Ideological continuity and discursive changes in the Swedish educational system

Abstract

In this article I present a reading of the relationship between discourse and ideology. With two curricula for the Swedish upper secondary school as my empirical basis, I suggest that the rather conspicuous differences between the curriculum of 1970 and that of 2011 ought to be considered as manifestations of discursive but not ideological changes. In the concluding remarks, I argue that the way in which the term discourse has come to be used has contributed to this. As a way forward, I contend that the Rawlsian framework, given the social-liberal values which it is supposed to reflect, provide us with political tools to map the most pertinent flaws in the curriculum of 2011.