A new regime of knowledge? Curriculum perspectives on the Swedish higher education reform

Author(s):

Daniel Sundberg

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 06C, Changes and Reforms in Higher Education (Part 2)

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

10:30-12:00

Room:

B2 215

Chair:

Monne Wihlborg

Contribution

The political pressure on higher education is increasing. Even if there are several different motives for reforms there is a salient international movement towards uniformity, harmonisation and standardisation. The measurement and comparison of knowledge is more and more a strategic area for the governance and reforms of education in an emerging knowledge economy. The political governing is changing towards post-active steering by way of results. The production of data on how education systems perform has consequently expanded and is used as incitements for new reforms in higher education, particularly teacher education. In the presentation a curriculum perspective will be used to analyse how new steering media (as knowledge measurement and testing) and the type of knowledge regime it represent are used in the ongoing Swedish higher education reform (the national implementation of the Bologna reform). The paper will provide with some theoretical/conceptual elaborations in order to outline empirical investigations exploring policy trajectories and knowledge cultures in different institutional settings.

Method

Discourse theoretical approach and methodology.

Expected Outcomes

The contribution will be theoretical/conceptual in developing a discourse theoretical framework for studying and analysing ongoing reforms in european higher education.

References

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Author Information

Daniel Sundberg

University of Växjö

Växjö

186

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