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Postprint
This is the accepted version of a paper presented at NERA 2015, the 43rd Annual Congress of the Nordic Educational Research Association, 4-6 March 2015, Göteborg.
Citation for the original published paper:
Ferry, M. (2015)
In the wake of a deregulated school system: School sports in Sweden.
In: Abstract book (pp. 165-165). Göteborg: University of Gothenburg
N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper.
Permanent link to this version:
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-101025
Paper session
NERA network: 21. Politics of Education and Education Policy Studies
In the wake of a deregulated school system – School sports in Sweden Magnus Ferry, Department of Education, Umeå University, Sweden
magnus.ferry@umu.se Abstract (350 words)
Since the mid-1990s, the supply of school sports has increased significantly at all school levels in Sweden and today attracts a large number of pupils and teachers. This development is in the paper described in relation to major school reforms during the last three decades;
reforms that have meant that the Swedish school system has been decentralized, market adjusted, and privatised. With staring point in the neo-liberal discourse and inspired by Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework, this paper analyse the reasons for the emergence of the Swedish school sports system and the reasons why schools chose to specialise in sport.
Based on registry data and telephone interviews with 50 principals at schools offering school sports, this paper argues that a production and consumer fields have emerged, in which different producers (school companies, local schools and principals) offer different products (programs, courses) to potential consumers (pupils and parents). In light of this development, the paper argues that the main reason for the schools to offer sports is linked to increased competition on the local school markets. By specializing in sports, the schools have thus found a way to cope with the increased competition in the school market. In addition the reasons why specifically sports have emerged as a popular specialisation area are partly explained by the large number of participants in sport in Sweden, which means that there are many potential consumers. Another explanation is the many positive effects of participation in sports attributed by the sports evangelists in society. By offering school sports, schools can thereby appeal to many different needs and tastes.
In conclusion this paper show that school sports, through the described changes of the school system, have emerged as a potential commodity for sale at the local school markets, and that the primary function of school sports is to recruit pupils to the local schools. In the wake of the deregulated school system, sports in schools have thus evolved from activities that are exercised primarily as a compulsory subject to a competitive tool in the local quasi-markets.
