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.