Creating Policy from Discursive Exchanges on Compulsory Education and Schooling in Sweden

Overview & Synopsis

The paper first introduces the national and local framework for compulsory-level "undervisning pa annat satt" [teaching/education otherwise than in school] education in Sweden. According to national statistics in Sweden, every year an average of 100 children are registered as receiving their education at home, arranged in some cases by school officials or by parents themselves. That this figure seems small causes most local school officials to view this form of education as "very rare" and, consequently, "there is no need for special legislation or policy". Many of the 290 municipalities, however, have been exposed to parent-arranged home education in their local areas, either through activation of a working arrangement with parents, sometimes resulting in a local policy, or via an often drawn-out legal struggle involving state, child and parental rights. Using material from a doctoral study, examples are presented in order to illustrate how, in one country, requests for home education are both negotiated and denied. (Contains 1 table and 5 notes.)