The transitions through school, to work and adulthood present growing challenges to young people in Europe, and to the institutions, especially schools, that are supposed to support the students when navigating towards the future. The risks associated with a school failure are larg­er, and the time to get established at the labour market has been prolonged over the last three decades. Employers to high extent demand a completed edu­ca­tion at upper secondary level at the least to employ a young job-seeker (Eurofound 2014; Halvorsen & Hvinden 2018; Quintini et al 2007). In particu­lar, the trajectories have become more winding and demanding for indi­viduals lacking upper second­ary education, having low educated parents, migrant back­­ground and/or a disability (Antonucci & Hamilton 2014; Brunila & Lundahl 2020; Halvorsen & Hvinden 2018). Simul­taneously, there is a ten­dency in many countries to indi­vidualize and pedagogize struc­tural problems that are basically related to the globalization of the economy and tougher condi­tions at the labor market. (Brunila et al 2016; Parreira do Amaral et al 2013; Tikkanen 2019).

Similar to the other Nordic countries, the Swedish governing system has traditionally been characterized by a high degree of local discretion (Page & Goldsmith 1987). In the early 1990s, a series of decentralization and marketization reforms increased the local autonomy considerably. This has re­sult­ed in large local variations, e.g. in the scope and quality of special edu­ca­tion, career counsel­ling and measures addressing young people in between school and work (Lundahl & Olofsson 2014). The extended responsi­bilities of muni­cipalities and schools to prevent and manage prob­lems related to school-to-work trans­itions increases the need of knowledge and understanding of local decision makers´ problem repre­sentations and actions regarding youth and transition matters. These in turn at least partly re­flect varying resources, structures and histories of local con­texts (Lundahl & Olofsson 2014).

The paper aims at identifying common denominators and dividing lines in local youth poli­cies by analyzing problem representations and strategies of Swedish local politicians and leading officials in varying local contexts over a 20-year period of time.

Central questions are:

RQ 1: How do local politicians and leading officials describe young people´s situation in their municipality? What do they perceive as problematic in relation to youth transitions in their municipality?

RQ 2 What is the major orientation of strategies adopted by the municipality to facilitate young people´s transitions within school and after, and managing related problems?

RQ 3: Which major similarities and differences are visible in the above respects between contexts of different character?

RQ 4: Are there notable changes in the above respects over a 20-year period (1999 – 2019)?

We assume that the results are of interest to other countries, particularly those with far-reach­ing local discretion in youth and transition matters.

The analysis of the interviews applies Carol Bacchi´s critical analytical approach “What´s the problem represented to be?” (Bacchi 2009) (RQ 1-2). This is done both by scrutinizing the implicit problem representations reflected by local youth policies and what the decision-makers tell about their perception about ‘the problem’ with youth and youth transitions. Furthermore, the paper utilizes a socio-spatial framework combining the categories of ‘terri­tory’, ‘place’, ‘scale’, ‘network’ and ‘positionality’ which was develop­ed by Bob Jessop and colleagues (2008) and further developed by Kazepov, Robertson & Rinne (2013) (RQ 3).

DATA COLLECTION: The paper mainly builds on interview data from 4 research projects addressing youth and school-to work transition policies, conducted during a 20-year period. In all four studies, leading local politicians and officials describe the situation of youth and young people´s future prospects in their municipality and region, and the municipal strategies and measures applied for supporting transitions. Throughout, the municipalities cover a broad variety of local contexts. The projects collected basic socio-economic, demographic and other relevant data on the local contexts studied. Study 1, project: Local youth politics and young people´s strategies. 14 municipalities, 42 respondents (interviews conducted 1999 – 2000) Study 2, project: The Individual, Paths and Choices. Career choices and counselling in individual, organizational and policy perspectives. 12 municipalities, 12 respondents (2007) Study 3, project: Troublesome transitions. School-to-work transitions of young people in longitudinal perspective. 20 municipalities, 45 respondents (2012 – 2013) Study 4, project: Moving on. Youth attending an introduction program and their career support in varying local contexts. 6 municipalities, preliminary 12 respondents (2019 – 2020). DATA ANALYSIS: The original projects used thematic analysis. Here, a re-analysis, applying Bacchi´s approach “what´s the problem represented to be?” will be conducted.

We expect the actual local transition policies to be more or less general or selective, i.e. they may address all young people or target certain groups. Secondly, transition policies may be more directed to the creation and change of structures, commonly the local supply of education and job opportunities, on the one hand, or aiming to affect actors (individuals, groups, organisations) on the other. We expect the combination of general-structural youth policies being more common in rural, depopulating municipalities and an individual-actor orientation being more frequent in urban areas, at least partly reflecting local decision-makers varying problem representations in differently resourced spatial contexts.

Antonucci, L., & Hamilton, M. (2014). Youth Transitions, Precarity and Inequality and the Future of Social Policy in Europe. In L. Antonucci, M. Hamilton, & S. Roberts (Eds.), Young People and Social Policy in Europe: Dealing with Risk, Inequality and Precarity in Times of Crisis (256–265). London: Palgrave. Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education. Brunila K, Ikävalko E, Kurki T et al. (2016) Revisiting the vulnerability ethos in cross-sectoral transition policies and practices for young people in the era of marketisation of education. Research in Comparative and International Education 11(1), 69–79. Brunila, K., & Lundahl, L. (Eds.). (2020). Youth on the Move: Tendencies and Tensions in Youth Policies and Practices. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. Eurofound (2014). Mapping youth transitions in Europe. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Halvorsen, R., & Hvinden, B. (2018). Youth, diversity and employment in times of crisis and economic restructuring – an introduction. In R. Halvorsen, & B. Hvinden (Eds.), Youth, Diversity and Employment: Comparative Perspectives on Labour Market Policies (1–31). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Jessop, B., Brenner, N. & Jones, M. (2008). Theorizing sociospatial relations. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 26, 389 – 401. Kazepov, Y., Robertson, S. & Rinne, R. (2013). Space, Scale and the Governing of Youth Trajectories and Transitions in Europe. In M. Parreira do Amaral & R. Dale, eds. (2013). Governance of Educational Trajectories in Europe. Thematic Report on Governance, 98 - 126. GOETE Working Paper. Frankfurt: University of Frankfurt. Lundahl L & Olofsson J. (2014). Guarded transitions? Youth trajectories and school-to-work transition policies in Sweden. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth. 19 (Suppl 1), 19-34. Page, E. & Goldsmith, M. (1987). Central and local government relations: A comparative analysis of West European unitary states. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Parreira do Amaral, M., Walther, A. & Litau, J (2013). Governance of educational Traject-ories in Europe. Access, Coping and Relevance of Education for Young People in European Knowledge Societies in Comparative Perspective. GOETE Final Report. Frankfurt: University of Frankfurt. Tikkanen, J. (2019). Constructing Life Courses in Times of Uncertainty. Individualisation and Social Structures. Quintini, G.; Martin, J. P.; Martin, S. (2007). The changing nature of the school-to-work transition process in OECD countries, IZA Discussion Papers, No. 2582. Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).