Religious literacy in the curriculum in compulsory education in Austria, Scotland and Sweden - a three-country policy comparison

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Constructing the "Good Citizen": Discourses of Social Inclusion in Swedish Civic Orientation

Sweden has long been described as a beacon of multiculturalism and generous access to citizenship, with integration policies that seek to offer free and equal access to the welfare state. In this article, we use the policy of Civic Orientation for Newly Arrived Migrants as a case with which to understand how migrants' inclusion is discursively articulated and constructed by the different constituencies involved in interpreting the policy and organising and teaching the course. We do this by employing Foucault's closely interrelated concepts of technology of self, political technology of individuals, and governmentality. With the help of critical discourse analysis, we illustrate how migrants' inclusion is framed around an opposition between an idealised "good citizen" and a "target population" (Schneider & Ingram, 1993). In our analysis, we draw on individual interviews with 14 people involved in organising civic orientation and on classroom observations of six civic orientation courses. Firstly, we show how migrants are constructed as unknowing and in need of being fostered by the state. Secondly, we illustrate how social inclusion is presented as being dependent upon labour market participation, both in terms of finding work and in terms of behaving correctly in the workplace. Lastly, we show how migrant women are constructed as being problematically chained to the home and therefore needing to subject themselves to a specific political technology of self to be included

Locating Sweden in Time and Space: National Chronotopes in Civic Orientation for Adult Migrants

The aim of this article is to use courses in civic orientation for newly arrived adult migrants in Sweden as the empirical entry point from which to investigate whether, and if so, how, civic values are tied to the Swedish nation through specific discourses and narratives. With the help of a framework that brings together theorisations of the discursive construction of the nation with the notions of the chronotope and ‘social narratives’, the article demonstrates how narratives within civic orientation are characterised by specific spatio-temporal moves that discursively construct Sweden as a nation-state. Such national chronotopes are not innocuous but are part of a rhetoric of nationalism that constructs a linear and comprehensive story of prosperity and superiority, not least vis-à-vis some other geographical areas in the world. As such, the analysis seeks to contribute to the burgeoning scholarship on civic orientation programmes by offering further empirical evidence of the shapes such programmes take, and how civic values become nationalised. With the help of the notion of the chronotope, the article also seeks to add some fresh perspectives to scholarship on nationalism and othering by showing mundane spatio-temporal moves in the production of a ‘national imaginary’ (Calhoun 2017)

Exploring the Concept of Ambiguity out from Simone de Beauvoir and Paulo Freire : a Lens to Contemporary Education

This essay explores the concept of ambiguity out from an understanding developed by the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. She was one of existentialism’s leading exponents, and her work entitled Ethics of Ambiguity (2018[1947]) works as a starting point. The concept of ambiguity is further explored from an educational view, with the help of the Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire who was influenced by the French existentialist thinking. The essay ends discussing some current themes in education, with the insights brought out by the explorations of the concept of ambiguity by de Beauvoirand Freire

READY : Insights and analysis of aspects of religious education in European contexts

This document constitutes one of the intellectual outputs (IO5) of the Erasmus+ project Religious Education and Diversity (READY): Sharing experiences of and approaches to teacher education in the context of "Education and Training 2020." This paper summarizes, structures and analysis the READY material. It deals with student teachers' and teacher trainers' reflections on study visits, on student teachers' lesson planning and teaching,reflection papers, the produced DVDs and several other papers that are available on the READY website. See: http://www.readyproject.eu/The READY project is co-funded by the European Union. This text reflects the views only of the authors, and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.Religious Education and Diversity (READY

Exploring the Concept of Race in Swedish Educational Research after WWII : A Research Overview

Research about race and racism(s) has helped to explain power relations and differences in education. However, it has been difficult to have a theoretical lens using the concept of race and racism(s) accepted in areas of education, as well as in educational research in Sweden. Issues formulated in terms of race and racism(s) are controversial and there is strong resistance to talk about race. This article provides an overview of research in education using the concepts of race, racism(s), and/or racialization in Sweden after World War II. The aim is to investigate educational research where these concepts come into use, how this research is framed, the findings of the studies, as well as nuances and tendencies in educational research using the concept of race. The article locates the historical view of the concept of race and its use in Sweden and argues that the history and unresolved political issues around eugenics and race come into play and contribute to the hesitation and avoidance of the use of the concept.

2083 – A European Declaration of Independence - An Analysis of Discourses from the Extreme

This paper analyses three of the dominating discourses Anders Behring Breivik used in his compendium, the official title of which is 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence, also known as Breivik's Manifesto. It is believed Breivik posted his Manifesto on the Internet shortly before the attacks in Norway in July, 2011. The number 2083 stands for the year when the "Western European Civil War" was expected to be completed, all traitors executed, and all Muslims deported from Europe. This article will discuss dominating discourses in the Manifesto, seen from a background of a European multicultural backlash, in which the political far-right movement is increasing. Furthermore, this article will end with a discussion of education and the importance of analysis of such phenomena within different subjects

Skolan är en lättköpt arena - livskunskap i kritisk belysning

During the last decade a school subject with the designation of Life Competence Education ("Livskunskap" in Swedish) has emerged in many Swedish schools. The aim of this article is to describe and analyse the subject Life Competence Education, its historical and ideological roots and current place in the curricula of some selected schools. The article is based on analyses of policy documents, interviews and participant observations from fieldwork in two upper secondary schools and in one course for further training of teachers arranged by a municipality. Work by Foucault, especially on governmentality, is used as an analytic tool, as well as work developed from Foucault by Nicolas Rose and Stephen J. Ball. The analyses show that the subject Life Competence Education is constructed in many varied ways in Swedish schools due to different influences, both from the state, but also from private policy entrepreneurs (Ball, 2006). It is also shown that the SET-programme, which is only one example of programmes used for this type of education, is quite widely used in Life Competence Education in Swedish schools. In light of analyses from Foucault and Rose, I suggest that these programmes can be seen as the "psy", i.e. the "psychological domains" (Rose, 1999), entering into the educational arena and with the help of behaviouristic theories constructing "governable subjects" (Foucault, 1988, 1991). This raises questions regarding what kind of subjects are constructed in Life Competence Education, with what kind of methods, as well as how these methods are construed in the light of the Swedish National Curriculu