Euopean Educational Research Journal, Volume 1, Number 4, 2002

From Centralisation to Decentralisation:

governance of education in Sweden
LISBETH LUNDAHL
Ume University, Sweden

ABSTRACT This article draws on interviews with Swedish system actors, at

national and local levels, to consider the impact of changes in the governance of
education in Sweden, which have been characterised as a shift from
centralisation to decentralisation. The respondents discuss their explanations of
change, putting emphasis on social and economic developments, and consider
alterations in the relationships between the centre, the localities and the
institutions. Change is mostly seen as both inevitable and positive: only a
minority raise concerns about the impact of deregulation on inequalities.

Introduction
Up to the end of the 1970s Swedish education policy and governance could be
characterised as highly centralised and regulated. The major education reforms
in the post-war period, with a strong focus on equality goals, were largely
concerned the organisation and structure of the school system. They were
initiated from the central level, and their implementation was governed by the
state through a number of different mechanisms. These mechanisms included
detailed national curricula, a variety of earmarked state subsidies and a vast
number of other regulations concerning resources, organisation, staffing and
the control of work in education.
In the late 1970s and 1980s a new reform or governance strategy was
implemented, which has often, somewhat inaccurately, been labelled as
decentralisation and deregulation. This new strategy was not confined to
education, but was perhaps most obvious in that field. The changes of
governance were formulated and elaborated by both socialist and non-socialist
governments, using somewhat different sets of arguments. Among Social
Democrats and the Left, there was growing dissatisfaction with the fact that
schools did not live up to expectations in erasing or at least reducing social
differences based on class, gender and geographical origin. The changed
steering strategy was introduced against this background by the Social
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Democratic Government in the 1980s. It was believed that resources were

better used and the task of creating good quality and more equal education
better addressed if means and methods were chosen at the local level rather
than by the central state. At the same time, the emerging neo-liberal criticism
of the inefficiency of the public sector in general, and of schools in particular
for being inefficient, expensive and too uniform, gained momentum as the
Social Democrats failed to provide alternatives to the old policies and
strategies. Such critique formed the basis of the subsequent education reforms
of the non-socialist parties in office in 1991-94 (Kallos & Lundahl-Kallos, 1994).
These changes in Swedish education policy have been characterised as a
shift from centralism, universalism, social engineering and consensus to
decentralisation, particularism and polarisation, with ideas of the market and
economy as structuring principles (Lindblad & Wallin, 1993; Englund 1993,
1994) This shift took place through a number of decisions that meant increased
local responsibility and freedom, particularly for the professionals, i.e.
teachers and school leaders, to choose the best methods to attain the centrally
formulated goals. Educational change was thus to a large extent initiated,
planned and implemented at the local level, and involved partly new actors.
The non-socialist government in 1991-94 took more far-reaching steps toward
local autonomy than the Social Democrats had previously done; for example,
decisions promoting the establishment of independent schools, the
introduction of vouchers, and the provision of state subsidies as lump sums to
the municipalities (Kallos & Lundahl-Kallos, 1994).
The Interview Study
In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 Swedish education politicians and
administrators who have been powerful in shaping and implementing Swedish
education policies at the national and local level in the 1990s. The aim of this
study is to describe and analyse how leading actors, from their special positions
and outlooks, understand the education policy changes that have taken place
in the last 10-15 year period, the forces and motives behind these changes and
their social consequences, respectively. We were interested not only in what
they describe, but how they describe it: which foci, concepts, categories and
metaphors are chosen?
This article focuses on what the interviews tell us about social and
educational change: the context, the contents and actors, and the conclusions
that are drawn. A small number of politicians and officials were interviewed
about their views of important changes in education and education politics in
the last 10-15 year period, and particularly changes in education governance
and changed social patterns within schools and in a wider social context.
At the central level, six education actors were interviewed: two former
school ministers (one Conservative, the other Social Democrat) and the
chairmen of the two biggest teacher unions (the Swedish Teachers Union and
the National Union of Teachers) We also interviewed the Managing Director
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of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities, and the Director General of

the Swedish Agency of Education. In all, two women and four men were
interviewed at the central level.
The six interviewed local politicians come from a small inland
municipality in the north of Sweden (here called The Forest) and from two
semi-autonomous municipality areas (The Garden and The Park) in one of the
cities in southern Sweden (South City). Among the 10 semi-autonomous city
areas, we chose two that had the greatest differences in average incomes, share
of social welfare recipients and degree of unemployment.
From each of the three local areas, one politician representing the
political majority and one the largest opposition party were selected. In all,
three Social Democrats, two Conservatives and one Liberal politician (two
women, four men) were interviewed at the local level. Four of the local
politicians were members of city area authorities, i.e. boards that did not
exclusively deal with school matters, but with a wide range of local issues
(elderly care, childcare, social welfare, etc.) In all cases but one they were the
chairs and vice-chairs of these authorities. Two local politicians were chair and
former vice-chair of the local school board in their municipality.
The parliamentary and municipal elections in September 1998 meant
that many politicians left their posts and were replaced. In such cases,
politicians who had recently resigned were selected for interviews (the two
former ministers, one local politician), and a local board member who was not
a chair/vice-chair in another case. We did this in order to get the necessary
perspective of change and change over time in the interviews. With few
exceptions, the selected politicians and officials have an overview of education
policy of at least 15 years.
Several of the researchers in Walford (1994) conclude that the powerful
in education in many ways are easier to interview than other less resourceful
persons, as the former are used to expressing themselves in educational
matters and are well informed about research and scientific methods. I have
drawn the same conclusions here as well as in my earlier work in the politics
of education. All actors who were asked to participate in the present study did
so, and with apparent interest and openness. As is pointed out by Walford and
others, there may also be pitfalls, e.g. that high education politicians and
officials are more skilled in avoiding answering sensitive questions than other
respondents. It was not my impression in the different interview situations
that the actors did so, and neither was it apparent when I analysed the
transcripts afterwards. Nevertheless, one has to keep in mind that these actors
are being asked to critically examine a development which they partly
contributed to shaping, and therefore are being asked to critically evaluate
their own political importance and wisdom, which of course is not a simple
task.

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Education and Education Policy Change:

analyses and evaluations of the actors
Most actors share a couple of components in their descriptions of changes in
education and governance of education. Practically all bring up the transition
from governance by rules to governance by objectives and the increased professional
responsibilities of teachers and school leaders as central aspects of educational
change. Most actors argue that the new national curriculum guides and syllabi
from 1994 are important. The decision to transfer employer responsibilities
from the state to the municipalities is pointed out by many local politicians, by
the chairmen of the teacher union associations and the managing director of
the Swedish Association of Local Authorities. Also, the shift of responsibility
for public childcare to schools and the introduction of pre-school classes for 6
year-olds were pointed out by several local and some central actors as being
important changes in the 1990s.
Generally, it is concluded that local steering factors have become more
important, while the number and range of central governance mechanisms
have been reduced. The national curriculum guides and syllabi are the only
central governance instruments still recognised as powerful by most central
and local actors. In addition, a few politicians and officials at the central level
regard other instruments, i.e. the grading system, national timetables,
inspections and evaluations of the National Agency of Education and teacher
education, as important governance mechanisms. However, none of the local
politicians mentioned any of them. Almost all of the local politicians and
several central actors argued that economic factors, particularly the municipal
budget, play a crucial role. Also, three out of six local politicians stressed the importance of locally formulated education goals.
Narratives of Educational Change
On the whole, the narratives of education change display more common traits
than conflicting views. This broad consensus was found in earlier policy text
analysis regarding general characteristics of social and labour market changes
in Sweden (Lundahl, 2000). In the system actor interview, central actors tend
to give a comprehensive and elaborate analysis of the schools changed role in
society in general, while local actors, to a large extent, evaluate education
change against the specific local context.
The rapidity of social change, often described as a transition from an
industrial society to a knowledge- and information-based society, is stressed in
almost all interviews:
The pace of change in society is so rapid that you can be certain that you dont
know which knowledge children will need, only that you need quite different
forms of knowledge, and more qualified knowledge. (Former Social Democratic
School Minister)

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Change includes new work tasks and the introduction of new technologies,
rapid generation of new knowledge, a rich flow of information from many
sources and loss of old values and authorities. Furthermore, local conditions
have become increasingly divergent, and there is a growing need to use
resources in ways that make use of these local conditions:
The conditions are so different that you cannot govern from above any longer.
(Social Democratic politician, The Park)

Many actors, particularly the local politicians, refer to the worsened economic
situation of the municipalities and the budget cuts in the 1990s, and argue that
the local budget tends to have priority over national curriculum goals. The
decision to decentralise the responsibility for economic distribution to the
municipalities is perceived as crucial by most local actors, but is only
mentioned by some of the central actors, primarily the teacher union
representatives:
The changed system of state subsidies ... is a very big change. During the first year
there was a lump sum directed to schools, and that was not such a big problem ...
Later the municipality got a sack of money. Then the problems started; it was
difficult to deliver the message that the municipality had the responsibility. (Social
Democratic politician, The Forest)

In The Forest, which is sparsely populated, and has lost a large number of jobs
in the last 10-15 years, education change is related to the specific demographic
and labour market context of the municipality. In the City, the influx of new
citizens is seen as an important change, and in The Garden, the rapidly
changed ethnic composition of the population is a central theme:
I went to school in The Garden myself, and it is quite another school today than it
was then. In the seventies ethnic segregation was different. It is more razor-sharp
today. Then there was workforce immigration. Now it is refugees from other
countries, and there are so many more. It results in new tasks for schools. (Social
Democratic politician, The Garden)

New Demands, New Actors

Changes are not only structural, as local parents and teachers demand more influence over schools. Schools and teachers lost their former unquestioned
authority as the general level of education rose, and children were confronted
with facts and experiences from many sources other than school. Now schools
and teachers must actively earn their legitimacy. Education development must
start at the local level and build upon teachers professional knowledge and on
active support from the parents. It may be noted that central actors, in
particular, discuss this theme, and in somewhat different ways. While the
former Conservative School Minister talks about a freedom of choice
movement, others see it as a growing realisation by decision-makers that
education governance had to change in order to be effective:
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During the same time there was a rather strong movement for cooperative daycare a movement for freedom of choice, and ... for alternatives. Part of the
decentralisation was about allowing local schools to make use of their
prerequisites and develop their own profiles. (Former Conservative School
Minister)
There was a realisation that education development has to originate from the
reality in schools. (Leading representative of the Swedish Association of Local
Authorities)

Local actors are generally perceived as increasingly important, whereas the

influence of the traditional central actors (i.e. the School Minister, the
Parliament, the National Agency of Education) has been reduced. On the
other hand, central organisations representing the local actors, particularly the
Swedish Association of Local Authorities, but also the central teacher union
organisations, are perceived as more influential today than previously. Several
respondents mention an expensive advertising campaign in 1998 launched by
the National Teachers Union, which caught a lot of attention. Some argue that
mass media are increasingly powerful in setting the agenda of education
politics.
Teachers and school leaders are regarded as powerful actors by most of
the respondents. Local politicians are referred to in a number of interviews,
while opinions differ considerably regarding the possibilities for and
motivation of parents and students in influencing what is going on in school:
Contents of education in a broad sense are decided by the teachers, the Parliament
and government ... but when it comes to the external conditions, which also shape
schools, the municipalities and parents have a decisive influence. (Former Social
Democratic School Minister)
Parents have never been as important as they are today. But there is a big lack of
commitment and interest. Very few take a day off to follow their children in
school. ... When we [the Conservatives] were in office in 1991-94, we created
prerequisites for independent schools etc. ... If one had not put a check on this ... I
think we automatically had stronger commitment from parents [because] then
they had become responsible in another way. (Conservative politician, The Park)

It is notable that none of the respondents refer to industry or local interest

organisations and groups as important actors. Similarly, none of the
interviewed actors refer to international actors as crucial to change in
education in Sweden. However, international contacts and exchanges are
developing at all levels, and may have important effects in the long run. Also,
international comparative reports such as Education at a Glance (Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development) are regarded by several of the
respondents as influential.
Central actors, in particular, express surprise over what they consider as
slowness or lack of interest of local actors in making use of the new de-

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centralised system. The former Conservative Minister says that they still wait
for directives from the National Board of Education. Several actors, both local
and central, point to the difficulties of changing the attitudes of the subject
teachers of lower and upper secondary school, who, according to those interviewed, continue to stubbornly defend their subject and their hours.
Views differ concerning the possibilities and limits of education politics
and how well and consciously they have responded to the social changes
described above. A pessimistic view is expressed by a local Social Democrat:
Regardless of level, the space for political action has decreased because of
internationalisation and changed labour market conditions. The problems are
formulated elsewhere at the universities, in the media and the cultural sphere ...
(Social Democratic politician, The Garden)

Necessary Change
Many of the politicians and officials bring up increasing differences between
schools and municipalities, and difficulties of maintaining equal national
standards of education, as a major problem of the development they have
described:
Thats the problem: how to maintain a nationally equivalent education when you
go from governance by rules to governance by objectives, and the municipalities
actually are responsible. (Chairman of the National Union of Teachers)
I am still not overly happy with the fact that the municipalities have this
responsibility. I fear that we will destroy Swedish education. You cannot compare
a student from The Forest with a student from South City any more, which was
possible in the old system. I fear that we will not be able to uphold a national
education of equal quality. (Social Democratic politician, The Forest)

However, without exception, the system actors describe the development

from a highly centralised and regulated form of education governance to the
current situation, where local actors have a high degree of freedom to choose
how to implement national education goals and policies, as an unavoidable
and necessary change. None of the 12 actors advocate a return to the old
system, though some of them argue that the state should take initiatives to
partially strengthen national control in order to secure equality of education:
Deregulation was necessary school had to find its place in society School had
to become reality related. (Conservative politician, The Garden)
If one looks at social development at large, this was a completely unavoidable
change. The old system was very hierarchical with few possibilities to influence
the local situation. (Chairman of the Swedish Teachers Union)

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I think it has been a necessary process to make parents and students more
involved, to make schools more autonomous, and allow more commitment.
(Former Social Democratic School Minister)
This was a necessary change. (Former Conservative School Minister)

The further local decentralisation process in South City the reform of 10

semi-autonomous city areas in 1996, initiated by the local Social Democratic
majority is clearly a matter of conflict. The Social Democrats interviewed
stress the democratic aspects of the reform, but the Conservatives argue that it
has led to increased bureaucracy, and is based on unfair principles of resource
distribution.
New Students, Teachers and School Leaders
Discussion of change with central actors was not confined to changes in policy,
but also produced illuminating material about how system-level actors
perceived school-level actors in the new situation. The interviews demonstrate
a rather high degree of consensus concerning what is now demanded of a
Swedish student, a teacher and a school leader in order to be able to manage
successfully in the new context. The image of the student is made up of such
characteristics as commitment, autonomy, self-confidence, and ability to take
initiatives, to select and apply information:
The ability to help oneself otherwise things may go wrong. The willingness to
learn something new. (Managing Director of Swedish Association of Local
Authorities)
The big change at present, and the quite decisive one, is personal commitment.
That is true for everyone [teachers, school leaders, students authors addition].
You cannot, in any way, succeed with your education if you are passive as a
student. (Former Social Democratic School Minister)

In addition to the older demands of subject knowledge and ability to teach,

teachers have to assume a number of new roles. Also, they cannot function
alone but have to work as part of a team. Commitment, social competence
and knowledge of the world outside school are demanded, many respondents
argue. Today teachers must lay claim to authority and legitimacy; nothing is
automatic any more:
A lot is demanded. New demands are added to the earlier ones, i.e. to be proficient
in your subject area and skilled in teaching. Today a teacher must also be a person
who is part of decisions, who decides over resources, and takes more of a
supervisory role towards students. Generally ... to be a social model and work
with the whole individual has become much more important. You could say that
the demands on a good teacher today are almost superhuman. It is a much wider
role, and teachers also have to set priorities, how to spend their time. (Chairman
of the National Union of Teachers in Sweden)

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The teacher must be aware of the world around the student, and respect it. The
teacher must see the parent as a resource and not as a burden. Above all
commitment is required. The time has gone when the teacher was an authority.
The teacher has got to conquer authority him/herself. (Social Democratic
politician, The Garden)

School leaders have become increasingly important, and their work much
more difficult than previously, when they could depend on thick volumes of
central rules. Schools need good educational leaders, but too much time is
spent on administration, it is argued in the interviews:
I think we generally have the wrong school leaders,. The school leader should be
the didactic leader, with an educational base ... to push educational development
forward. ... The school should never negotiate itself away from the classroom. On
the other hand, the school leader may very well negotiate himself away from the
economic parts, the administration, and so on. But today it is the opposite.
(Conservative politician, The Garden)

Changes in the Governance of

Education and their Impact on Inequalities
Both changed forms of governance and economic cuts have contributed to
growing differences among students and schools, which is regarded as clearly
negative. In order to change this, stronger steering from the state is required,
even if a high degree of decentralisation and deregulation is still necessary to
make use of teachers and school leaders professional knowledge. The
chairmen of the two teacher unions are the ones who most clearly voice this
view. It is also reflected to some degree in the Liberal and Social Democrat
politicians:
Economic cuts and the economic part of the so-called freedom of choice are the
factors that have meant most for social segregation. Decentralisation and
deregulation were necessary, but have gone too far. The state has got to take back
some of its governance instruments in order to secure a nationally equal
education. (Chairman of the Swedish Teachers Union)

Increased social differences are seen as mainly due to factors outside the school
system. It is believed that changed forms of governance may either help good
schools to become much better, or they can compensate for social inequalities.
In these terms, decentralisation and deregulation play a positive social role, as
they empower committed local actors to make the best of the structural
conditions. However, there are concerns that the changed steering of
education has clear social risks and drawbacks. The concept of national
equality of education is still central. All four Social Democrats and the local
Liberal politician express this view. The National Agency of Education
representative also expresses this view, but his response is more complex and
problematic than the others:
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As a whole, it is necessary and beneficial that committed teachers, parents, and

children are given wider possibilities of action and autonomy but it may result
in increased social differences, and to some extent has already done so. You create
a much bigger space for involved teachers, parents and students. Some schools
have drawn away and become awfully good when they got the new freedom.
(Former Social Democratic School Minister)
The greater freedom at the local level is both troublesome and positive. We no
longer have equal education in Sweden, which worries me. But now we have
possibilities to develop school from our conditions, not from a Stockholm
perspective. In The Forest we have succeeded in protecting education to a great
extent, when economic reductions were made. Also we have succeeded in integrating different age levels in school. (Social Democratic politician, The Forest)

The remaining respondents, who are the three Conservative politicians and
the Managing Director of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities, see the
devolved system, with education in the hands of responsible and active
teachers, parents and principals, as positive, and the concept of national-level
action to ensure equality is nearly absent from their responses. Most of these
respondents expect positive effects of greater local and individual freedom, and
express a certain irritation about the slowness of local actors in realising the
full potential of change:
Generally school decreases social differences, but the economic cuts in the nineties
have reduced its ability to do so. In the long run, with a balanced economy, the
decentralised, deregulated system is better, as local actors become motivated to
govern and have an interest in promoting education, as it is a crucial growth
factor. (Managing Director of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities)
Swedish adult education has an important class-levelling role. But school contributes to social differentiation by its one-sided belief in academic knowledge,
which diminishes other abilities. Deregulation is necessary if schools are to find
their proper place in society, but it takes a long time before deregulation and
decentralisation penetrate the local level. The local actors are so used to regulation
that they do not see the possibilities. Basic questions are: How do you perceive the
task of education? On whose behalf do you work? Who owns the school?
(Conservative politician, The Garden)

Summary and Final Comments

The interviews with 12 actors who were powerful in Swedish education politics and policy-making in the 1990s may be understood as a kind of political
and ideological map. Which categories and concepts are crystallised and
foregrounded? Which are disregarded or consigned to the shadows (cf.
Popkewitz et al, 1999)? Or, taking Therborns (1980) analysis of different
ideological ways of appealing to the subjects, what is supposed to exist (and

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not to exist) in the 12 interviews? What is considered as good, normal and fair
(and bad, abnormal and unfair)? What is perceived as possible and impossible?
The 12 interviewed actors share several perceptions; most significantly
those of ongoing changes in Swedish society and the labour market, and the
changed requirements of schools and for young people. All actors maintain
that the developments towards increased local freedom as a means of finding
different ways to realise national goals in education have been positive and/or
necessary. To varying degrees, risks in connection with such developments are
noted. In all the interviews such concepts as professional and personal
responsibility, commitment and initiative, trust and legitimacy are prominent.
An actors perspective is in the foreground as educational change is described.
To simplify, the interviews reflect that individual actors have increased their
strength in relation to collective actors, local in relation to central, and
professional in relation to political.
Only a minority conclude that the changed governance of education has
negative effects in terms of increased social differentiation and exclusion. The
majority point out that education or lack of education has become a decisive
criterion in the social selection process. Those who have only a short or
incomplete education, insufficient knowledge in Swedish, lack self-confidence
or communication ability, run a considerably higher risk of social
marginalisation than 15 years ago. But most of the respondents do not express
this as a condition that may be affected by education politics or education itself
to any great extent.
As has been pointed out earlier, a return to the older governance system
is not regarded as desirable or possible. Nor do any of the 12 interviewees
conclude that, as important education actors, they could or should have done
anything differently. The decisions taken were reasonable and even necessary.
One of the teacher union chairmen is somewhat isolated in the argument that
Parliament and government actually could take back the power now delegated
to the local level. Instead, it is suggested that education governance may be
further improved through clarification of education goals and tasks by the
state, and a more effective and comprehensive control of results. However,
the possibility of strengthening the states role in economic management is
hardly mentioned. Practically no one suggests targeted education subsidies or
economic sanctions if municipalities do not meet national goals and
prescriptions.
As was pointed out in the introduction to this article, Swedish education
politics has undergone a marked ideological shift in the 1980s and 1990s, when
an earlier dominant comprehensive equity orientation was challenged by and
merged with a neo-liberally influenced pluralistic and individualistic one.
These interviews reflect this development. According to the liberal and neoliberal specialisation paradigm, the state and politics should interfere as little as
possible with individual freedom and responsibility, but, rather, if anything,
promote them. Certainly, only a minority of the respondents may be labelled
as liberals or neo-liberals. But the majority of the interviews reflect an
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unwillingness to return to stronger state governance, even if one judges that

the increased local and individual freedom has social risks and costs. One may
therefore question the extent to which the idea of the strong society still
exists in the field of education today, and whether it is considered as possible
or even desirable any more.
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Free Choice and Market-oriented Schools. Problems and Promises, Report from the
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privatization, religiousization, languageization , in D. Kalls & S. Lindblad (Eds)
New Policy Contexts for Education: Sweden and United Kingdom, Educational Reports,
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Kalls, D. & Lundahl-Kalls, L. (1994) Recent Changes in Teachers Work in Sweden
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Lundahl, L. (2000) A New Kind of Order: Swedish policy texts related to governance,
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Public Discourses on Education Governance and Social Integration and exclusion:
analyses of policy texts in European contexts. Uppsala Reports on Education 36,
pp. 166-204. Department of Education, Uppsala University.
Popkewitz, T.S., Lindblad, S. & Strandberg, J. (1999) Review of Research on Education
Governance and Social Integration and Exclusion. Uppsala Reports on Education
35. Department of Education, Uppsala University.
Therborn, G. (1980) The Ideology of Power and the Power of Ideology. London: Verso.
Walford, G. (Ed.) (1994) Researching the Powerful in Education. London: UCL Press.

LISBETH LUNDAHL is a professor in pedagogical work in the Faculty of

Education at Ume University, Sweden. Her main research field is education
policy and modern education history. Correspondence: Lisbeth Lundahl,
Department of Child and Youth Education, Special Education and
Counselling, Ume University, S-901 Sweden (lisbeth.lundahl@educ.umu.se).

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