Research project Municipality Strategies for Integrated Schools

A critical mass of studies in Sweden show that residential segregation in combination with school choice polices lead to increased school segregation. This trend is seen most vividly in large and mid-sized cities. However, as an unintended and unplanned outcome of the ‘2015 migration crisis,’ school segregation in Sweden is no longer solely an urban phenomenon. Given the growing national concern over school segregation, municipalities have begun to actively implement desegregation policies in order to meet the goals of equality put forth by the Swedish School Law.

The project studies three forms of school desegregation: merging, closing and opening in compulsory schooling. The aim is to investigate the barriers to and effects of desegregation from different vantage points, in particular, the interrelation between political motives, school culture and pedagogy, parents’ (re)actions, children’s social interaction and school achievements.

The study adopts a cultural sociological perspective where the notion of symbolic inclusion is critical in making sense of the policy and its consequences for the stakeholders in the process of desegregation. The project will use diverse qualitative methods, including document analysis, ethnographic observations and interviews with local politicians, officials, headmasters, teachers, children and parents in addition to advance our knowledge of the possibilities for transformative social change and potential risks associated with school desegregation.