Erratic Subject Didactics
A Study of Conditions Antecedent to Secondary Education Reform and Their Effects on Social Science
Didactics
Shaun W. Christiani
Master Thesis Social Science ÄSHM92 Advanced Level, 30 credits Spring 2020 Teacher Training Program Supervisor: Lucas Lindahl Examiner: Peter Gustavsson
Abstract
This paper studies how changing political, economic, and social conditions in and related to Sweden affected its secondary education policy and the role that social science didactics plays. By analyzing Swedish secondary school curricula, the related social science syllabus, education act, and corresponding organizational documents, the causes for, and context of education reform become clear. The school’s purpose is to impart general abilities and knowledge that all persons will require to function in society and maintain democracy,
equality, and international solidarity. Additionally, the school is found to conform to the same template, values, and norms as the economic and political aspects of globalization and
modern democratic society. The school subject that wholely addresses general knowledge, civil abilities, and democratic values is found to be social science. Engaging social issues as a didactical tool, social science teaching imparts in students democratic values and the civil abilities to participate in society. Through the quality assurance of evaluations, knowledge requirements emerged as a policy for providing students with the opportunity to learn at one’s capacity. By meeting its knowledge requirements, social science produces students who are stewards of democratic values that, by participating in the community, contribute to social development in every venture during life after school.
Keywords: social science didactics, democratic values, globalization, social issues,
secondary education, knowledge requirements
Table of Contents 1. Introduction…1
1.1 Social science as a core subject in curricula…1 1.2 Aim and research questions…2
1.3 Simplification of terms…3 2. Methodology…4
2.1 “Quality” qualitative research…4 2.1.1 Document analysis…5 2.2 Dialectical method…6
2.3 Hermeneutic approach…7 3. Background…7
3.1 What is subject didactics?...7
3.2 Key elements of social science didactics…9 3.3 Education policy and its reformists …12 4. Theory…14
4.1 Combined production method and globalization…14 4.1.1 The EU’s role in solidifying globalization…17 4.2 Creative destruction and institutions…19
5. Analysis...22
5.1 Lgy 70 sets the stage…22 5.2 The big one: lpf 94…25
5.2.1 Democratic values become comprehensive…26 5.2.2 Lpf 94’s social science syllabus and its didactics…29 5.3 Evaluations and reform…33
5.4 Lgy 11 and knowledge requirements…37
5.4.1 Current social science didactics…40 5.5 Closing remarks and discussion…45
6. Conclusion…46
7. References…47
1 1. Introduction
1.1 Social Science as a Core Subject in Curricula
In European Union (EU) countries (Members), secondary school curricula are
typically designed to prepare students for higher education, provide vocational skills deemed relevant to employment, or both (European Commission, 2019). The core subjects of the different curricula should, therefore, reflect a more advanced — than compulsory school — form of general education that anyone seeking higher education, vocational skills, or
maneuverability in a complex society may acquire. The European Commission’s (2009) goal for Members’ education systems is the development of national curricula that ensure, “The personal, social and professional fulfillment of all citizens; sustainable economic prosperity and employability, whilst promoting democratic values, social cohesion, active citizenship, and intercultural dialogue” (p. 3). Regarding the nature of these non-binding objectives — democratic values, socialization, and cross-border solidarity —, this paper finds that social science is a significant school subject which substantially addresses, as well as in which the subject didactics aims to fulfill all of these mentioned objectives (Sandahl, 2018).
Language and mathematics are virtually universal core subjects in the different
Members’ secondary school curricula (European Commission, 2019). Social science appears
consistently as a core secondary subject in the curricula of the Nordic countries while, in
comparison, its appearance — or lack thereof — varies among the other Members’ curricula
(2019; Sandahl, 2018). Social science being excluded from some secondary curricula while
being universally favored in the Nordics may not necessarily be an example of differences in
perspective about education policy nor should it be interpreted as an example of political
repression. A secondary education’s purpose is to impart abilities that may improve or
accelerate a person’s “position” in the community (Englund, 2005). Thus, social science as a
core subject is a positive aspect of secondary school leaving qualifications because it imparts
2 and addresses civil abilities, general knowledge, and democratic values which may improve social development both individually and on a larger, local scale.
All Members retain autonomy over their education policy so the previously mentioned European Commission’s goals for education only exist as consultative advice.
Social science’s placement as a secondary core subject, therefore, is at the mercy of each Members’ education politics.
1.2 Aim and Research Questions
Drawing from the terms and concepts above in 1.1, this paper may develop a framework for qualitative research:
• Secondary education.
• Social science.
• Subject didactics.
• Education politics and policy.
• The Nordics, and by association, the EU and Western countries.
This paper aims to analyze which political, economic, and social conditions in Sweden affected its secondary education policy and the role that social science didactics may play. By carrying out this study, the author intends to contribute to the developing knowledge and research base of education science.
The Swedish secondary education and its associated reforms in 1970, 1994, and 2011
are the objects of study for this paper because of the previously mentioned Nordic favor of
social science as a core subject. Additionally, the latest education reforms in 1994 and 2011
were exemplary for researching the effects that a government’s political decisions about
education policy have on subject didactics. This paper has found that society’s unpredictable,
3 perpetually changing, or erratic, nature, from the past to the present, is represented in social science didactics. Therefore, this paper’s research questions sought out:
1. Which political, economic, and social conditions in or associated with Sweden contributed to or caused the education reforms of 1994 and 2011?
2. In what ways do the reformed curricula and associated social science syllabus relate to social development?
3. What trends have occurred concerning the education policy changes and social science didactics?
1.3 Simplification of Terms
This paper will, unless otherwise stated, refer solely to Swedish secondary education and the social science syllabus in the Swedish secondary school curriculum. In Sweden, there are separate curricula for compulsory education and secondary education.
Therefore, “Swedish secondary education” shall be simplified to “school”,
“education”, or “-system”. The “secondary school curriculum” and associated “social science syllabus” shall from here on be simplified to “curriculum” and “syllabus”.
The education reforms of 1970, 1994, and 2011 were revisions of the national curriculum by the Swedish government’s Ministry of Education and Research (Swedish:
Utbildningsdepartementet). The 1994 curriculum was titled “Curriculum for the non- compulsory school system” (Swedish: Läroplan för de frivilliga skolformerna), normally abbreviated and referred to as Lpf 94. The current curriculum, or the 2011 reform, is titled
“Curriculum for the upper secondary school” (Swedish: Läroplan för gymnasieskolan), the same as the 1970 version, and is abbreviated and referred to as Lgy 11. Therefore, curricula will be referred to by their common abbreviations: “Lpf 94” and “Lgy 70; Lgy 11”.
When English versions are not used, all translations from Swedish are by this paper’s author.
4 2. Methodology
2.1 “Quality” Qualitative Research
A superficial comparison of qualitative research and quantitative research may leave one with the impression that qualitative research is the more “relaxed” of the two research methods; like comparing the act of making an observation (qualitative) with solving a
mathematical equation (quantitative) (Christoffersen and Johannessen, 2015; Larsson, 2005).
Perhaps as a rebuttal to this initial assumption, one will — at a blistering frequency — come across an expression while studying qualitative research methods: “Quality in qualitative research”. Admittedly, all the qualitative research literature studied for this paper contains a reference to this expression in a chapter’s title or the entire work’s title may be a variation of the expression. This paper has determined that the appropriate way of achieving this
reputable quality shall be executed by placing the reader in acquaintance with the data and familiarizing them with the education reforms’ contexts from diverse perspectives (Yin, 2013). This will be done by first mapping out antecedent conditions, then analyzing the context and effects that the reforms have had on social science didactics.
In the background sections following methodology, this paper will set up the conditions for familiarity between the reader and the presented data. Placing the reader “in the field” and familiarizing them with the content — that this paper can be approached without the burden of knowledge prerequisites — will be done by distinguishing between descriptions and explanations of data and exercising scientific integrity (Eneroth, 1979;
Larsson, 2005; Yin, 2013).
A clear example of how this paper will distinguish between description and
explanation is the two ways that data was collected and will be presented. The dialectical
method (see 2.2) is used to explain political, economic, and social conditions that led to or
caused the education reforms. The hermeneutic approach (see 2.3) is used to describe the
5 context that the reforms occurred in. Description, explanation, dialectics, and hermeneutics are all systematically applied so that the collected data and their analyses are presented as unambiguously as possible (Larsson, 2005; Yin, 2013).
Larsson (2005) explains that qualitative research is exercised by systematically obtaining data (knowledge) about how the study object’s condition came to be; in the state that it is studied in. Therefore, scientific integrity is critical while obtaining and presenting this data. Scientific integrity is not a strict, immovable criterion of qualitative research; it can be easily described as the researcher’s adherence to transparency during the process of research as well as data collection (2005). This methodology section exists to be clear about how this paper went about the process of gathering data to generate and add to the current knowledge and research base of social science didactics. Finally, The effort that went into presenting this methodology section and the following background section is presented to conform to both quality and scientific integrity in qualitative research.
2.1.1 Document Analysis
Documents may be utilized as a valid form of data collection. When it was
determined to conduct analyses of documents to generate the data for this paper, assurance was found in Christoffersen and Johannessen (2015) and Bowen (2009) that diverse documents may be, and have historically been, exercised as the method of research, the sources of data collection, and the supplementary data or conclusive research evidence; all within the same qualitative study. Organizational documents, such as the (Swedish) teacher’s labor union: The Teacher’s Union’s (Lärarförbundets) (2001; 2018) occupational document The Teacher’s Handbook (lärarens handbok), provides critical insight into the curricular
policy and ethical principles of the teaching profession from a historical and current
perspective. This paper’s research of The Teacher’s Handbook (2001) corresponding to lpf
94 gave critical insight into how the teaching occupation was managed over the curriculum’s
6 16-year duration and additionally allowed for a dialectical analysis and hermeneutic
interpretation of lgy 11’s debut. Lgy 11 is the currently applicable curriculum, so the modern, The Teacher’s Handbook (2018) corresponding to lgy 11 is compared to the lpf 94 version.
Document analysis, therefore, generated data and, thus, conclusions were formed from the information and insight from these organizational documents. Other documents were used in addition to the two versions of The Teacher’s Handbook (2001; 2018). The other documents are written criticism, support, or previous scientific analyses and research of the education reforms and affected subject didactics; as well as Swedish government statutes, propositions, or law documents (Bowen, 2009; Christoffersen and Johannessen, 2015).
2.2 Dialectical Method
All methods and approaches of scientific theory can be criticized for grasping, solely, at evidence that can be maneuvered as essential for the specific method, and therefore, can be seen as conclusively lacking from the perspective of other approaches (Berniker and
McNabb, 2006; Brinkkjær and Høyen, 2013; Popper, 1940). This paper finds that inconsistencies in hermeneutics may be acceptably amended with the dialectical method (dialectics) while being consistent with qualitative research methodology and scientific theory (2006; Eneroth, 1979).
Hermeneutic’s focus on the context or setting of the study object gives way to a
critical — for this paper — inquiry about causes to the context being researched. Dialectics is
the qualitative observation and study of the chain of social, political, and economic events or
conditions that allow the researcher to conclusively deduce what factors led up to the studied
object. While hermeneutics argues that an object or happening cannot be understood without
studying the context that the object occurs in, dialectics supplements this argument by
demonstrating that understanding, as well as the burden evidence, is found in the timeline of
changing, erratic conditions — no matter how small or dramatic they are judged to be — that
7 led to or even may have caused the study object’s existence (Berniker and McNabb, 2006;
Brinkkjær and Høyen, 2013; Woods, 2015). This paper will observe key political, economic, and social conditions that occurred in either the society or community, related to the school, and that affected the education reforms.
[Dialectics] enables us to understand history, not as a series of unconnected and unforeseen incidents, but rather as part of a clearly understood and interrelated process. It is a series of actions and reactions which cover politics, economics, and the whole spectrum of social development. (Woods, 2015, pp. 49-50)
2.3 Hermeneutic Approach
As established, the hermeneutic approach is the study of the context that the study object occurs in. Similar to ethnographic observations, one observes the context or setting of the object. However, instead of observing and gathering data about culture and routines that exist in the studied context, a hermeneutic approach is instead interested in the significance (meaning) and the effect that the context had on the study object when it is observed
(Brinkkjær and Høyen, 2013; Yin, 2013). The significance and effects of the context on the object, then, should generate information, data, and conclusions as to why the study object’s condition existed as it did, when studied (2013; 2013).
Finally, after dialectically following happenings and reaching the reform in focus, analysis and interpretation of its context provides an opportunity to analyze the effects that the new policies and syllabus had on the school and teachers’ social science didactics.
3. Background
3.1 What is Subject Didactics?
Before defining subject didactics, it is necessary to point out the difference between
pedagogy and didactics. Pedagogy put simply, is, and describes the act of teaching, in general
(Lindqvist, 1995). Pedagogy is interdisciplinary, and concrete examples of it are found in a
8 teacher’s behavior in the classroom, again, regardless of subject (Sandahl, 2018).
Subject didactics, on the other hand, are the different methods for specific subjects to be taught and learned. It is normally introduced and defined as a list of questions. When approaching a subject, making preparations, and planning for teaching, teachers must at some point ask themselves, “What are unique characteristics of this subject and how may these characteristics be engaged for teaching it and learning it” (Sandahl, 2018)? The idea behind didactics being introduced as inquiry should be understood as a way for teachers “to set the stage” by asking themselves what they find most relevant and productive about their subject.
This self-inquiry, as a method for teachers to begin planning subject-specific learning situations for students, can — basically — be framed and planned out as:
• What is it about?
• What does it mean (definitions and/or interpretation)?
• How is it related to other current things being studied (correlation)?
• How is it seen from different perspectives?
• How may it be applied in school, home, or community? (Harrie and Larsson, 2012;
Lindqvist, 1995; Ring, 2015; Sandahl, 2018)?
In conclusion, the answer to the question, “what is subject didactics?” — without posing more questions — regards the teacher’s epistemic competence about the subject, the systematic ways in which they engage the subject’s characteristics, and how they create learning situations with the two. The characteristics of the subject, whether those
characteristics be solving mathematical equations, how the government functions, etc., are the force that drives the different teaching and learning situations from subject to subject.
Therefore, subject didactics describes the different teaching methods that may solely apply to
each specific subject.
9 3.2 Key Elements of Social Science Didactics
The key elements of social science didactics are civil education, general knowledge, and democratic values (Långström and Virta, 2016, Sandahl, 2018). As a professional educator in the school system, a teacher’s primary task is creating and providing learning situations for students. This is expanded upon when put into subject-specific practice (subject didactics). The aim of all provided learning situations, according to the curriculum
(Skolverket, 2011), is to socialize each student group and support their formation into active citizens, embodied by democratic values. Additionally, students are to be provided with learning situations that provide them with the knowledge and skills necessary to function in society (2016; 2011). This task of “civil education” — socialization, democratic values, and skill acquisition — is a task of the whole school system, regardless of the subject — the curricular code of conduct (2016; 2011; Englund, 2005). Being an aspect of the code of conduct of the “whole” school system, civil education becomes quite unclear in consideration of the natural sciences and mathematics disciplines. However, and in contrast to the natural sciences, the themes of democratic value and civil education are found to be virtually identical — and clearly represented— in the aims of the syllabus for social science (Lindqvist, 1995; 2016; 2011).
To the benefit of this paper and its research aims, the social science syllabus
acknowledges that the perpetually changing nature of society has a direct effect on the social science school subject (Harrie and Larsson, 2012; Ring, 2015; Skolverket, 2011). Långström and Virta (2016), and Sandahl (2018) describe social science as an epistemic “vaccination”
against social injustices that survive from societies of the past; the task of social science
teachers in this metaphor being proper administration of the vaccination (knowledge). The
modern idea of civil education, general knowledge, and democratic value, then, is a reaction
to the more extreme happenings of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries — primarily in
10 Western contexts — such as inequality, undemocratic society, war, and so on (2012; 2016).
By studying the society we live in, the laws that govern us, the powers prescribed to the governing body; analyzing the changes that occur, and building a scientific basis of terms and general knowledge, social science provides for a safe, contained learning experience in which students may realize and form an individual civil education and general knowledge base.
Because it is such a broad subject, containing aspects of so many different, yet related disciplines and sciences, social science didactics is normally approached as a “twofold discipline” (Långström and Virta, 2016; Öberg, 2019). The scientific basis and best practices of the social science school subject are considered to be political science, economics, and sociology (Skolverket, 2011; 2019). With such a diverse scientific basis — a basis whose disciplines are normally further categorized and scrutinized as sub-disciplines like
geography, gender studies, social anthropology, etc. —, social science’s twofold character is exercised as a didactical task of weaving between civil education and general knowledge (2016; 2019). Therefore, this weaving, “to and fro”, or systematically alternating between civil education and general knowledge is a balancing act that social science teachers are tasked with exercising in the classroom.
The current curriculum, lgy 11, begins with a section called “Fundamental values and tasks of the school” and opens with the statement, “The school system is based on democratic foundations” (Skolverket, 2011, p. 4). The “Aim” as well as “Core content” sections of lgy 11’s syllabus for social science both open similarly: “Teaching in the subject of social science should give students the opportunities to develop the following: 1) Knowledge of
democracy…” (2011, p. 143), and, “Teaching in the course should cover the following core
content: Democracy and…” (2011, p. 144). So, despite social science didactics being a two-
fold discipline, alternating between civil education and general knowledge, it must also
conform to and include the themes of democratic values; parallel with the school system and
11 the other subjects.
Once again, due to the cacophony of associated content, social science didactics and the core content of the syllabus are found to address every aspect of democratic values (Skolverket, 2011; Öberg, 2019). Öberg (2019) argues that it is, exclusively, social science that provides students with general knowledge about how society functions and the
democratic decision-making processes which society functions upon. Democratic decision- making is, however, only one of many aspects of democratic values. Lgy 11 and the Education Act take the time to explain that democratic value, besides the previously mentioned decision-making process, involves:
…basic human rights such as the inviolability of human life, individual freedom and integrity, the equal value of all people, equality between genders, and solidarity between people…each and everyone working in the school should also encourage respect for the intrinsic value of each person and the environment we all share.(Utbildningsdepartementet in Lärarförbundet, 2018, p. 89; Skolverket, 2011, p. 5)
Lgy 11 and the Education Act, above, make it clear that it is both an occupational and legal requirement to incorporate the theme of democratic values, to some degree, in the daily handlings of school personnel.
Democratic values are fully represented in both layers of social science didactics.
Democratic values are, therefore, the thread or substance that teachers weave as they alternate between civil education and general knowledge in the classroom. Långström and Virtas’s (2016) previously mentioned “social science as an epistemic vaccine” metaphor becomes glaringly relevant considering that vaccinations are administered for both individual health as well as the protection and preservation of society as a whole. Being for the greater good, vaccines become an authoritative requirement of society. Democratic values, all teachers’
civil and legal requirements to teach and embody in schools, while at the same time seen as
the foundation and basis for the preservation of Western society, have, similar to
12 vaccinations, become an authoritative requirement.
Like authority, values change over time. The social science school subject, as
established here in section 3., is directly connected to the theme of democratic values. Social science didactics must then be in constant motion and change, parallel to the motion and change of the society that it scrutinizes.
3.3 Education Policy and its Reformists
The school system is managed and controlled by the government. In Sweden, the Ministry of Education and Research (Ministry) is the branch of government responsible for education policy and decision-making (Jarl and Rönnberg, 2015). Regarding education policy and curriculum decision-making, teachers, principals, and other school personnel normally may only play a consultative or advisory role such as the role of the Education Act
Committee in 1999 (Swedish: Skollagskommitté 1999) (2015). According to policy researchers, education policy that is decided and implemented by democratically elected politicians (or ministers) commands a large deal of popular confidence and prospects (2015).
Englund (2005) explains that political decision-making is a kind of problem-solving, and therefore education ministers, as education policy decision-makers, develop and reform education policy by deciding what issues or inconsistencies exist within current and past curricula. In the analysis section, this paper will look at this reactionary method of problem- solving as it happened. Curricular problems and social issues, thus, are determinants for curricular development and reform (2005).
Jarl and Rönnberg (2015, p. 27) explain — as four categories — the forms that ministers’ education policy- and decision-making may take once determined and implemented:
1. Judicial decisions are legal, binding measures by the education ministry. Disobedience
can result in legal action such as sanctions against a principal that did not demand and
13 review the criminal record registry for a school employee before employment (2015;
Lärarförbundet, 2018).
2. Ideological decision-making is done to drive the school system as a whole towards a specific goal set by the government, such as democratic values and international solidarity (2015; 2018). These decisions are observable in the written content of policy documents such as the identical explanations for- and requirements to meet democratic values found in lgy 11 and the Education Act (Utbildningsdepartementet in
Lärarförbundet, 2018).
3. Economic decision-making is a very general process; allocating funds and resources to drive specific and mandated education goals as required by the government and/or its education ministry (2015; 2018).
4. Policy decision-making based on the evaluation of different operations in the school system is the most common form of decision making. It is a reactionary method for decision-makers to evaluate, for example, the efficacy of teachers, school
administrators, or even to assess their education policies at work within the school system (2015). For example, The Swedish National Agency for Education
(Skolverket) is responsible for, among other duties, driving education policy as well as issuing or removing teacher certifications after assessments (2018). The School
Inspection Agency (Skolinspektionen), among other duties, inspects schools to evaluate and assess the quality of education as well as assessing the learning environments (2015; 2018).
Education ministers react to national and international social issues, to inconsistencies within the curriculum, and then make decisions about education policy based on their
reactions to these determinants. The four categories that their reactions may take the form of
14 becoming the policy that all school personnel must conform to and apply in the day-to-day happenings of the school.
4. Theory
Globalization and creative destruction provided a theoretical framework for this paper. In the following section 4.1, using Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1927/2005), a specific method of production, business, and banking will elicit how
globalization could take place. Furthermore, the formation of the EU was a critical factor in globalization’s initial scale of influence and effect. Within the political and economic happenings of the EU and globalization, the social exchange of values is found to occur alongside the much more prominent political and economic aspects and events. The exchange of ideas and values occurs in institutions, producing things like healthcare and democratic values rather than goods. Creative destruction is found to occur in enterprise, industry, as well as in institutions like the school. Creative destruction in institutions, however, does not occur due to competition of products, more on this in 4.2.
The school, an integral institution, thus, is found to have a direct relationship with the political and economic aspects of a nation-state as the social aspect. Education in the West has been directly affected and formed by a similar template to its political and economic systems due to association with, and participation in the EU and globalization.
4.1 Combined Production Method and Globalization
By the 1960s, Western-influenced democracy and values began appearing in nation-
states around the world (Harvey, 2011). This globalizing of Western values through capitalist
economic interest was explained, and arguably predicted decades before it occurred, by the
Russian revolutionary V.I. Lenin. His theoretical work, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of
Capitalism (1917/2005) is critical in understanding this paper’s perspective of Western
15 society and democratic values becoming an ideal that is legally regulated and administered, like a vaccine, using the school system (Held and McGrew, 2003). The two aspects of
Lenin’s imperialism: enterprise and banking, will be explained with disregard to Lenin’s assumed political ambitions with the original work.
While analyzing the phenomenon of capitalist monopoly, where one enterprise (large business organization) economically dominates over small businesses, Lenin (1917/2005) explains the characteristics of the combined production method:
…
the grouping in a single enterprise of different branches of industry, which… represent the consecutive stages in the processing of raw materials (for example, the smelting of iron ore into pig-iron, the conversion of pig-iron into steel, and then, perhaps, the manufacture of steel goods)…(Lenin, 1917/2005, p. 10)To place the entire process of preparing material and then manufacturing all possible forms of goods in demand within the same location or combining all branches of the industry into one enterprise was a practical, profitable development that exists to this day. This method is more affordable and allows for more profit than the division of production processes between businesses which would specialize in individual aspects of the goods production process (Harvey, 2011; 1917/2005). By the 1960s, combined production became the only feasible method of large-scale production of goods in the prosperous West, and divisions between producers became observable only by the different brand names of giant enterprises. This is discernible today with gigantic, multi-national enterprises that manufacture widely different goods such as Ford, Nestlé, and Unilever.
Multiple business enterprises that produce similar goods cannot survive for long in the same market without having to inevitably beat out or assimilate the competing businesses.
To survive, giant enterprises must expand into other markets. Other markets, in reality, are
nations where an enterprise is not currently present or, and most commonly, where the giant
enterprise may buy out and assimilate a nation’s small businesses or lesser enterprises and
16 assimilate them (Held and McGrew, 2003; Lenin 1917/2005). In this way, an enterprise may produce similar products and sell them as assumed competing brands or types. Nestlé is referred to again as an example, producing and selling bottled water such as San Pellegrino and Perrier as separate brands when they are, in reality, both among Nestlé’s many
subsidiaries (a company owned or controlled by another). The life-force of capitalism and modern economics is the money capital managed by banks (Harvey, 2011; 1917/2005).
Banks are businesses and may become large enterprises and operate similarly to the businesses that they supply with financial capital. Banks are, however, not a means of production. They operate instead as middlemen in the making of payments (Lenin,
1917/2005). By collecting (money) capital for the state, business, and private affairs; holding it as savings or as capital on standby — waiting to be activated as payment — banks become establishments that nation-states, industries, enterprises, etc. become dependent upon for economic means, national wealth, and prosperity (1917/2005). In practically the same fashion as giant enterprises, banks assimilate smaller (banking) businesses and convert them into branches; eventually expanding into other countries. Once established in a new market, their
accumulation of money capital and payment management causes the new market’s gradual dependency on the money that only the annexing bank can afford to provide. The
accumulated money capital they possess — used to buy out and assimilate smaller businesses
— is regulated by bank holdings in connection with different, wealthy country’s central banking. HSBC and JPMorgan Chase banks are great examples of this process at work.
The big enterprises, and the banks in particular, not only completely absorb the small ones, but also ‘annex’ them, subordinate them, bring them into their “own” group or
“concern” (to use the technical term). (Lenin, 1917/2005, p. 23)
This modern version of imperialism is not conducted by cigar-smoking men —
twirling their mustaches like villains. As Lenin was a socialist revolutionary, glaringly
opposed to capitalism, there is no doubt that he placed the “imperialism” label upon this
17 societal phenomenon to paint an image of abhorrence representing the expansion of the West and capitalism.
The expansion of capitalist goods production, banking, and enterprise was a visible, transparent process; implemented, managed, and somewhat regulated by democratic
decision-making processes that became foundational of modern Western society (Harvey, 2011; Held and McGrew, 2003).
4.1.1 The EU’s Role in Solidifying Globalization
The first steps towards a European federation of states were realized with the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in the 1950s (European Commission, 2020). In Postwar Europe, there was a discernible movement towards international
cooperation and trade with almost immediate creation of the ECSC and then the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) in the 1960s. The different governments recognized the advantages that multi-national enterprise and banking interests could bring and therefore began negotiating the economic integration of Western European countries (Rye, 2015).
These trade unions of European economic powers such as France, West Germany, and The Netherlands in the ECSC; Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland in the EFTA — with additional financial support coming from the United States of America to help countries rebuild after the War (the Marshall Plan) — eventually became the European Union.
The EFTA was not created as a competition to the ECSC, but rather as a way for EFTA countries to “bridge the gap” between them and the ECSC countries by association rather than competition (Rye, 2015). An important factor for Sweden’s and other EFTA
countries’ aversion was the ECSC’s decision-making autonomy. The ECSC only allowed
decision-making to be done by members and the EFTA countries did not wish to have to
apply ECSC laws into their own, at any capacity, just to affect the ECSC’s decision-making
(2015). Within the negotiations and agreements between these national trade unions, there is
18 a third aspect that was traded across borders: ideology and values.
The business enterprises of the ECSC and the American capital that had now been transplanted into European nation-states’ and bank holdings with the Marshall Plan,
conforming with capitalist expansionism, began swiftly moving into new markets throughout non-Soviet Europe; becoming the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC soon inducted former EFTA members such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, and some of the Nordics. The EEC was characterized and driven by democratic decision-making and opposed what it determined were autocratic governments (European Commission, 2020). To
participate in trade with the EEC — known as “association” — or to become a member, opening up markets for enterprises, a nation-state was required to adhere to the blossoming Western ideal and the EEC’s values (Bergh, 2007; Held and Mcgrew, 2003; Rye, 2015). For example, Spain was at first denied entry into the EEC as they determined the Franco
government at the time to be undemocratic.
So, it became clear to political decision-makers and the general populations that economic prosperity and an altruistic, “good” form of society came with membership or association with the EEC and its values. The democratic, capitalist requirements for EEC membership swiftly became the ideal that the majority of Western countries sought out and, additionally, the United States of America added pressure by asserting that it would not enter economic negotiations with different groups, but rather with the EEC and EFTA as a single Western European unit (Held and McGrew, 2003; Rye, 2015). So an agreement or harmony of ideology and values was critical for European relations.
Sweden did not seek membership to the EEC until 1990 when it had become the
European Community (EC). The politics and decision making in Sweden, under the roughly
30 years of proximity and negotiations with EEC countries, understood the advantages of
embodying Western values — as attempts at diplomacy and trade that EFTA countries
19 conducted with Soviet Union-inspired countries gradually dissolved — and could, therefore, participate, to an extent, in the prosperity and trade of the EEC as an associated country (Bergh, 2007; Rye 2015).
In 1993, Sweden was accepted with an entry date of January 1, 1994 (Bergh, 2007).
In the same year — 1994 —, the Ministry of Education and Research debuted its reformed curriculum and education policy: Lpf 94. 1994’s education reform reflected a larger condition being experienced throughout the West, a feeling representative of accomplishment.
Democracy, capitalism, and the West were successfully becoming the political, economic, and social way of life on an enormous scale. Therefore, instead of Lenin’s miasmic moniker:
imperialism, the often peaceful, democratically determined, and welcomed assimilation into the Western ideal became known as globalization.
4.2 Creative Destruction and Institutions
Where Imperialism (1917/2005) discusses the efficiency of enterprises’
combined production method as a starting point for a globalization phenomenon, the logic of development and innovation within this phenomenon is explained with J. Schumpeter’s (2008) theory of creative destruction.
Creative destruction finds that it is not the competitors (the diverse, different sellers
and producers) that cause capitalism to develop at blinding speeds, but rather, it is the new
commodity, technology, or new type of organization produced (Schumpeter, 2008). By
producing the best, most demanded product, technology, or organization, all inferior,
competing products, technologies, and organizations swiftly rot away or are otherwise
wholely destroyed. Taking a glance into the recent past, and this logic can be applied to any
groundbreaking commodity or technology such as the steam engine to the modern electric
car; the mentioned ECSC and EFTA to the EU; and even means and methods of production
such as “the rationalization of crop rotation…to the mechanized thing of today” (Schumpeter,
20 2008, p. 83).
Creative destruction’s process is not, however, uniform (Schumpeter, 2008). The mentioned commodities above or even the radio — as obsolete as it would seem in the face of digital media streaming services like Netflix — still exist in some form today while other products like wall-mounted telephones are obsolete. Becoming stagnant or static in the face of innovation results in the stagnating or static instances being required to assimilate in some way or be left behind. Schumpeter (2008) explains that innovation, and demand for it — the same as supply and demand — creates competition; and competition results in winners and losers. The losers will inevitably become obsolete while the demand for new commodities, technology, and organizations causes constant development and innovation of current instances.
When products are democratically determined and regulated by the state, they become institutional, social products (Lenin, 1917/2005). Healthcare, banking, and education are examples of the institutional workings of creative destruction. Institutions in which the products are determined and managed by the state’s political decision-making approach competition in the same manner, “as a bombardment in comparison with forcing a door,”
(Schumpeter, 2008, p. 84).
Where the EU finds its beginnings as a coal and steel trading agreement, according to
Lenin and Schumpeter, it was inherent that the products being manufactured and traded
become centrally produced, expand into new markets, and then are replaced with new and
better ones (1917/2005; 2008). While enterprises’ products undergo creative destruction, the
original European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) members’ institutions, themselves,
also spread throughout the West. This caused a form of globalization of both the institutions
and their related values as they exist today; such as universal healthcare, the EU’s single
market, and democratic values as a task of the school (European Commission, 2020). These
21 society-encapsulating institutions and their values engross entire public sectors — virtually unobstructed by competition — and become a way of life rather than a demanded item in the marketplace.
Institutional products such as the democratic, educated, and socialized citizen produced by the school, are the current, in-demand product that creatively destroyed and replaced the previous instance. Being maintained and regulated by the state — rather than supply and demand —, institutional products’ are developed and innovated by order of political decision-making. Therefore, it is not competition or Keynesian economics that caused the following studied school reforms, but rather, it is the direct relationship between ministers’ decision-making and the political, economic, and social conditions that act as determinants for their decisions.
In conclusion, the school, as a critical institution for a nation-state, must operate in fruitful, harmonic collaboration with the other aspects of modern society (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970; Skollag, 1985). So the combined production method that has allowed enterprises to expand economics and innovate technologies is also found to occur in the school — more on this to follow in the analysis. The products of the school — of course — are not goods for sale but a state-regulated product: democratic, socialized citizens who are capable of
participating in the improvement of their community through innovation or personal-success, class mobility, and expansion of the middle class (Englund, 2005). This is not an isolated incident, but rather this process of innovation and development of political, economic, and social conditions blossomed in the West and expanded from country to country in the ongoing phenomenon known as globalization. The democracy, capitalist enterprising, banking, and schools of the West have ridden creative destruction’s gale throughout
European Union countries and associates (Schumpeter, 2008). This paper will now analyze
22 how political, economic, and social conditions led to education reform in Sweden and the role that social science didactics plays in the reforms’ wakes.
5. Analysis
With a closer relationship in time-frame to experiences of World War II and post World War II (Postwar) society, a somewhat brief overview of the context surrounding lgy 70 is critical for understanding what set the stage for reform in 1994.
5.1 Lgy 70 Sets the Stage
It has been established that the experiences and social issues of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to the social science subject becoming an intended vaccination for students from any assumed allure of harmful ideas such as totalitarian ideologies (Långström and Virta, 2016; Sandahl, 2014; Sandahl, 2018). The civil education that social science commands in schools swiftly became a common way of life; where the general population can hardly imagine a society without democratic political decision-making and the prosperity of Postwar, capitalist production in the West. The vaccination task set upon teachers naturally evolved into a didactical form representative of the Western, democratic, and capitalistic society that it sprang from (Bergh, 2007). Before lpf 94, the curriculum was lgy 70 and as its abbreviation suggests, was a political decision and education reform from 1970.
In contrast to lpf 94 and lgy 11, lgy 70 does not open with the now-familiar assertion about democracy. Democratic values as policy are only developing at this point, referred to in lgy 70 as democratic principles, and only make a brief appearance. Democratic principles are defined as: “Tolerance, cooperation and equality between genders, nations and ethnic groups”
(Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970, p. 13). Lgy 70, rather than by democratic values and citizenship, is
characterized by a distinct focus on individuality and personal fulfillment, “School activities
must be relatable to each student [for students are] a group of people, constantly evolving and
23 representative of different personality and talent types” (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970, p. 14).
Bergh (2007) describes this focus on the individual as a sign of deeper societal changes occurring as Sweden and some other countries’ exceptional, Postwar prosperity leveled out and began a new phase in Western society.
“During the ’70s, ‘the family’ became a nationalized commodity” (Bergh, 2007, p.
53). The changing social and economic conditions of the 1960s and 1970s kickstarted a decline in an American-inspired, Postwar image of the family; the “housewife model”. In Sweden, this is seen during the 1970s in the passing of laws that allowed parents to choose to share parental leave as well as progressive abortion laws (Abortlag, 1974; Proposition
1974:15, 1974; Lag om allmän försäkring, 1962). These acts allowed for more possibilities for women to pursue work and careers — if they so chose (2007). By the 1980s, Sweden, like many Western countries, saw an expansion of public sector work where the general
population of previously unemployed — primarily — women expanded the public workforce in many industries (2007).
In 1980, Sweden passed a law to protect women from discrimination in an increasingly multi-gendered workplace, further expanding career prospects (Lag om jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män i arbetslivet, 1979). Within this described expansion, because both parents were now usually employed, child-rearing became a much more common public sector responsibility. In the context of schooling and child-rearing, public services were developed for working households such as day-care for children too young for school as well as after-school care services (Proposition 1975/76:92, 1975; Proposition 1984/85:209, 1985).
The school system is often, on the surface, seen as a “reproducer” of the norms and
values of the society it exists within (Englund, 2005). However, because of the changing
norms regarding child-rearing at the time, the school swiftly became, for the first time on its
24 own, responsible for all consecutive stages of child-rearing. Essentially, becoming the new
producer — rather than reproducer — of enterprising, democratic citizens; on top of its previous core tasks of skill acquisition (Bergh, 2007; Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970). As Western countries’ public sectors expanded, and their school systems acquired its new task of child- rearing, comprehensive civil education, and skill acquisition, a dying out of the old school is discernible through to the 1990s.
Once Postwar reconstruction and prosperity for most countries had leveled by the 1970s, the West began a process of change that was realized through widespread,
international political liberalization and democratization (Bergh, 2007; Held and McGrew, 2003). Liberalization in the West is seen in the new focus of the education policy, lgy 70, on individualism: “…school personnel…shall work to encourage [student’s] personal maturation into independent, fulfilled and harmonic people” (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970, p. 13).
Democratization is discernible in the 1980s within the Ministry’s education policy decision- making.
In 1985, the Ministry reviewed and renewed the 1962 Education Act. The working method of the school had, by then, formed a basis upon the basic democratic values (or principles) previously described such as gender equality and active counteraction of abusive behavior (Skollag, 1985; Utbildningsdepartementet in Lärarförbundet, 2001). Then, in 1989, the municipalization act (Proposition 1989/90:41, 1989), or decentralization, was
implemented. Decentralization divided the power over the schools between the government and the municipalities where they were located. The Ministry remains in charge of the curricula and decision-making while the municipalities and principals are now in charge of personnel and local matters about their specific schools.
These two decisions are noteworthy for they show, again, a dying out of the old
school and, in the flavor of creative destruction, the innovation of the school’s production
25 method and products. The school’s role is solidified as a producer of the democratic values that embody the international community that Sweden had become a part of. In the coming curriculum, lpf 94, social science will receive a heightened role as the primary source for imparting the democratic, Western ideology.
Finally, the separation of regulatory power over the school with the municipalization act (Proposition 1989/90:41, 1989) conforms with democratic values (explained further in
5.2.1) and makes it clear that, in the West, it is not the decision-makers and governments that“force” values onto the population. Instead, these ideals and values are taught, learned, and then become a general way of life,
…the role of the school in social development becomes the development of citizens who are prepared to participate in society's "improvement" — the school is a means to develop and realize specific political ideals: democracy and equality. (Englund, 2005, p. 312)
5.2 The Big One: Lpf 94
Lpf 94 is characterized by the Ministry’s ideological decision-making (see 3.3). The ideology of globalization, the West, and democratic values is found everywhere in lpf 94;
dripping from every pore. Lpf 94 was written and presented as a streamlined document based
on the many reforms accumulated in the Education Act from the late 1980’s up to 1994
(Utbildningsdepartementet in Lärarförbundet, 2001, pp. 111-120). The Ministry’s major
social and ideological reforms that played a role in guiding the school to its current form are
described above in 5.1. In contrast to the Education Act document as well as lgy 70, which
are presented as formal, bureaucratic, or sometimes abstract text, lpf 94 is a generalized and
easily understood policy document. Lpf 94 was based on the idea that education shall have
goals, and the results shall: contribute to a reconciliation between different social classes,
provide a secularized civil education for all; create opportunities for social (class) mobility,
26 and individualized teaching so that the students’ different conditions can be attended to (Englund, 2005; McLellan and Dewey, 1914/2008). Democratic values are now, for the first time, clearly defined and their implementation, management, and embodiment are expected at all times in school. Within the new, generalized form that lpf 94 was presented in, the syllabi were also generalized and thus, the different subject didactics took on new forms. Before exploring the role that social science didactics plays in lpf 94, the overarching,
democratically authoritative theme of the new curriculum will be scrutinized, based on the conditions previously described.
5.2.1 Democratic Values Become Comprehensive
A norm of Western democracy is the civil acceptance and trust in the government’s politics and decision-making, while at the same time insisting that the rule or standards of the general population be properly adhered to (Ring, 2015). The desired democratic citizens, therefore, are half submissive to government decision-making and half critical of the
governing decision-makers (Skolverket, 2011; 2015). Being half submissive and half critical is a trait considered to be democratic and, therefore, free of so-called radicalism or any allure of non-democratic ideologies (2015; Sandahl, 2014; Öberg, 2019). Within societal
institutions like the school, the personnel are required to convert from half-way to full submission — at least until the end of the working day. With decentralization (Proposition 1989/90:41, 1989), the Ministry judicially requires all themes of democratic values at all times within the school, while the working method or approach to this be determined by the individual municipalities, schools, and personnel.
This development from abstract guidance and expectations from the government in lgy 70 to the absolution of democratic values in civil cooperation with the school in lpf 94 are observable in their “tasks of the school” sections. Lgy 70’s “Focus on the future”, and,
“Home—school—community”, sections states:
27
The school shall not become isolated from society. The working model [and the task of school personnel] must therefore not only be adapted to the individual student, but also society's development.The interaction between school and society must be such that the school and its tasks not only fulfill a function that meets the current needs of the community, but also becomes a positive creative force in the development of society…The school is part of the community. Through mutual contact between the school and the local community, its people, and functions, students should have the opportunity to grow into this community while the school becomes a living establishment, affiliated with all citizens.(Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970, pp. 13-14)
Lpf 94’s many revisions restate what the above lgy 70 policy abstractly alluded to, being general and clear in, ”The school’s main task”, section stating:
The school has the task of conveying values to students, imparting knowledge, and preparing them to work and function in society. The school will impart consistent knowledge that constitutes the common frame of reference that everyone requires to function. (Skolverket in Lärarförbundet, 2001, p. 39)
In the lgy 70 citation above, as well as throughout the document, there is an observable hesitancy of authority as if the Ministry was uncertain about the school’s role.
This dubiousness was due to the uncertainty of the direction that the political decision-makers were going to steer their nation-states in at the time — towards the EEC or something
politically different which the EFTA seemed to aspire to. In comparison, the authority of the Ministry and democracy is clear in the lpf 94 citation.
During the life-span of lgy 70, the curriculum was rather abstract about the school as primary, or the center, for civil and democratic education. In lpf 94, however, democratic values are clearly defined and reminded to be the cornerstone of every task or goal in the school; being themselves defined as the foundation or basis of modern society
(Utbildningsdepartementet in Lärarförbundet, 2001). With democratic values as a
28 comprehensive, all-encompassing theme, lpf 94 no longer needs to remind its reader about the role that the school has in society. Each section is, therefore, formulated to reflect the ideology that is expected in full by school personnel as well as expected of students when they finish school (Jarl and Rönnberg, 2015).
Lpf 94, in its generality, is therefore not only a guide to education policy to whoever chooses to read or study it, but more importantly, for school personnel, it is guidelines for a form of regulated radicalism that the government has determined acceptable, contextually necessary, and required of the personnel:
When values are presented, it must always be clear who is responsible for them. However, everyone who works in the school must always assert the values stated in the Education Act as well as in this curriculum; clearly diminishing any values to the contrary. (Skolverket in Lärarförbundet, 2001, p. 38)
Here, the Ministry has made it partially clear that students must be taught about other ideologies or even criticisms of democratic values; the choice of material being up to the teacher. The Ministry is, however, fully clear that upon presenting contrasting values, the teacher must personify a radical democracy fanatic and be clear that, at all times, democratic values are the unquestionable basis to modern society (Englund, 2005; Jarl and Rönnberg, 2015; 2001). This is rather simple in social science, especially at the time of the curriculum’s debut, for a teacher could use the Soviet Union’s collapse a few years prior at the end of 1991, as an example.
The previous citation lies under the heading, “Objectivity and versatility”, and should
not be perceived as lpf 94’s instruction that objectivity and versatility (general knowledge
about many things in a subject) be comprehensively taught in schools; this is already an
undisputed task of the school and additionally outlined elsewhere in the curriculum. The
objectivity and versatility meant here have to do with the perspective that one shall be
objective and versatile -from. If a student can learn about and observe the ideologies of, for
29 example, Mussolini and Stalin and compare them to the ideology of the West; concluding that Western society prevailed due in part to its wielding of democracy and values, then the task of objectivity and versatility has been fulfilled. The perspective of objectivity and versatility changed dramatically from lgy 70 to lpf 94. This perspective on society,
objectivity, and versatility is most clear within the developments of the social science subject, and its didactics.
5.2.2 Lpf 94’s Social Science Syllabus and its Didactics
As it was developing as a core responsibility of the school, civil education in lgy 70 primarily focused on the national community. Civil, in lgy 70, meaning the acquisition of skills to work and participate in the community or preparation for higher education in a state institution (Skolöverstyrelsen, 1970). While democratic principles are mentioned, the focus on the individual and their acquisition of skills to participate in society was more similar to abstract ideals based on a slogan by K. Marx (1875/1999, part I), “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!”. Lpf 94, drifting politically to the right due to
increasingly favored liberalism of its decision-makers, reminds that the school’s role is the production of citizens who are prepared to improve society through individual success and mobility to the middle class (Englund, 2005).
In lpf 94’s syllabus for social science, the new, dashing assertion about democratic values breaks ground for the syllabus under the heading, “Teaching goals”,
The school shall strive in its teaching, on the subject of social science, that the student:
embraces and practices the values of democracy and understands how different perspectives and ideologies give different ways of perceiving society. (Skolverket, 2000, p. 164)
In this first teaching goal, there is a clear reference to the curriculum’s requirement for
objectivity. According to Lindqvist (1995) in his handbook on social science didactics (based
on analyses and interpretations of lpf 94), although objectivity observes diversity without
30 restrictions, only specific, objective perspectives carry any value when teaching and
discussing values. The teaching of other values and ideologies, then, is intended to challenge the students’ understanding of both democratic and contrasting values; strengthening the former through this inquiry. The new democratic generality or norm is expected to be (pedagogically) administered to students’ by allowing their argumentation and discussion about it (1995). Within this objective learning about other values, all arguments or criticisms against democratic values are, at all times, eventually defeated for the students’
argumentation is rooted in the teacher’s didactics about democratic value’s supremacy. An education policy that requires democratic values as a tool for teaching social science, as well as democratic values being an expected result of said teaching, requires that social science teachers engage the previously mentioned two-fold nature of social science didactics in 3.2.
Civil education and general knowledge’s balancing act is prominent in lpf 94’s syllabus for social science. Grounded in democratic values, the teacher has the task of weighing all teaching material’s purpose as either civil education-heavy or general knowledge-heavy. Like the fibers that make up a rope, social science’s many aspects are woven into a whole by the teacher, but its complicated nature needs to be recognized by the teacher for properly balanced learning situations. As illustrated in the syllabus’s section, “The subject’s character and structure”, a building of a “repertoire of terms and concepts” is to be conveyed through teaching:
When studying various social issues, political and economic aspects are essential as well as the use of concepts such as influence, power, conflict, ideology, class, interest, and
consequence. (Skolverket, 2000, p. 164)
By building a repertoire or toolbox of terms and concepts, students shall develop the ability to use them:
Like a toolbox, concepts and terms are materials collected in a container and may serve an immediate purpose such as memorization [for a test]. But, are concepts and terms understood
31
in this way? Of course not! To form an understanding of the concepts and terms collected in one’s toolbox, one must use these tools as they are intended; as tools… If one does not understand the concept, ‘politics’, how shall one participate in the ongoing discussion about the tug-of-war between politics and the market? (Lindqvist, 1995, pp. 21-22)It is, therefore, a correct interpretation of lpf 94’s syllabus that a toolbox full of tools, for every student, is a successful outcome, or goal, of social science teaching. The toolbox is the knowledge-goals aspect and the tools within are the ability-goals aspect. The syllabus’s goals for teaching can, thus, be best applied by a social science teacher by exercising this toolbox and tools theory; this revelation being an important aspect Lindqvist’s (1995) handbook.
By concerning themselves with the intended ability and knowledge goals for each teaching goal, the process of weaving between the layers of civil education and general knowledge becomes a bit more clear. As explained in 3.1, when planning teaching material, the teacher shall ask of themselves: “What does it mean?”, and, “How may it be applied to the school, home, or community?”. It is only with this multifaceted approach that a teacher may create teaching and learning material that meets the expectations of the subject’s new, supreme democratic nature.
The subject of social science…has an international perspective…an intertwining of
economies and cultures and thus, an increased dependency between countries...An important aspect is…knowledge of national minorities and their role in society. Social science is…
contemporary…but also includes the history of contemporary society. A natural starting point when choosing study objects should be societal issues. This creates an understanding of the changing nature of society at the same time that historical flashbacks and visions of the future contribute to broadening students' understanding and analytical ability. By choosing these social issues in consultation between teachers and pupils, students are practiced in a democratic way of life and attitude. (Skolverket, 2000, p. 165)
The section, “The subject’s nature and structure”, as cited above, outlines the different
32 teaching goals of the syllabus. Each concept, whether it be understanding the
internationalization of nation-states, historical significance for the present, minority groups’
role in society, etc., there is an expected goal of understanding (knowledge) and what to do with that knowledge in the future (ability). For example, general knowledge of the EU or minority groups such as the Nordic Sámi would contribute to a student’s ability in the future to vote and affect issues concerning the EU or Sámi. Taking primary focus from skill
acquisition and specialization in lgy 70, to two-fold teaching and multifaceted learning in lpf 94, as the above citation states, can be best understood by using social issues as a starting point.
Morén’s (2017) study on social issues as didactical tools reveals that social issues were not recognized by the Ministry as a formal goal for teaching until the final years of lgy 70’s life. In comparison, it is made clear in lpf 94 that social issues are a critical aspect of social science didactics. Regarding first-year students, the syllabus instructs:
In the course social science A, the students broaden and deepen their knowledge and
understanding of society and its history through studies of various social issues. (Skolverket, 2000, p. 166)
Regarding the final, required social science course:
Social science B…provide[s] further broadening and deepening of the education in the subject. The social issues being studied become more complex. (Skolverket, 2000, p. 166)
