A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Swedish free school companies going global: Spatial imaginaries and movable pedagogical ideas




AuthorsRönnberg Linda, Alexiadou Nafsika, Benerdal Malin, Carlbaum Sara, Holm Ann-Sofie, Lundahl Lisbeth

PublisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Publication year2021

Journal:Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy

eISSN2002-0317

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1080/20020317.2021.2008115

Web address https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20020317.2021.2008115

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/69215067


Abstract

Enabled by market-oriented policies implemented in the early 1990s, a nation-wide for-profit education industry has emerged and flourished in Sweden. As a more recent expansion strategy, Swedish school companies have begun exporting their school and early childhood education and care services internationally. In this article, three such companies and a selection of the foreign operations they have set up are studied to analyse how they describe the education services they are establishing in the new national settings. The findings show that the companies have developed and followed different edu-business models, using and transforming particular pedagogical ideas and connecting them to different spatial imaginaries. These include the Swedish/Scandinavian as both places and idealized spaces, infused with borderless global transformative spatial imaginaries on the creation of autonomous learners and futuristic education visions for global futures. Educational profiles and concepts from the Swedish context are both adjusted and marketed to the foreign settings, and entail stories on spaces and mobilities, encompassing pedagogy, teachers and students.


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