Inclusive education policymaking in a multi-level governance education system: the case of the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR)

Abstract

The multi-level governance education system in Sweden is complex, comprising many actors. This study focuses on one of them, which is thus far very under-researched: the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR, in Swedish SKR). We examine SALAR’s policymaking through a critical policy analysis of its policy document on the topic of inclusive education (IE). We take a poststructural perspective utilizing the analytical approach What’s the Problem Represented to be? (WPR), developed by Bacchi and Goodwin. We have identified problem representations, assumptions, and absences in the policy. The key finding is that SALAR uses the concept of IE, even though it is only vaguely defined, to govern school staff into self-governance by appealing to their presumed inclination to do ‘right’ by children, while simultaneously directing focus away from structural factors for which SALAR’s members are responsible. From a wider perspective, this is important because it shows how policy on IE is particularly well suited for governing towards self-governance in education practices, due to its positive connotations, and ambiguous meaning, which can be filled with whatever content suits the policy actor’s agenda.

Keywords

• Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions
• inclusive education
• governance
• education policy