NEW RESEARCH | When the school becomes business – researcher warn of the consequences

An upper secondary school with an entrepreneurship profile has been the focus of a multi-year study at Stockholm University. The clear profiling affects both student learning and the view of education in general, research shows.

When entrepreneurship was introduced as part of the whole education system around 2011, the idea was to strengthen Sweden’s future competitiveness. Students were to be educated to become enterprising individuals who could create their own jobs in a changing labour market. In parallel, there have been major changes in education policy regarding the view of lifelong learning and the market adaptation of schools.

In her doctoral thesis, Annalena Glader, Stockholm University, shows that the shifts have also had consequences – especially in upper secondary schools with a strong entrepreneurial profile. She has studied one of them.

– The ‘business ideal’ permeates the everyday culture of the school, for example, male staff are expected to wear shirts or jackets, and women are expected to wear ‘fancier’ clothes such as dressy jackets, she says.

And the premises and classrooms are more like an office landscape than a school.

– Ordinary walls have been partially replaced with glass walls and curtains, and school desks with round tables.

Selling their knowledge

But ideals do not stop at the surface. At school, there is a tempo and a rhythm, an “up-beat” where the role of the teacher has broadened – from subject expert to inspirer and a seller of knowledge.

– As a teacher, you should be driven and passionate about your subject, you should be able to ‘sell’ your knowledge to the students who should feel ‘Wow, here comes someone who knows their subject’, explains Annalena Glader.

Impacts on culture and education

In teaching, traditional subjects are “businessified”, which means that theoretical subjects have a business-related character, for example through practical training.

– The internship focus sends signals to students that work is very important. Teachers describe how it becomes a balancing act between working and studying.

– The Swedish Schools Inspectorate’s review also shows that the practical elements risked affecting teaching time in core subjects.

Other aspects noted by the Schools Inspectorate concern issues relating to teaching and organization.

– For example, there was a lack of adequate equipment and rooms for science subjects, and Swedish as a second language was merged with mainstream Swedish. There were also no procedures for special support, and attendance needed to be improved, says Annalena Glader.

The role of schools in society

The study highlights a constant balancing act for schools – to stand out through their entrepreneurial profile on the one hand, and to meet national requirements and expectations on the other. In her research, Annalena Glader asks whether school should be a place where students are educated to be useful for a future labor market.

– The idea is certainly good. But it can contribute to a school culture that is perceived as demanding, where the extroverted and driven students are rewarded, while those who are more quiet risk being overshadowed.

– Should schools be a place for reflection, education and critical thinking?

Should talk about the ideals being created

At the same time, she argues that the questions raised in the study do not only concern the school studied. They can say something more general about what profiling can mean for teaching and for the ideals that are created for students and teachers – in other words, what future citizens we create through a school’s profiling.

– Both teachers and students are expected to develop entrepreneurial attitudes such as flexibility and self-leadership. At the same time, entrepreneurship is problematized today as a paradoxical phenomenon, where innovation, adaptation and educational ideals meet and sometimes clash.

– This is a discussion that can be useful for politicians, school leaders and parents to have, says Annalena Glader.

Contact annalenaglader@hotmail.com

More about the thesis

The thesis The dream factory – between business and classroom, Centrumskolan’s path towards an entrepreneurial practice is based on a relational perspective where the school is understood in its context – as a result of the interaction between education policy, market forces and the everyday life that is shaped at the school. Annalena Glader will defend her PhD on September 26 at Stockholm University.