths among the various Nordic countries. Ten CGC programmes in Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden were evaluated against the NICE curricular model. The results show that all NICE core competences are represented in the curricula. However, there is greater focus in some programmes on developing competences for individual career guidance, than on developing competences for working at organisational and societal levels. Implications for the cooperation and professionalisation of CGC within the Nordic countries are discussed as well as limitations of the NICE model.

De diverses histoires, un terrain commun et un avenir partagé: la formation des professionnels du conseil et de l’orientation scolaire et professionnelle dans les pays nordiques

L’élaboration des programmes de formation dans le domaine du conseil et de l’orientation scolaire et professionnelle (CGC) a suivi des trajectoires différentes selon les pays nordiques. Dix programmes de la CCG au Danemark, en Finlande, au Groenland, en Islande, en Norvège et en Suède ont été évalués par rapport au plan de formation élaboré par NICE. Les résultats montrent que toutes les compétences de base élaborées par NICE sont représentées dans les programmes. Cependant, dans certains programmes, l’accent est davantage mis sur le développement de compétences dans la prise en charge individuelle que sur le développement de compétences permettant de travailler au niveau organisationnel et sociétal. Les implications pour la coopération et la professionnalisation de la CCG dans les pays nordiques ainsi que les limites du modèle élaboré par NICE sont discutées.

Unterschiedliche Geschichte, Gemeinsamkeiten und eine gemeinsame Zukunft: Ausbildung von Berufsberatungs- und Beratungsfachleuten in den nordischen Ländern

Die Entwicklung von Studienprogrammen in der Bildungs- und Berufsberatung (BBB) hat in den verschiedenen nordischen Ländern unterschiedliche Wege verfolgt. Zehn BBB-Programme in Dänemark, Finnland, Grönland, Island, Norwegen und Schweden wurden anhand des NICE-Curriculums bewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass alle NICE-Kernkompetenzen in den Lehrplänen vertreten sind. In einigen Programmen wird jedoch mehr Wert auf die Entwicklung von Kompetenzen für die individuelle Laufbahnberatung gelegt als auf die Entwicklung von Kompetenzen für die Arbeit auf organisatorischer und gesellschaftlicher Ebene. Die Implikationen für die Zusammenarbeit und Professionalisierung von BBB in den nordischen Ländern werden ebenso diskutiert wie die Begrenzungen des NICE-Modells.

Historias diversas, puntos en común y un futuro compartido: la educación de los profesionales de la orientación profesional en los países nórdicos

El desarrollo de los programas de educación en orientación y asesoramiento profesional (CGC) ha seguido diferentes caminos en los distintos países nórdicos. Se evaluaron diez programas de CGC en Dinamarca, Finlandia, Groenlandia, Islandia, Noruega y Suecia con respecto al modelo curricular NICE. Los resultados muestran que todas las competencias básicas de NICE están representadas en los planes de estudio. Sin embargo, algunos programas se centran más en el desarrollo de competencias para la orientación profesional individual que en el desarrollo de competencias para trabajar a nivel organizativo y social. Se discuten las implicaciones para la cooperación y profesionalización de CGC en los países nórdicos, así como las limitaciones del modelo NICE.

The aim of this chapter is to present norm criticism as theory and practice in career guidance. Norm criticism draws upon critical feminist and queer theories that challenge assumptions of how we are to live our lives regarding career as well as those of femininity, masculinity, sexuality and so forth. These theories are used to discuss and problematise what is taken for granted in career guidance theory and practice from the perspective of social justice in a neoliberal society. The chapter examines how norm criticism can be a way to bridge the reproduction of norms in a career guidance context and as a way for professionals to visualise and challenge their own and others’ perceptions and normative ideas. It also discusses how the method can be used to challenge educational and vocational choices based on gender and social background and visualise unjust institutional practices as well as any unjust distribution of resources. Finally, discourses embedded within career guidance are discussed from a norm-critical perspective.

I studie- och yrkesvägledning framhålls ofta individens intresse som centralt för yrkesvalet. Torts kunskap om att individens intressen och preferenser påverkas av sociala strukturer, så är detta fokus på intresse inget som problematiserats i någon högre utsträckning. Utifrån intervjuer med vägledare och gymnasieelver om hur de uppfattar och använder sig av yrkesvägledande material diskuteras i artikeln olika förståelser av "intresse" och vilken betydelse detta ges för traditionella och otraditionella yrkesval.

The labour market is structured by gender and social class. Middle class kids still get middle class jobs and working class kids still let themselves to working class jobs. The gender structured labour market is a known fact in Sweden and abroad. Research shows that gender is the most important factor when choosing an education or occupation. The individual’s social class and the family’s educational background are second most important. Finally the individual’s interests are ranked as third important factor when it comes to occupational choice. At the same time the gender and class coding of occupation structure witch jobs individuals sees as possible. Educational and career counseling is often cited by politicians as something that can affect individual’s choices and possibly the structure of the labour market. How counselor’s view, interpret and talk about different occupations in the meeting with pupils of different background is therefore interesting. The aim of this paper is to analyse how education and career counselors, working in Swedish senior high school, view and interpret different occupations and how this comprehension affects how they describe and talk about the occupation in the counseling interview with pupils. The study draws upon 14 qualitative interviews with educational and career counselors in the Swedish senior high school throughout the country. The selection of schools was based on the following criteria: Private/public, vocational/academic, schools with low /high status. The purpose was to meet counselors whom worked with pupils from different backgrounds. The interviews focused on whether and how the counselors use the occupational descriptions produced by the Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), if they see them as neutral or with bias such as gender and/or social class. The analysis shows that educational and career counselors divide occupations into different categories such as practical/theoretical, working with people/ working with technology. Putting these two dichotomies into a four-field model the options of jobs becomes narrow. The group uses different occupational descriptions to expand the perspective of the pupil. However the widening is within the group of dichotomies in the four-field. This way of looking at and constructing different occupations, by simplifying the content through dichotomies as mentioned above, does not broaden the perspective of pupils but guide them within what they already see as possible and thereby reproduce the structures marked by social class and gender at the labour market. In the educational and career counseling interview the career guidance materials, and how this material is organized and used, becomes a part of this process.

This thesis aims to study how information systems are received and interpreted by the employees of two organizations: the Hospital and Electricity company. I am interested in how work tasks and professional identities at these workplaces are coded by class and gender, and whether - and if so how - these encodings or constructions affect how employees perceive the information systems and the changes brought about by the new information system. Furthermore, the aim is to explain how the organizational context affects the way in which a new information system is received and interpreted, and how this is affected by the construction of masculinities and femininities. 35 life story interviews were conducted at the two workplaces. The interviews were focused on the effects, on the everyday- and working life of employees, brought about by the introduction of new information systems: the electronic journal Melior at the Hospital and the business system SAP at the Electricity Company. Another focus dealt with if – and if so, how, -the new technology had impact on the relationship with other occupational groups and professionals at the workplace. As its starting point, the dissertation adopts a theoretical patchwork based on Hardings’ three processes: genders symbolism, gender structure and individual gender. The concepts femininities and masculinities are used to discuss and analyze constructions of identities at work. The process of division of labor and concepts of professional closures are used to analyze negotiations within and between different groups. A theoretical concept, mirroring processes, is used to show how different parts of an individual’s life are linked together and how structures in different part of life reproduce and strengthen each other. The thesis argues that various organizational circumstances have an impact on how em-ployees receive and interpret the new technology. From the perspective of class and gender, it becomes evident how technology is not simply ascribed different roles at different workplaces. These roles are also assigned a symbolic value that is largely based on gender. It is also clear that the role assigned to technology depends on the division of labor and may, in turn, influence the current division of labor at the workplace through negotiations concerning the new technology. It becomes clear that gender- and class structures are produced and reproduced through negotiations and the employees' handling of the new information systems. The thesis argues that the interviewees’ construction of professional identities influence their understanding of changes in their own work when new information systems have been introduced. The dissertation also argues that the way femininities and masculinities are constructed within professional identities affect how employees view their work and the new technology.