In this paper I will discuss the impact of the extended education legislation in Sweden. The aim is to analyse the trends in legislation that can be distinguished and if there are some similar tendencies in the education legislation in other European countries. The educational system has always had some legal regulations, as at what age to start school, years of attendance, curriculum and impact of education through credentialing rules. Also the requirements on buildings, teachers and so forth are often regulated in law. The last two decades, however, an increasing number of laws have been approved or applicable to the activities in Swedish schools that in various ways are challenging the system of education. The phenomenon of extended education legislation in US has already been scrutinized and analysed by John Meyer (1981) that argues that, what he denominates “legalization”, is a ”disorderly introduction into education of state authority” (Meyer, 1981). "Legalization" means here a “disorderly introduction into education of state authority”.

Since the beginning of the 1990ies the Swedish school system has undergone a shift from a centralized, regulated, comprehensive education governed by rules to a decentralized and deregulated governance by aims and results (Englund, 1995).

Many of the new legal rules that since then have been introduced, aims to solve emerging problems in the educational system, but must also be considered as a stronger central control over school. It can also be understood as a consequence of the decentralization and deregulation of school. However, in a deregulated school, the new legal rules often doesn’t come from the educational management and consequently are not integrated in the system of education. In that sense the legislation, or by definition, the legalization, create organizational disorder in the educational system (Meyer, 1981). 

You can observe a shift in the legislation concerning Swedish schools from what can be considered as redistribution to a focus on recognition (Fraser, 2003).It can also be expressed as a shift from collective rights to individual rights. It has enhanced the possibilities for pupils and their guardians to start lawsuit against school, especially in cases where you can suspect some kind of discrimination. In that sense the individuals have achieved a stronger position. Schools have to pay more attention to a growing number of legal rules and it is essential for the headmasters and school administration to be familiar with all new laws that can be applicable to school. The study of law is now also a part of the teacher education. Not only the need to consider more legal regulations affect the schools, also the need to handle all notifications has contributed to new routines and even more administration which results in higher costs. As the School Inspection in Sweden show an increasing number of notifications every year. The School Inspection also notes that the authorities at different levels haven’t satisfactory routines to handle the notifications in an acceptable time.

Bernstein, B. (1996) Pedagogy, Symbolic control and identity. Theory, research, critique. Lanham. Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Englund, T. (1995). Utbildningspolitiskt systemskifte? Stockholm: HLS Förlag. Fraser, N. (2003) Den radikala fantasin. Mellan omfördelning och erkännande. Göteborg: Daidalos Meyer, J.W. (1981). Organizational Factors Affecting Legalization in Education. Report for Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance. Stanford: Stanford University.