Purpose: The aim of this study was to critically examine previous studies’ claims about the magnitude of gender differences and gender inequality in physical education (PE) in Sweden. Method: The data were based on students’ (N = 39,980) perceptions of PE and were gathered from four large research projects in Sweden. Three effect size measures (Cramer’s V, rsquared, and Cohen’s d) were calculated for gender differences. Results: In general, there are small gender differences; and after controlling for students’ grade, “sports capital,” and parents’ “educational capital,” the differences are practically irrelevant. Conclusion: This study provides compelling evidence that there are small, or even irrelevant, gender differences in students’ perceptions of PE in Sweden. Moreover, given that previous research asserts that large gender differences can be used as an indicator of inequality, this study suggests that gender inequality issues related to students’ perceptions of PE are relatively small.

School grades are among the most common measurements used to analyze equality of outcome in education. Large or increasing ‘gaps’ in school grades between boys and girls and between students with different migration background are considered strong indicators of inequality. Based on students’ school grades, several studies have shown that equality in Swedish schools has decreased during the last two decades. Although equality has been described as one of the most important goals in physical education (PE), studies that focus on equality of outcome are lacking. Moreover, there have been no studies that focus on equality of outcome since the 2011 implementation of a new school grading system in Sweden. Therefore, the aim of this study is to contribute with new knowledge on equality in PE in Sweden – in regard to gender and migration background. The study is based on register data for all students enrolled in Swedish schools during the years 2012–2016 from Grades 6 and 9 and Year 1 in upper secondary school (N = 1,294,990). Based on a cross-sectional approach, analyses were conducted to explore general trends in students’ school grades in PE in the study period 2012–2016, and to calculate the percentage difference in PE grades between students with a Swedish background and both students with a foreign background and foreign-born students. After controlling for grade inflation, regression analyses with Wald tests were used to analyze how gender has moderated the relationship between migration background and school grades in PE in Sweden between 2012 and 2016. The results from this study suggest that (a) the intersection of gender and migration background is related to unequal school grades in PE, (b) there are gender equality issues in relation to students’ school grades in PE and, (c) the most prominent equality issues concern the group foreign-born girls.

Students’ perceived learning in physical education (PE) is an important yet neglected area of research. Increased knowledge about students’ perceived learning can provide teachers with useful information to promote meaningful learning experiences in PE. Moreover, perceived learning can potentially be an alternative measurement to school grades when analyzing equality of outcome. Given that gender and migration background are associated with equality issues in PE, these groups are of particular focus in this study. With this background, the aim of this paper is threefold: (a) to explore students’ perceived learning in PE in Sweden, (b) to analyze what perceptions of PE are most prominent, and (c) present a way to quantitatively illustrate how perceptions about PE vary across gender and migration background. The analysis was based on a question about students’ perceived learning and was conducted in two steps. First, the students’ answers were categorized using qualitative content analysis. The analysis shows that the perceived learning in PE can be categorized into the following categories: ‘Physical doing’, ‘Emotional experiences’, ‘Health’, ‘Do not learn’, ‘Outdoor Education’ and ‘Social interaction’. Second, by quantitatively illustrate all answers in relation to the six categories, the result showed that the category of ‘Physical doing’ (36%) was the most prominent, and thereafter, in descending order are the categories of ‘Emotional experiences’ (22%), ‘Health’ (18%), ‘Do not learn’ (10%), ‘Outdoor Education’ (10%) and ‘Social interaction’ (4%). The results also showed that regardless of gender and migration background, students have somewhat similar perceptions of what they learn in PE. In this study we: (i) present a categorization of students’ perceived learning in PE, (ii) show that physical doing is a prominent aspect in students answers, lastly (iii) by quantitatively illustrate students’ perceived learning in PE, this study also suggest an alternative measurement to analyze equality in PE.

Since the turn of the millennium, Sweden has, like many other countries, become more neoliberal in many areas, including that of sport. The government has increased its expectations on the sports movement and become more result-oriented, which, for example, its revised motives for supporting the sports movement and the establishment of an audit organization can illustrate. However, in contrast to other countries, the Swedish government has not introduced any financial cutbacks in its support for sports. Rather, the opposite is true. The financial support has increased significantly over the last two decades. In the paper, we argue that this contradictory development of Swedish sport policy can be understood as expressions of neoliberalism and social entrepreneurship. As a theoretical concept, social entrepreneurship offers a way of understanding the increased Swedish government support for sport. There are in particular two underlying reasons for this claim. Firstly, sport is considered as a solution to various societal problems, such as social exclusion and refugee crises. Secondly, much of the increased support has been in form of various large-scale, earmarked, and time-limited political initiatives/reforms and project grants, which all have aimed to achieve social change through sport, such as social inclusion. In the paper, we consider these initiatives as expressions of social entrepreneurship. This paper contributes to the ongoing scholarly debate on how neoliberalism and neoliberal policies in the public sector have affected sport organizations. Also, by using social entrepreneurship theory, we provide new theoretical insights into how sport policy can be understood and analyzed.

In the global lockdown following COVID-19, Sweden stands out as a deviant case. While most countries in Europe imposed severe restrictions on their citizens, measures in Sweden were comparatively moderate and aimed at balancing constraints with openness. In this chapter, we paint a broad picture of the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis for Swedish sports, outdoor recreation, and physical activity on both macro and micro levels. At the macro level, we show how the Swedish government’s measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 affected the conditions for sports and physical activity. Furthermore, we analyze governmental aid to sports organizations and how these actions were received by the Swedish Sports Confederation (SSC). On the micro level, we provide examples of how the pandemic affected individuals with regards to leadership, sports, physical activity, and outdoor recreation. 

The aim of this article is to outline a theoretical framework for how the concept of trust can be used as analytical tool for a study of the aim, design, output and societal legitimacy of a Swedish welfare programme conducted to reduce disparities in health and social inequities and to give newborn a positive start in life. This programme, labelled Grow Safely, implies that home visits will be conducted at six occasions at first-time parents by different professionals: child health care nurses, midwifes, dental hygienists and counsellors from the social services. Prior to when the intervention is carried out, the involved professionals in the programme will be participating in training in order to increase the possibility that the home visits will be carried out in similar ways and be followed the same manual throughout the programme.

The welfare programme will be based on relationships on different levels: between professionals and parents, between different professionals, between professionals and managers, and between organisations. Trust is believed to be of significance for the development of relationships as well as for the social legitimacy of the implantation of welfare programmes. Therefore, our ambition is to embrace a broad perspective on trust, combining insights from a variety of research traditions and analyses on macro, meso and micro levels in the outline a model for how the concept of trust can be used as an analytical tool for studying welfare programmes like Grow Safely. We argue for that the model can capture the significance of trust at different levels: individual, professional, organisational and societal levels as well as interplays between these levels, and consequently be useful in to analyse implementations of welfare programmes.

Although students' perceived learning is central in physical education (PE), few measurements are available. Furthermore, little is known about how students' perceptions of PE effect students' perceived learning in PE. Therefore, the aim was to develop a scale to assess students' perceived learning and a measurement to assess students' perceived contentment in PE, and furthermore, to analyze the interrelationship between students' perceived learning and students' perceived contentment in PE. A total of 1203 students in Sweden who were aged 12-16 years participated. The results from the exploratory (n = 601) and confirmatory (n = 602) factor analyses as well as the validity and reliability analyses showed that there was psychometric support for the one-dimensional model perceived learning in PE and for the three-dimensional model perceived contentment in PE. The structural equation modeling analyses showed that both competence and joyfulness were directly and positively related to students' perceived learning.

The last chapter introduces a methodological tool for analyzing social entrepreneurship in a sport policy context, built on a number of steps in relation to the five theses. This tool has become useful in the research process as well as being valuable when communicating the analysis. On the basis of the seven cases, a comparison is conducted in which similarities but also differences between the cases are identified and analyzed.