Unruly customers? : How parents’ (in)actions trouble civil servants and local school choice systems

Based on arguments about the need for greater individual freedom,school choice was introduced in Sweden in the 1990s. Swedishmunicipalities now set up local school choice systems, whoseorganization varies between municipalities. This study is based oninterviews with three politicians and two civil servants from twoaverage-sized municipalities with different school choice system designsand different political majorities. The aim of this study is to analyze howrepresentatives of Swedish municipalities conceptualize their role andresponsibility in relation to the role of parents in school choice systems,with a focus on school choice from pre-school tofirst grade. Theanalysis is focused on those instances in which parents fail to act as thedesign intended in the school choice system. The analysis shows thatparents trouble the local school choice systems by both being passiveand active when they are encouraged to make a choice