To Örebro University

Authorizing or auditing – national tests as a governing tool

NPM, particularly in the form of output evaluations, have had a large impact on Swedish educational reforms over the past decades. This article focuses on the governing of schools and the professional status of teachers by examining how teachers have experienced the new national tests, introduced in compulsory schools in 2014 in social study subjects. Two ideal types of governing, authorizing and auditing, provide the theoretical framework. The empirical material consists of focus group interviews. The results expose a tension in teacher experience. On the one hand, the teachers feel validated by the tests; on the other, they oppose the questioning of their profession that the tests imply. Trust is a key factor at play. The current way Swedish schools are governed signals a distrust in teachers. At the same time, the teachers display a significant level of trust in the state, combined with a limited professional confidence. This reinforces the status of teaching as a semi-profession. 

The first generation of students who started school after the large Swedish educationalreforms of decentralization and marketization in the 1990s is now enteringthe university. They have grown up in an individualized society, with a publicsector permeated by new public management ideals. The purpose of this articleis to discuss students' attitudes and approaches to studies, in the light of thesesocio-political changes, and to reflect on challenges and possibilities for teachingin higher education. With an empirical material consisting of correspondence withstudents and comments in course evaluations, we give examples of attitudes andbehaviours that can be understood as expressions of a rather demanding individualisticcustomer approach to education. We conclude by arguing that our teachingpractice must take these partly new circumstances into account. If we want tobecome better teachers, we must understand our students.

1979 infördes den första jämställdhetslagen i Sverige som syftade till att främja jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män i arbetslivet. Lagen reviderades vid flera tillfällen innan den 2009 ersattes av den nuvarande diskrimineringslagen. De svenska kommunerna har under 30 år haft i uppdrag att arbeta för ökad jämställdhet. Statistiska Centralbyrån har sedan 1984 gett ut ”På tal om kvinnor och män. Lathund om jämställdhet” vartannat år.

Denna skrift visar att det på många av livets områden återstår mycket att göra innan jämställdhet har uppnåtts. Kommunerna är centrala aktörer i jämställdhetsarbetet. De är stora arbetsgivare med en majoritet kvinnor anställda och alla svenska medborgare kommer nästan dagligen i kontakt med de kommunala verksamheterna. I detta kapitel redovisas en stor svensk kommuns jämställdhetsarbete. Undersökningen har gjorts inom ramen för ett utvärderingsprojekt som genomfördes 2004-2007. Projektet  redovisades i en skriftlig rapport (Montin, 2008).

The desire for many people today is to be professional, and many occupations seek professional status. The idea of a profession has a higher status than a mere occupation; professionals have lot of knowledge and power to decide about their own work and they can also voice opinions about others. Occupations are driven towards attaining professional status. This process is not driven by single individuals aiming to exercise power in relation to other individuals. It is a collective, national process by an occupation. The overall aim of this dissertation is to examine, describe and analyze the process of professionalization of local public managers. There are four researchtopics: a) What are the characteristics of a professional group, and do these apply to local public managers? b) How is municipal organization portrayed with regard to the roles of politicians and administrators? c) How do politicians,managers, and public servants view themselves and each other in a normative and descriptive way? d) In what ways are managers trying to increase their influence to reach a position from which it is possible to choose to follow, or notfollow, a political decision? The methods used in this research are several; a deep case study in which surveys, observations, document studies and interviews are conducted. As theoretical framework theories of power, professionalization and discourse are used to analyze the empirical material from the case study.The results show top managers’ ongoing quest for professional status. They exclude other groups in order to handle their work without interference from others – discretion, the driving force behind professionalization. Usurpation is a strategy to get into the area of the politicians. Politicians are talked of as children in need for raise and a municipality is perceived as a private business enterprise. In this discourse values such as effectiveness, customer satisfaction, competition and value-for-money are important. The municipality is heavily inspired by thei deas of New Public Management. This development is quite problematic withregard to democracy. The democratic values such as public ethics, political democracyand the rule of law – the public ethos - are not spoken of. My hope is that this dissertation can prompt managers to reflect, since I have tried to see their work from a different perspective than what they most probably use.