Abstract:

Abstract School on Trial: Interpretation and Use of School History in Contemporary Debate About the Future of Society and School. This article centres on how education and the Swedish School Commission as an historical phenomenon become resources in the discussion on how society and education should be developed. Three authors’ texts on the School Commission are analysed based on narrative history theory, which engages in how history is used to legitimise political change. Education and the School Commission are inscribed in a national narrative of decline. The 1946 Commission is blamed for the perceived problems in present society and education, allegedly having caused a lack of focus on nationalism, morals and knowledge in Sweden. To change society, the message is, education must learn from the historical mistake of the Commission and invest in knowledge and nationalism. The narrative plot is reminiscent of other historical narratives, for example, of heroes (teachers) and villains (Alva Myrdal), who personify structural changes. The historical narrative of education also fits in with contemporary trends of modernism criticism.

Keywords: