Organising the ‘industrialisation of instruction’: Pedagogical discourses in the Swedish Primary Teacher Education programme

Abstract

This study examines the organisation of the Swedish Primary Teacher Education (PTE) programme by studying a local educational policy practice. The empirical material consists of policy documents and interviews with teacher educators at a large university. The study focuses on the pedagogical discourses in teacher education, by studying whether the examinations, courses, and education are based on insulation or integrating principles, that is, strong or weak classification. The results of the study show that both the national policy text and the local organisation are based on principles and rationalities of strong classification, where the local policy practice is both constructed through and affected by commodification and market rationalities.