In this paper we discuss how a radical reform of compulsory education, aimed to break down old hierarchies, still managed to preserve traditional conceptions regarding differences between vocational and academic educational pathways. The political ambition in the period after World War II can be described as strengthening the development of equality and democracy and at the same time supporting economic growth. A comprehensive educational system became a key factor in this reform agenda, and a crucial question was how to organize differentiation in a system based on cohesion. Education had long traditions built upon the idea of separating theoretical and practical knowledge, where theoretical knowledge was ranked higher. The reform work thus implied struggling to abandon this ancient figure of thought (Asplund 1979, 1987). Although vocational education found its way into the education system, the hierarchy still remains.   

According to Lundgren (1979) the education system in Sweden after World War II was organized based on a principle of rationality, described as a rational curriculum code (Lundgren 1984). During the period from 1940 to the 1960s, differentiation became a central aspect when building a new education system. The intentions to prepare for an envisioned labor market was significant in the 1950s and 1960s. Different strategies and models of differentiation were discussed, researched and investigated (Marklund 1985). We will examine both the explicit and implicit aspects of differentiation of importance for the conceptions of the difference between ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ education. The intention is to scrutinize how the tension and experienced differences between academic and vocational traditions have been dealt with and how these traditions were expressed.

The aim of the project is to identify conceptions of differences between students in terms of their abilities for different educational options and to discuss how the relation between academic and vocational education pathways were viewed.  

The research questions are: What conceptions of differences are expressed in the investigations and what organisational recommendations? How did these conceptions contribute to the reproduction of the assumed hierarchy between academic and academic education?  

A theoretical assumption in the investigation is based on Johan Asplund´s concept “figures of thought” (Asplund 1979, 1987). A definition of figures of thought asserts that they are structures of ideas and conceptions based on the basic conditions of society. Moreover, figures of thought create ideas, provide meaning, and contribute to change. A basic condition in society is division of labor, which also includes a division between the manual and intellectual. The figures of thought concept thus makes it possible to highlight the importance of the “idea of practical versus academic skills and knowledge” and how this idea operates in designing educational reforms.

During the development period of the new educational system, from 1952 to 1968, a number of experimental trials were conducted and subsequently reported in different publications. This project is based on text analysis of these documents. A strategy suggested by Bacchi (2009) is to use the methodological question “what's the problem represented to be”, (WPR), when analyzing documents. This particular approach is sensitive, not only to how agents and actors react to problems, but particularly to how they are active in defining and framing the problem. It offers the opportunity to understand and discuss education as an ideological and political battlefield, rather than discussing or evaluating the measures taken as right or wrong. This is important since the educational reforms of the period of post war modernization in the 1950s, created an educational system in many ways similar to the system we have today. With particular interest in WPR, the texts suggest to be read with focus on different opinions or perceptions of when to differentiate, why or why not to differentiate, what to differentiate and also how differentiation is organized. These are all central aspects of differentiation and they provide the orientation points in the texts that constitute the empirical material of this study. The answers to these questions can be discussed in relation to the historical context and the pervasive figure of thought separating theory and practice. We pay particular attention to expressions revealing conceptions of students’ abilities to succeed in different educational pathways. It is also an effort to understand what the rational curriculum code implied in terms of education for democracy and development in a rapidly changing society.

Over all, this investigation will identify and describe examples of how the figure of thought separating between academic and practical knowledge traditions was expressed and reproduced in Swedish educational discourse, when building the new comprehensive education system. The results will contribute to the understanding of how intentions i educational reforms are restrained by dominating traditions. This study especially pays attention to the consequences for vocational education.

Asplund, Johan (1979). Teorier om framtiden. Stockholm: Liber Förlag i samarbete med Delegationen för långsiktsmotiverad forskning Asplund, Johan (1987). Det sociala livets elementära former. Göteborg: Korpen Bacchi, Carol Lee (2009). Analysing policy: what's the problem represented to be?. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Lundgren, Ulf P. (1979). Att organisera omvärlden: en introduktion till läroplansteori. Stockholm: Liber Förlag på uppdrag av Gymnasieutredningen Lundgren, Ulf P. (1984). Between hope and happening: text and context in curriculum. Victoria: Deakin Univ. Marklund, Sixten (1985). Skolsverige 1950-1975. D. 4, Differentieringsfrågan. Stockholm: Liber