The relationship between education, democracy, and social justice is never static. During our recent ECRG delegation visit to Malm\u00f6 and Lund Universities, conversations with postgraduate teacher\u2011education students and staff revealed a system grappling with profound political, demographic, and ideological shifts. These insights offer a powerful lens for thinking about how educators can navigate contested spaces, particularly when issues of critical literacy, anti-racism, and children\u2019s rights are under pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The changing context of Swedish schooling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sweden\u2019s education system is often internationally associated with equity, inclusion, and child\u2011centred practice. Yet the picture emerging from conversations with colleagues at Malm\u00f6 and Lund Universities suggests a sector in transition with demographic shifts reshaping the workforce. Immigration has been halted and birth rates are falling so teacher training numbers are shrinking and yet at the same time, the need for 80% more SEN(D) teachers is rising due to increasingly complex learner profiles. Teacher training students we spoke to describe a system where children \u201cknow their rights but are not necessarily independent,\u201d raising questions about how reasonable adjustments are conceptualised. For example, a child whose adjustment is \u201cnot speaking\u201d may be protected but not supported towards independence or participation. These tensions echo debates in the UK, where parental advocacy, funding structures, and the route to a diagnosis can unintentionally shape classroom dynamics and teacher workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teacher identity, retention and the weight of policy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Much like in England, Swedish teachers are expressing a desire to leave the profession. Trainee teachers at Malm\u00f6 spoke about the profound influence of their mentors-how a single supportive person has the power to shape their sense of belonging in teaching. Policy changes are also reshaping professional identity. Currently, there is a compulsory course on social relations and core values within teacher education in Malmo, but the 2028 curriculum reforms propose removing human rights, children\u2019s rights, and even critical literacy. One student summarised the government\u2019s stance starkly: \u201cWe (Swedish) don\u2019t care about critical thinking.\u201d This shift has implications far beyond the classroom as the influence of social media rises, the removal of critical literacy from the curriculum risks leaving young people without the tools to navigate misinformation or interrogate power. Students we spoke to at Lund shared similar views but also reflected on the open discrimination of the indigenous Sami people in Sweden (one of the students was Sami) as well as the fact that being openly racist on teacher education courses was not always challenged. One student reflected that there was a student on their course who was open about the fact that he supported Nazi views and when students raised the issue, the common response was that everyone is \u201centitled to their opinions\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps the most striking theme was the difficulty of naming and addressing racism within Swedish institutions. Colleagues described a university culture where racism is \u201cnot discussed,\u201d and there is a national reluctance to use the word racism at all with one colleague stating that \u201cit would be impossible to identify as a structurally racist institution\u201d after we shared that our Vice-Chancellor identified UWE Bristol as institutionally racist. Colleagues highlighted a fear that equality data could be misused, resulting in a system where ethnicity cannot legally be recorded. Instead, categories such as \u201cSwedish,\u201d \u201cNon-Swedish\u201d, \u201cimmigrant,\u201d or \u201cborn outside Europe\u201d act as proxies. Despite this, young people themselves appear to be shifting the narrative. Many now identify as Swedish and Iranian, Bosnian, or Arab suggesting a more self\u2011defined sense of belonging than previous generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweden\u2019s highly standardised system requires students to study social sciences and humanities until age 18, with schooling continuing until 19. Social science teachers described teaching students to evaluate sources but also acknowledged the need to explore perspectives and voices; a task that becomes harder when political discourse narrows. In both UK and Sweden, the challenge is not simply what we teach, but how we create conditions for students to question, interpret, and imagine differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the challenges, trainee teachers at Malm\u00f6 University and Lund University expressed a desire to focus on how to hold critical conversations, how to support independence and how to navigate tensions between policy and practice. Their reflections suggest that even in restrictive climates, educators can cultivate spaces of inquiry, empathy, and resistance. These conversations with colleagues in Sweden remind us that anti\u2011racist practice requires language, courage, and institutional support and that critical literacy is not optional but foundational to democracy. One educator noted that schools\u2019 practice, grappling with the realities of migration, identity and inequality, was developing at a more rapid pace than in the university, saying \u201cthe university is often behind the schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The conversations at both universities highlight the need for continued dialogue across borders. Whether in Sweden or the UK, educators face shared challenges: rising polarisation, shrinking civic spaces, and the erosion of critical thinking in public life. Yet there is also shared possibility. Young people are redefining identity and teachers in schools are seeking deeper pedagogical understanding. And universities, when they choose to, can become spaces where difficult truths are spoken and new futures imagined. At ECRG, we\u2019ll continue to do this work.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Above: Lund University Library By Dr Karan Vickers-Hulse, Dr Jane Carter and Dr Sarah Whitehouse The relationship between education, democracy, and social justice is never static. During our recent ECRG delegation visit to Malm\u00f6 and Lund Universities, conversations with postgraduate teacher\u2011education students and staff revealed a system grappling with profound political, demographic, and ideological shifts. … Continue reading “Teaching, rights, and reality: reflections on Malm\u00f6 and Lund Universities and the shifting landscape of Swedish education”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":1592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[300,2,272,216,15,4,6,382],"tags":[385,391,384,383,390,388,389,386],"class_list":["post-1576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-curriculum","category-education-policy","category-equity-in-education","category-pedagogy","category-professional-identity","category-social-justice","category-sociology-of-education","category-teacher-education","tag-educators","tag-institutional-racism","tag-lund-university","tag-malmo-university","tag-swedish-education","tag-teacher-identity","tag-teacher-retention","tag-teacher-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1590,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions\/1590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2026\/09\/ecrg-blog-sweden2-1000x600-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCritical conversations: racism, silence, and the Swedish context<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Curriculum, values, and the politics of knowledge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Navigating hope and responsibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n