What did you learn in school today? How ideas mattered for policy changes in Danish and Swedish schools 1990-2011 Line Renate Gustafsson PhD Dissertation What did you learn in school today? How ideas mattered for policy changes in Danish and Swedish schools 1990-2011 Politica © Forlaget Politica and the author 2012 ISBN: 978-87-7335-162-8 Cover: Svend Siune Print: Juridisk Instituts Trykkeri, Aarhus Universitet Layout: Annette B. Andersen Submitted 13 January 2012 The public defense takes place 25 May 2012 Published May 2012 Forlaget Politica c/o Department of Political Science and Government Aarhus University Bartholins Allé 7 DK-8000 Aarhus C Denmark Table of content Translations and abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 15 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 23 1.1 Empirical puzzle .......................................................................................................................... 23 1.2 The research question: How did ideas change? .................................................... 24 1.3 The argument in brief .............................................................................................................. 25 1.4 Ideas and policy change ...................................................................................................... 27 1.5 Research design and methodology ............................................................................... 28 1.6 Structure of the book ................................................................................................................ 29 Chapter 2: Theoretical framework .................................................................................................................. 33 2.1 Great expectations: The (re-)emergence of ideas as explanation of political behavior .......................................................................................................................... 34 2.1.1 Critique of a de-politicized vision of policy change ................................... 36 2.2.2 Calling attention to the politics of ideas: parties as ideational veto players ...................................................................................................................................... 37 2.2. Premises of an ideational explanation ........................................................................ 38 2.2.1 An ideational take on rationality ............................................................................ 38 2.2.2 Party preferences ............................................................................................................. 39 2.3 Defining types of ideas ........................................................................................................... 41 2.4 Two central idea concepts at two different stages in the policy process ...................................................................................................................................................... 44 2.4.1 Problem definition: narrowing down policy solutions ................................ 44 2.4.2 Causal beliefs: determining policy solutions ................................................... 44 2.5 Persuasion: an alternative approach to explaining change in ideas and policy ................................................................................................................................. 46 2.6 Persuading via de-legitimization: utilizing failure .................................................. 47 2.7 Persuading via ideational legitimization: utilizing existing ideas ................. 49 2.7.1 Differences in effects of a change in problem definition or causal beliefs .................................................................................................................................. 51 2.7.2 Are the mechanisms complementary? .............................................................. 52 2.7.3 Illustration of how persuasion matters ................................................................. 52 2.8 The process whereby de-legitimization and legitimization result in new ideas ................................................................................................................................................ 54 2.9 The parliamentary position of the performer of the mechanisms ............... 55 2.10 How do parties change ideas? ...................................................................................... 56 2.10.1 Change of ideas by existing actors in the party ......................................... 56 5 2.10.2 Change of ideas by change of actors in the party ................................... 57 2.11 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 3: The school policy sector and the field of school assessment policy .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 59 3.1 Characteristics of the Danish and Swedish school policy sector .................. 59 3.1.1 The Nordic model of comprehensive schools ................................................ 60 3.1.2 Two decentralized school systems......................................................................... 61 3.1.3 School policy making: Broad political support ............................................... 62 3.1.4 School performance ....................................................................................................... 63 3.2 Assessment and evaluation policy .................................................................................. 64 3.2.1 Defining assessment and evaluation policy ..................................................... 64 3.2.2 What kind of policy tools are assessment policies? .................................... 65 3.3 A typology of assessment policies ................................................................................... 66 3.4 Summary of school assessment changes in Denmark and Sweden.......... 68 3.5 School assessment changes in Sweden 1990-2011 ........................................... 68 3.5.1 The grade system.............................................................................................................. 68 3.5.2 The test system: from external to more internal tools ................................. 69 3.5.3 Audit: external school oversight ............................................................................... 70 3.5.4 A new internal assessment tool: the pupil plan .............................................. 70 3.6 School assessment changes in Denmark 1990-2011 ......................................... 71 3.6.1 The grade system.............................................................................................................. 71 3.6.2 School leaving exams .................................................................................................... 72 3.6.3 External assessment of the school level: League tables and audit ...................................................................................................................................................... 72 3.6.4 A surge in internal assessment tools of the pupils ......................................... 73 3.7 Recapitulation: judging the extent of change in assessment policies ...................................................................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 4: The dependent variable: ideas about assessment ........................................... 77 4.1 Three overall strands of social democratic beliefs about education ................................................................................................................................................ 77 4.2 Comprehensive schooling: assessment as detrimental to equality ............ 79 4.3 Progressive education: assessment as detrimental to the children’s development ......................................................................................................................................... 80 4.4 A new radical left agenda: reinforcing existing causal beliefs about assessment ............................................................................................................................... 82 4.5 Perceptions about the purpose of assessment ........................................................ 83 4.6 Developments in overall assessment purposes ....................................................... 84 4.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 85 6 Chapter 5: Research design and method ............................................................................................... 87 5.1 Research design: a case study .......................................................................................... 87 5.2 Demarcation of cases and time periods ....................................................................