Politiska förväntningar på utbildningsforskning: Ideologi, tillit och legitimitet i styrningen av svensk skola 1930–2025

Abstract in English

This dissertation examines how political expectations of educational research have been formulated, transformed, and institutionalised in Swedish education policy from the 1930s to 2025. It analyses the political functions these expectations have served in the governance and legitimation of schooling and situates them in relation to broader processes of modernity.

The study is based on a historical document analysis of Swedish parliamentary and research policy materials, including government inquiries, bills, committee reports, and other policy documents concerning the organisation, funding, and use of educational research. These documents are analysed as institutional arenas in which political expectations are articulated, negotiated, and stabilised over time.

The dissertation combines perspectives from educational ideology, modernity theory, and the sociology of expectations. The analysis shows that educational research has become an increasingly central political resource under conditions of uncertainty, reform pressure, and changing modes of governance. Over time, expectations have shifted from portraying research as a general modernising resource to emphasising applicability, comparability, and evidence. Rather than diminishing under uncertainty, political reliance on educational research has repeatedly been reformulated and reinforced. Educational research has thus become a central resource in the governance and legitimation of Swedish schooling.