Research project The Swedish boarding school as a new research object

An overaching aim of the project is to open up the Swedish boarding school as a new research object and thereby contribute to the growing international scholarly work on history of education in general and boarding schools in particular.

Contrary to what some people believe, boarding schools are not educational phenomena that are losing ground. Rather, they are prospering and spreading globally. In countries where they were once founded, they continue to be a popular alternative to regular schools, especially among social elites. In many other parts of the world, boarding schools are increasing as a transnational form of education.

Considering their long existence and position in the secondary education of elites in Swedish society, research on boarding schools is surprisingly limited. On an international level, research on boarding schools has grown considerably during the last decades. More studies on Swedish boarding schools would not only generate an increased understanding from a national perspective. It would also widen the international field of history of education and the understandings of the ongoing globalization of education.

The aim of the project is to organize two workshops at Sigtunastiftelsen for the purpose of (1) creating a new cross-disciplinary research network on Swedish boarding schools for historians and sociologists of education and (2) preparing applications for projects to major funding agencies such as VR and RJ for the year 2023 and 2024.

Full title: The Swedish boarding school as a new research object: Workshop with research proposals-work and archive studies