Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policy
There is a shortage of policy studies concerning educational transitions, especially transitions within the compulsory schooling system. This article presents a post-structural policy study of Swedish school transition policy, drawing on Bacchi’s (2009) What’s the Problem Represented to be? (WPR) a...
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| Format: | Article |
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Educar |
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| Online Access: | https://educar.uab.cat/article/view/2324 |
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| author | Josefin Ånger |
| author_facet | Josefin Ånger |
| author_sort | Josefin Ånger |
| collection | DOAJ |
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There is a shortage of policy studies concerning educational transitions, especially transitions within the compulsory schooling system. This article presents a post-structural policy study of Swedish school transition policy, drawing on Bacchi’s (2009) What’s the Problem Represented to be? (WPR) approach. The problem representations identified in national steering documents and local-level policies are related to a drop in attainment and could be described as a lack of information (of individual students’ needs), a lack of coordination and a lack of trust. These problematisations are connected to both an individualistic discourse and a new public management discourse. Transition is viewed as a short-term event rather than an adaptation process, and as a “special education problem”. This places teachers in the background in favour of special education needs coordinators, and measures students against a norm of not needing support during transitions. While improving possibilities to support students, these representations also risk labelling students in need of support as deviant and/or deficient.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-649447d3ff4546e2af4d03c047b139f9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0211-819X 2014-8801 |
| language | Catalan |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Educar |
| spelling | doaj-art-649447d3ff4546e2af4d03c047b139f92025-08-20T03:15:37ZcatUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaEducar0211-819X2014-88012025-07-0161210.5565/rev/educar.2324Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policyJosefin Ånger0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1295-8788Umeå University There is a shortage of policy studies concerning educational transitions, especially transitions within the compulsory schooling system. This article presents a post-structural policy study of Swedish school transition policy, drawing on Bacchi’s (2009) What’s the Problem Represented to be? (WPR) approach. The problem representations identified in national steering documents and local-level policies are related to a drop in attainment and could be described as a lack of information (of individual students’ needs), a lack of coordination and a lack of trust. These problematisations are connected to both an individualistic discourse and a new public management discourse. Transition is viewed as a short-term event rather than an adaptation process, and as a “special education problem”. This places teachers in the background in favour of special education needs coordinators, and measures students against a norm of not needing support during transitions. While improving possibilities to support students, these representations also risk labelling students in need of support as deviant and/or deficient. https://educar.uab.cat/article/view/2324transition from primary to lower secondary schooleducational policyconceptual imaginarySweden |
| spellingShingle | Josefin Ånger Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policy Educar transition from primary to lower secondary school educational policy conceptual imaginary Sweden |
| title | Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policy |
| title_full | Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policy |
| title_fullStr | Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policy |
| title_short | Transitions within Swedish compulsory school: Problematisations in policy |
| title_sort | transitions within swedish compulsory school problematisations in policy |
| topic | transition from primary to lower secondary school educational policy conceptual imaginary Sweden |
| url | https://educar.uab.cat/article/view/2324 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT josefinanger transitionswithinswedishcompulsoryschoolproblematisationsinpolicy |