This paper examines the teacher education policy from 2008 to 2025 to analyze and discuss the political arguments related to the teaching profession, teacher education organizations, and the essential knowledge required for teachers. Utilizing Bacchi's (2009) concept of problematization, the analysis investigates how issues within teacher education are constructed and what solutions and changes are subsequently presented as necessary within these policies. The study is based on the following question:

How do political arguments within teacher education policies from 2008 to 2025 construct the problems and solutions related to the teaching profession, teacher education organizations, and the essential knowledge required for teachers?

In recent years, intense political debate over the teacher education curriculum in Sweden has led to significant policy interventions (Hardy, Rönnerman & Beach, 2019). This mirrors international trends (Cochran Smith, 2021). Since 2019, concerns about the quality of teacher education have escalated, resulting in various policy changes aimed at addressing issues like teacher quality and student performance.

In November 2024, a Swedish Government Official Report proposed comprehensive changes to the content and organisation of teacher education (SOU 2024: 81). This report will be followed in 2025 by a Government Bill and a new ordinance for teacher education, which will entail significant changes to the Swedish teacher education curriculum and, consequently, the professional knowledge base for future teachers. The revised teacher education program will replace the current one established in 2011.

Since the late 1990s, discussions about teacher education curricula have centred on two primary discourses. The first is a scientific discourse that emphasises the need for a scientific knowledge base to strengthen and professionalise the teaching profession. The second discourse concentrates on the practical aspects of the teaching profession, often linked to addressing the teacher shortage and attracting more students to this field (Furuhagen, Holmén & Säntti, 2019; Mikhaylova, Pettersson & Magnússon, 2024). The scientific discourse was evident in the policy documents implemented in 2001 (SOU1999:63) as well as in the current teacher education (SOU 2008:109). The intention to professionalise education is reflected in the contemporary teacher education system by extending the duration of most programmes, placing greater emphasis on thesis work, thereby enabling teachers to qualify for doctoral studies. Other reforms have also aimed in this direction, such as the certification reform, practice-oriented research, the introduction of the professional programme, the establishment of an educational science committee at the Swedish Research Council (Askling, 2006) and emphasising the importance of grounding education in scientific evidence (Education Act, 2010). The practice-oriented discourse has manifested in reforms intended to adapt the length and delivery of teacher education programmes to meet the urgent demand for teachers within the education system. This discourse highlights a growing political intention to equip teachers with concrete methodological skills, which is specifically highlighted in the revised degree objectives in current education (Government, 2021). Adjustments in the delivery of education to tackle the severe teacher shortage have been articulated in reforms such as work-integrated teacher education and particularly in the proposal for a pilot project on a shortened supplementary teacher education programme (KPU) (U2021/05029). The Swedish Government Official Report (SOU 2024:81) signals the intention to reform teacher education in this manner.

The empirical material for this paper includes the seven latest policy texts related to Swedish teacher education. These documents outline the teacher education organizations, the essential knowledge required for teachers’ curriculum and how the education should be managed and implemented. Starting from the preparatory work for the current teacher education (SOU 2008:109), the analysis covers political texts from 2019 to the latest policy documents, such as the January Agreement 2019, a memorandum on increased quality and more teachers in schools (U2021/00301), a political agreement of the Swedish government (Government, 2022), and the latest teacher education Directive and Government Official Report (Dir 2023:111; SOU 2024:81) with subsequent bills (not yet presented). Empirical material: SOU 2008:109. A sustainable teacher education. Report of the Inquiry on a New Teacher Education (HUT 07). Stockholm: Fritzes. January Agreement (2019). Draft policy agreement between the Social Democrats, the Centre Party, the Liberals and the Green Party] Microsoft Word - Utkast till sakpolitisk överenskommelse.docx. Nedladdat 2025-01-19. U2021/00301. Increased quality in teacher education and more teachers in schools. Stockholm: Government. Dir 2023:111. Developing teacher and preschool teacher education: Committee directives]. Stockholm: Government. Goverment. (2022). The Tidö agreement. Agreement for Sweden. 994c611dffa285e6.pdf (cision.com) SOU 2024: 81. Subject knowledge and teaching skills – a reformed teacher education. Stockholm: Government. Proposal XX (2025): This bill will be the government's proposal for a new future teacher education. It is expected to be presented in mid-spring 2025. The analysis will employ Carol Bacchi's "What's the Problem Represented to be?" (WPR) approach (Bacchi, 2009). This analytical approach was developed from a Foucauldian-influenced post-structural theory to scrutinize policy and its underlying assumptions and discourses. Unlike conventional policy analytic perspectives that treat the policy as responses or reactions to external ‘real’ problems awaiting identification and resolution, the WPR approach argues that policy contains representations of the problems and solutions they purport to address. The WPR approach, therefore, aims to scrutinize these problem representations critically as a form of ‘problematization.’ The approach consists of some analytical questions designed to guide the policy analysis. In this particular study, these analytical questions are redesigned to fit the actual empirical material and the research question.

The analysis aims to identify the similarities and differences in addressing teaching, teacher roles in quality education, performance issues, and knowledge base improvements in teacher education reforms from 2008 to 2024-2025 in Sweden. It will also examine the implications for the teaching profession and the impact of political efforts on professionalisation or de-professionalisation (Åstrand 2020). Furthermore, it will explore how changes in teacher education policy in Sweden relate to international developments in teacher education.

Askling, B. (2006). Utbildningsvetenskap – ett vetenskapsområde tar form. Stockholm: Swedish Research Council. Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What’s the problem represented to be? French Forests: Pearson. Cochran-Smith, M. (2021). Exploring teacher quality: international perspectives. European Journal of Teacher Education, 44(3), 415–428. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2021.1915276 Furuhagen, B., Holmén, J., & Säntti, J. (2019). The ideal teacher: orientations of teacher education in Sweden and Finland after the Second World War. History of Education, 48(6), 784–805. https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2019.1606945 Hardy, I., Rönnerman, K., & Beach, D. (2018). Teachers’ work in complex times: the ‘fast policy’ of Swedish school reform. Oxford Review of Education, 45(3), 350–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2018.1546684 Mikhaylova, T., Petterson, D. & Magnússon, G. (2024). “Who killed Swedish Teacher Education?” Historizing current debates on teaching and teaching methods in Sweden. In Magnússon, G., Phelan A.M., Heimans, S. & Unsworts, R (Eds.). Teacher Education and Its Discontents. Knowledge, and Ethics. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003422358 SOU 2008:109. A sustainable teacher education. Report of the Inquiry on a New Teacher Education (HUT 07). Stockholm: Fritzes. SOU 2024: 81. Subject knowledge and teaching skills – a reformed teacher education. Stockholm: Regeringen. SFS 2010:800. Education Act. Stockholm: Parliament. Åstrand, B. (2020). Svensk lärarutbildning – en akademisk professionsutbildning med förhinder. I E. Elstad (Red.), Lærerutdanning i nordiske land (s. 90–122). Universitetsforlaget.