Usla förutsättningar, passivapolitiker och en orättvis framtid : En innehålls- och narrativanalytisk undersökningav likvärdighetsdebatten i Skolvärlden

The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the school debate in Sweden by focusing on one of the key topics of the debate, namely the allegedly threatened equality and equity of the education system. This debate circles around two aspects: (1) The quality of the education is to be the same at all schools, independent of geographical location or provider. (2) A fair grading process of the pupil’s achievements that follows the rule of law.The source material for the study consists of the web-based magazine Skolvärlden which is run by the teacher union Lärarnas Riksförbund. The magazine was chosen as the teacher union has developed a political program to tackle the equality and equity problems in the Swedish school. The research questions for the empirical examination are the following: (1) How is the debate about equality and equity in education described and constructed during 2018 in Skolvärlden? (2) What needs are to be fulfilled and what solutions are proposed by Skolvärlden to ensure an increase of the equity and equality in the Swedish school?The questions are inspired by framing theory which is used as a theoretical framework to explain the correlation between the answers to each question. To achieve this, the study uses a content analysis combined with a narrative analysis. Based on the analysis, the study answers a third question: (3) In which manners can the debate about equity and equality in Skolvärlden be an expression of ideas about justice, the governing of the school system and the school’s role in society? To reveal ideas about justice, John Rawls’ A theory of justice is applied to the public debate about equity and equality in education and the Swedish curriculum to create a theoretical framework.The study shows that the debate is constructed and described in a way that the political program proposed by Lärarnas Riksförbund appears as a perfect solution. The shaped narrative consists of decisionmakers who remain passive while teachers decry conditions for teaching and demand better terms to provide every pupil with quality education. While arguments about the situation for teachers appear, the emphasis lays on the consequences for the pupils. It is them, the articles claim, who are affected by the dreadful working conditions and lousy leadership. The proposed solution is a reformed school system which is governed and financed by the state instead of the current decentralized model