ABSTRACT This study targets hitherto largely understudied empirical processes and activities through which certain ideas and imaginaries are being commercialised and used by corporate actors in the global Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) industry. The aim is to analyse and critically discuss representations of the Scandinavian ECEC regime in the context of ECEC export. This is achieved empirically through a case study of a Swedish education company and its expansion in Germany, as well as by devoting analytical attention to the social, political and fantasmatic logics in the processes that constitute and characterise the “Scandinavian ECEC offer” as it is being exported. The analysis draws on corporate documents, websites and interviews with top-level company representatives. The analysis highlights how the Scandinavian ECEC regime is made up of four interlinked elements; equality, the autonomous child, integration of care and learning and outdoor pedagogy, aligned and sustained by “gripping” and “sticking” forces in fantasmatic logics that hide contingencies. In summary, the powerful imaginary of the Scandinavian ECEC regime, bringing accessibility, social justice, gender equality, nature, democracy, children’s rights and autonomy, serves to conceal the political and ideological dimension of the economic logic of capitalism.

ABSTRACT In Europe and other parts of the world, many new schools are to be built. In Sweden, for instance, some 1000 new schools are to be built between year 2020–2025. As a response to this need of new school buildings, there are policies emerging. One example is the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (SNBHP), who published policy by presenting a digital collection good examples. In this paper we are zooming in on the learning environments in the policy and examining the meaning that is made of the learning environments. With the aid of the practical epistemological analysis (PEA), four the learning environments are identified: 1) general and flexible learning environment; 2) stimulating learning environment with spatial diversity; 3) an exciting learning environment that encourages creativity; and 4) an open learning environment. How these learning environments come about is further analysed with the concept of material classification, which helps identify some of the implications on teaching and learning and how the pedagogical vocabulary and material classification condition behaviours. This is further discussed in terms of what happens when”good learning environments” are made into policy.

ABSTRACT In 2014 the Icelandic government implemented a reform that reduced the time of all academic programs of upper secondary education from an average of four years in duration to three, aiming to increase efficiency in the education system. Drawing on critical policy analysis, this study explores wider consequences of the reform’s enactment for higher education, with reference to the strong connection between the two school levels. Teachers at the University of Iceland were interviewed about perceived changes, if any, in students’ preparation for university studies in the wake of the reform and whether any measures were needed to adapt to such changes. The findings highlight the importance of policy makers considering the interconnectedness of different school levels and the wide-reaching effects of education reforms. They indicate that the policy reform has had consequences in higher education that vary between different academic subjects and disciplines and that there is considerable tension within the University in how to adapt to them. The findings call for further exploration into the content of the academic programs in upper secondary education which may provide valuable information on the interplay between policies that aim for decentralised curriculum-making and efficiency in education systems.

ABSTRACT School leaders hold key roles in the organisation of educational support. In several Swedish municipalities, municipality organisers and school leaders provide segregated special educational solutions (SSESs) for pupils diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs). This article aims to contribute with knowledge about the Swedish special education system, more specifically to illuminate school leaders’ understanding of special educational provision designated for pupils diagnosed with NDs. Seven school leaders, with connections to SESSs in a Swedish educational jurisdiction, were interviewed. The article is influenced by the theory of critical pragmatism and the concept of systems thinking. The results indicate that, according to the school leaders, the regular school system is not adapted for pupils diagnosed with NDs, therefore SSESs are needed. However, the school leaders did not share a mutual understanding of SSESs. Equally, information flows and collaborations among the school leaders were limited. Several school leaders expressed scepticism about the municipality organiser’s engagement and interest in the SESSs. Accordingly, SSESs appear as units that are de-coupled from the rest of the regular educational system. Various obstacles regarding prerequisites for systems thinking were identified, complicating school leaders’ and the municipality organiser’s mutual understanding and critical scrutinising of SESSs.

ABSTRACT While teachers are obliged to report and investigate incidents of bullying, harassment, and degrading treatment in Swedish schools, research suggests that they sometimes struggle to decide which incidents to report. In this study, we investigate Swedish schoolteachers’ reflections on dealing with bullying, harassment, and degrading treatment, and on balancing their pedagogical work with juridical demands to report. The study is based on qualitative interviews conducted with teachers at three comprehensive schools in Sweden, which were analysed in relation to Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological framework. The findings demonstrate that teachers make judgement calls regarding which incidents to report and that these influence and are influenced by micro-, meso-, exo-, macro- and chronosystem factors. The findings also suggest that increasing demands for professional accountability negatively affect the professional responsibility of teachers and may lead to them making judgement calls that are not always in the best interests of the children for whom they have responsibility.

ABSTRACT Three decades have passed since the start of the largest immigration wave in Israeli history, comprised of around one million Russian-speaking Jews from the FSU. This study examines the professional and personal experiences of individuals from the “1.5 generation” – those who immigrated in childhood – now employed as senior faculty in Israeli academia. Recent studies have examined the integration of immigrants from this “1.5 generation” into Israeli society, and their sense of identity and belonging. However, no study has focused on the integration of this generation within academia. The study uses a narrative approach, emphasising participants’ stories from their own perspectives, focusing on subjective processes of integration and professional identity formation. We employ the notion of cultural, social, and resilience capitals to shed light on integration hurdles faced by immigrants – from a community largely perceived as a model minority within Israeli society – when accessing elite social spaces. Our findings highlight differences in the cultural, social, and resilience capitals required and valued in their new environment. Our participants shared how they creatively forged new forms of capitals, sometimes by assimilating completely, sometimes by rebelling and emphasising their separate identity, as well as developing super resilience capital based on international connections.

ABSTRACT Undergirded by “economic theory of the principal–agent problem”, the study investigated secondary school teachers’ perception of the influence of large-scale testing accountability on teaching and learning. Cross-sectional survey design was used. Simple random sampling was also employed to select 200 teachers for this study. The exploratory factor analysis results showed that although large-scale testing accountability serves as a motivational factor for teachers to be more productive, it puts pressure on teachers and students. Teachers reported teaching to the test (i.e. washback) and spending a lot of instructional time preparing students for the test. Teachers suggested that large-scale testing results should not be seen as the sole basis for teacher effectiveness. Rather, they indicated that large-scale testing results should be used to foster equitable distribution of educational resources and support teachers’ professional development to enhance teaching and learning. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

ABSTRACT In this article, we explore and discuss how the clustering of values in local educational governance manifests in the case of inclusion. Public values and the role that these play as mediating factors are important in local governance processes; however, they are often overlooked in empirical studies. Inclusion is interesting because it is currently one of the most dominant political aims in education. Based on extensive data from interviews with municipal administrators in Norway, the following three aspects were important in their meaning-making around inclusive education: (1) an assumed common understanding of inclusion, (2) a general approach to adaptation and (3) a broad view on school development. These largely reflected public values, such as equality and participation, rule of law and accountability, professional autonomy and innovation. However, because the values are clustered in particular ways, inclusion largely becomes a practical and didactic issue. This is important to discuss as the municipal level arguably needs to be involved in analytical discussions to enhance inclusive education. Professional autonomy and accountability are both emphasised and may create value conflicts. How public sector values are mediated and clustered with each other should be discussed, as how this is done give directions for educational practices.

ABSTRACT This article presents an interview study with seven newly-graduated male teachers in Icelandic compulsory schools. We interviewed them five times during their first two years of teaching. The focus is on the ways in which the gender of the novice teachers mattered in the expectations that they experienced and how these expectations interacted with the professional demands of being a teacher. The interviews reveal that hegemonic masculinity ideas have an impact on the minds of our interviewees as they experienced various expectations, based in such masculinity. The findings also suggest a tension between the expectations of men as natural disciplinarians and the professional induction of learning to become a teacher. Male-specific expectations included that the school as well as parents expected that the students had respect for them on the grounds that they were men. While such expectations gave some a head start with positional authority, it laid a burden on them as novices. Not all of our interviewees fitted the male-specific expectations, which supports the importance of breaking down gendered stereotypes. In recruiting teachers, regardless of gender, we need individuals able to perform professional practices of care and attention to detail in managing a classroom.

ABSTRACT Modern school education consists of a mosaic of over-pluralism of cultures, languages, ethnicities, abilities and other characteristics. Under these circumstances, educational systems face the challenge of providing high-quality educational services in order to maintain and sustain social justice. In this respect, inclusive and intercultural education can be the catalysts of change. Nevertheless, what is argued in this article is the need to overcome the dipole created between the two pedagogical paradigms which often inhibits rather than reinforces social justice. Therefore, we should not approach the two paradigms through discrete focuses, but we should pave the way for a third perspective through a blended and comparative approach. At the same time, we make the case that sustainability should become the cornerstone of such endeavour, leading to Sustainable Intercultural and Inclusive Education (SIIE) aiming to benefit all students not only of this but of future generations.