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Title [sv]
Svenska friskoleföretag på den globala skolmarknaden
Title [en]
Going global: Swedish school companies and their international operations
Abstract [en]
Swedish commercial actors play a hitherto understudied role in the rapidly growing Global Education Industry (GEI). Recently, several Swedish free school companies have expanded abroad to operate schools in e.g. England, USA, India and Saudi Arabia. The aim of the project is to map, explore and analyse the international establishment and work of Swedish free school companies in the GEI and the implications from these international activities, by analysing 1) the international activities of Swedish school companies; 2) the presentation and organization of three schools operated by Swedish companies across the globe via a case study design; and iii) how Swedish experiences blend with new national contexts by studying curricular development as these companies establish themselves abroad. Drawing on data from interviews (with for instance owners, head teachers and teachers) from the foreign operations, media materials, official records and curricular materials, this project will enhance our knowledge about the workings and consequences of Swedish commercial actors? international activities in education, including what these may imply for the schools, students and teachers involved.
Publications (10 of 12) Show all publications
Alexiadou, N., Holm, A.-S., Rönnberg, L. & Carlbaum, S. (2025). Learning, unlearning and redefining teachers’ agency in international private education: a Swedish education company operating in India. Educational review (Birmingham), 77(3), 731-749
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Learning, unlearning and redefining teachers’ agency in international private education: a Swedish education company operating in India
2025 (English)In: Educational review (Birmingham), ISSN 0013-1911, E-ISSN 1465-3397, Vol. 77, no 3, p. 731-749Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Private international education is on the rise, but we still have limited knowledge on how different commercial actors operate in this field and how it affects local teachers and their work in the schools abroad. Swedish school companies have been active in exporting schooling in the international arena, including “Swedish” education models. In this article, we examine one company and their operations in India. We explore the interpretations of the company education model by teachers in the Indian schools, and how this affects their professional capacity. Mixed qualitative methods of interviews, on-site school visits and documentary reviews, were used to examine the possibilities for teachers to exercise professional agency within their working environment. Our findings show that teachers operate within a highly structured pedagogical environment characterised by a given curriculum, a centralised learning platform and training programme, and a set of dominant discourses around values and teaching practices. Teachers are expected to embrace a new professional identity in a process of discarding past experiences and adopting the new professional language given by the company's particular education model. In willingly embracing the company discourses and expectations, teachers’ agency tends to be constrained.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2025
Keywords
Teacher agency, international schools, local teachers, private education, India, Sweden
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-212036 (URN)10.1080/00131911.2023.2228507 (DOI)001020311500001 ()2-s2.0-85164717032 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897
Available from: 2023-07-16 Created: 2023-07-16 Last updated: 2025-05-13Bibliographically approved
Carlbaum, S. & Rönnberg, L. (2024). Exporting preschool quality assurance: ideational power and legitimation of a Scandinavian edu-business. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Exporting preschool quality assurance: ideational power and legitimation of a Scandinavian edu-business
2024 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, ISSN 0031-3831, E-ISSN 1470-1170Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This study explores the quest for preschool quality and the ideational foundation it builds on through the work of a Swedish edu-business operating preschools internationally. We analyse associated flows and uses of (global) ideas on preschool quality to understand how such businesses draw on, remould and ‘move’ certain ideas on quality and quality assurance. For this we use data obtained from visits to, interviews with representatives of, and various documents produced by the business and two of its subsidiaries, one Swedish and one Norwegian. The analysis highlights important aspects of three dimensions of ideational power: the power through, over and in ideas. The results show how the business acts, particularly through the Norwegian subsidiary, as a pioneering ideational leader of preschool improvement. In this position it conveys an acclaimed state-of-the-art quality system to the policy domain, thereby legitimising large-scale private preschool provision in policy contexts where it is increasingly questioned.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2024
Keywords
early childhood education and care, global education industry, privatisation, quality assurance, circulation of ideas, ideational leaders, policy instrumentation
National Category
Educational Sciences Political Science
Research subject
educational work; education; political science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-232828 (URN)10.1080/00313831.2024.2434816 (DOI)001371228300001 ()2-s2.0-85210966273 (Scopus ID)
Projects
FS 2.1.6-390-21_Lärarhögskolan, Umeå universitet/ Förskola på import och Export,
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897Umeå University, FS 2.1.6-390-21
Available from: 2024-12-10 Created: 2024-12-10 Last updated: 2025-05-28
Holm, A.-S., Carlbaum, S. & Rönnberg, L. (2024). 'How do we marry the two things together?': a Swedish education company expanding its business to India. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 22(2), 172-183
Open this publication in new window or tab >>'How do we marry the two things together?': a Swedish education company expanding its business to India
2024 (English)In: Globalisation, Societies and Education, ISSN 1476-7724, E-ISSN 1476-7732, Vol. 22, no 2, p. 172-183Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article focuses on a Swedish school company and its operations in India, examining how setting up and operating schools in another national place forge particular spatial imaginaries. It contributes to literature on the Global Education Industry by focusing on international moves of commercial non-Anglo-Saxon actors. Drawing on interviews and extensive fieldwork in India, we show how the ‘marriage’ between the global (represented by the Swedish company) and local (the ‘Indian’) are manifested in the spatial imaginary of the ‘glocal school’, encompassing hierarchical otherings rooted in discourses of both globalisation and colonialism.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2024
Keywords
Private education, globalisation, for-profit actors, education branding, colonialism, global education industry
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-198463 (URN)10.1080/14767724.2022.2100982 (DOI)000827099800001 ()2-s2.0-85134185377 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897
Available from: 2022-08-05 Created: 2022-08-05 Last updated: 2024-04-30Bibliographically approved
Rönnberg, L. & Hinke Dobrochinski Candido, H. (2023). When nordic education myths meet economic realities: the "nordic model" in education export in Finland and Sweden. Nordic Studies in Education, 43(2), 145-163
Open this publication in new window or tab >>When nordic education myths meet economic realities: the "nordic model" in education export in Finland and Sweden
2023 (English)In: Nordic Studies in Education, ISSN 1891-5914, E-ISSN 1891-5949, Vol. 43, no 2, p. 145-163Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

We analyse policy rhetoric on education export in Finland and Sweden as a lens to explore the multifaceted Nordic model in education. We also examine how the Nordic dimension in education is represented in Finnish and Swedish education exports. Our findings highlight that, while education export approaches differ considerably betweenthe two countries, both contexts provide opportunities for private edu-business actorsto thrive, thereby sustaining the global education industry (GEI). Education export is rhetorically positioned in relation to both the national and the Nordic contexts in specific ways, with implications for how Nordic education is framed in the globalised economy. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cappelen Damm Akademisk, 2023
Keywords
education export, Nordic model, nation branding, commercialisation, global education industry
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-207894 (URN)10.23865/nse.v43.4046 (DOI)2-s2.0-85162170936 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897
Available from: 2023-05-04 Created: 2023-05-04 Last updated: 2023-07-03Bibliographically approved
Rönnberg, L. (2022). Klivet över nationsgränsen: friskoleföretagens utlandsexpansion. In: Per Kornhall; Sten Svensson; Bo Karlsson; Majsa Allelin (Ed.), När skolan blev en marknad: trettio år med friskolor (pp. 220-233). Natur och kultur
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Klivet över nationsgränsen: friskoleföretagens utlandsexpansion
2022 (Swedish)In: När skolan blev en marknad: trettio år med friskolor / [ed] Per Kornhall; Sten Svensson; Bo Karlsson; Majsa Allelin, Natur och kultur, 2022, p. 220-233Chapter in book (Refereed)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Natur och kultur, 2022
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-192629 (URN)9789127829404 (ISBN)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897
Available from: 2022-02-20 Created: 2022-02-20 Last updated: 2022-04-05Bibliographically approved
Cone, L., Brøgger, K., Berghmans, M., Decuypere, M., Förschler, A., Grimaldi, E., . . . Vanermen, L. (2022). Pandemic Acceleration: Covid-19 and the emergency digitalization of European education. European Educational Research Journal, 21(5), 845-868
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Pandemic Acceleration: Covid-19 and the emergency digitalization of European education
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2022 (English)In: European Educational Research Journal, E-ISSN 1474-9041, Vol. 21, no 5, p. 845-868Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

With schools and universities closing across Europe, the Covid-19 lockdown left actors in the field of education battling with the unprecedented challenge of finding a meaningful way to keep the wheels of education turning online. The sudden need for digital solutions across the field of education resulted in the emergence of a variety of digital networks and collaborative online platforms. In this joint article from scholars around Europe, we explore the Covid-19 lockdowns of physical education across the European region, and the different processes of emergency digitalization that followed in their wake. Spanning perspectives from Italy, Germany, Belgium, and the Nordic countries, the article’s five cases provide a glimpse of how these processes have at the same time accelerated and consolidated the involvement of various commercial and non-commercial actors in public education infrastructures. By gathering documentation, registering dynamics, and making intimations of the crisis as it unfolded, the aim of the joint paper is to provide an opportunity for considering the implications of these accelerations and consolidations for the heterogeneous futures of European education.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2022
Keywords
Digitalization, soft privatization, public education, Covid-19, boundary spanning
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-187490 (URN)10.1177/14749041211041793 (DOI)000692219100001 ()2-s2.0-85114463458 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897
Available from: 2021-09-13 Created: 2021-09-13 Last updated: 2023-03-28Bibliographically approved
Rönnberg, L., Alexiadou, N., Benerdal, M., Carlbaum, S., Holm, A.-S. & Lundahl, L. (2022). Swedish free school companies going global: Spatial imaginaries and movable pedagogical ideas. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 8(1), 9-19
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Swedish free school companies going global: Spatial imaginaries and movable pedagogical ideas
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2022 (English)In: Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, ISSN 2002-0317, Vol. 8, no 1, p. 9-19Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Enabled by market-oriented policies implemented in the early 1990s, a nation-wide for-profit education industry has emerged and flourished in Sweden. As a more recent expansion strategy, Swedish school companies have begun exporting their school and early childhood education and care services internationally. In this article, three such companies and a selection of the foreign operations they have set up are studied to analyse how they describe the education services they are establishing in the new national settings. The findings show that the companies have developed and followed different edu-business models, using and transforming particular pedagogical ideas and connecting them to different spatial imaginaries. These include the Swedish/Scandinavian as both places and idealized spaces, infused with borderless global transformative spatial imaginaries on the creation of autonomous learners and futuristic education visions for global futures. Educational profiles and concepts from the Swedish context are both adjusted and marketed to the foreign settings, and entail stories on spaces and mobilities, encompassing pedagogy, teachers and students.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2022
Keywords
free school, privatization, export, private education delivery, international
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-190934 (URN)10.1080/20020317.2021.2008115 (DOI)2-s2.0-85122131883 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897
Available from: 2022-01-03 Created: 2022-01-03 Last updated: 2022-03-16Bibliographically approved
Møller, J. & Rönnberg, L. (2021). Critical perspectives in and approaches to educational leadership in two Nordic countries. In: Steven J. Courtney, Helen M. Gunter, Richard Niesche, Tina Trujillo (Ed.), Understanding educational leadership: critical perspectives and approaches. Paper presented at Nordic Educational Research Association: Rethinking the futures of education in the Nordic countries (NERA 2020), Turku, Finland, March 4-6, 2020 (pp. 105-119). Paper presented at Nordic Educational Research Association: Rethinking the futures of education in the Nordic countries (NERA 2020), Turku, Finland, March 4-6, 2020. London: Bloomsbury Academic
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Critical perspectives in and approaches to educational leadership in two Nordic countries
2021 (English)In: Understanding educational leadership: critical perspectives and approaches / [ed] Steven J. Courtney, Helen M. Gunter, Richard Niesche, Tina Trujillo, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021, p. 105-119Chapter in book (Refereed)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-171254 (URN)9781350081826 (ISBN)9781350081819 (ISBN)9781350081840 (ISBN)9781350081833 (ISBN)
Conference
Nordic Educational Research Association: Rethinking the futures of education in the Nordic countries (NERA 2020), Turku, Finland, March 4-6, 2020
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897_VR
Available from: 2020-05-29 Created: 2020-05-29 Last updated: 2021-04-01Bibliographically approved
Skedsmo, G., Rönnberg, L. & Ydesen, C. (2021). National testing and accountability in the Scandinavian welfare states: education policy translations in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. In: Sotiria Grek, Christian Maroy, Antoni Verger (Ed.), World yearbook of education 2021: accountability and datafication in the governance of education. Paper presented at Nordic Educational Research Association: Rethinking the futures of education in the Nordic countries (NERA 2020), Turku, Finland, March 4-6, 2020 (pp. 113-129). Paper presented at Nordic Educational Research Association: Rethinking the futures of education in the Nordic countries (NERA 2020), Turku, Finland, March 4-6, 2020. London: Routledge
Open this publication in new window or tab >>National testing and accountability in the Scandinavian welfare states: education policy translations in Norway, Denmark and Sweden
2021 (English)In: World yearbook of education 2021: accountability and datafication in the governance of education / [ed] Sotiria Grek, Christian Maroy, Antoni Verger, London: Routledge, 2021, p. 113-129Chapter in book (Refereed)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London: Routledge, 2021
Series
World Yearbook of Education
National Category
Pedagogy
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-173925 (URN)9780367856502 (ISBN)9781003014164 (ISBN)
Conference
Nordic Educational Research Association: Rethinking the futures of education in the Nordic countries (NERA 2020), Turku, Finland, March 4-6, 2020
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897_VR
Available from: 2020-08-06 Created: 2020-08-06 Last updated: 2021-02-17Bibliographically approved
Rönnberg, L., Alexiadou, N., Benerdal, M., Carlbaum, S., Holm, A.-S. & Lundahl, L. (2021). Pedagogiskt arbete i en global tid: svenska friskoleföretag och deras utlandsetableringar. In: Per-Olof Erixon, Anna Martín Bylund och Jakob Cromdal (Ed.), Per-Olof Erixon; Anna Martín Bylund; Jakob Cromdal (Ed.), Ämnet som blev: rapporter från den fjärde nationella konferensen i pedagogiskt arbete. Paper presented at Fjärde nationella konferensen i pedagogiskt arbete, Umeå universitet, 19-20 augusti 2019 (pp. 125-141). Umeå: Umeå Universitet
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Pedagogiskt arbete i en global tid: svenska friskoleföretag och deras utlandsetableringar
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2021 (Swedish)In: Ämnet som blev: rapporter från den fjärde nationella konferensen i pedagogiskt arbete / [ed] Per-Olof Erixon; Anna Martín Bylund; Jakob Cromdal, Umeå: Umeå Universitet , 2021, p. 125-141Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [sv]

Hur friskolor och det fria skolvalet har påverkat det pedagogiska arbetet i Sverige har varit föremål för både forskning och reformdiskussioner. En långt mindre studerad aspekt av denna utveckling handlar om hur reformerna har möjliggjort framväxten av en svensk utbildningsindustri med internationella exportambitioner. Kapitlets syfte är att beskriva och diskutera hur tre stora svenska friskoleföretag beskriver sin verksamhet i skolor och förskolor utomlands. Kapitlet illustrerar hur anpassningar görs både i förhållande till den valda affärsmodellen och till den nya nationella kontexten liksom i förhållande till den tilltänkta elev- och föräldragruppen. I detta profileringsarbete kommer den svenska bakgrunden i företagens verksamhet och pedagogiska ansats till uttryck på olika sätt. Kapitlet bidrar med perspektiv på hur det pedagogiska arbetet transformeras i en global tid och vilken roll kommersiella privata aktörer kan spela i sådana processer.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Umeå: Umeå Universitet, 2021
Series
Tilde skriftserie ; 3
National Category
Pedagogical Work
Research subject
educational work
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-187491 (URN)978-91-7855-604-5 (ISBN)978-91-7855-603-8 (ISBN)
Conference
Fjärde nationella konferensen i pedagogiskt arbete, Umeå universitet, 19-20 augusti 2019
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2018-04897
Available from: 2021-09-13 Created: 2021-09-13 Last updated: 2022-03-16Bibliographically approved
Principal InvestigatorRönnberg, Linda
Coordinating organisation
Umeå University
Funder
Period
2019-01-01 - 2021-12-31
National Category
Pedagogical WorkPolitical Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:1528Project, id: 2018-04897_VR