Värdegrunden: the läroplan as consensual steering document of constitutive democratic values¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 2 claims (2 against) · 1 study (1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The Swedish läroplan is "a consensually constructed document and a symbol of broad political agreement" and a steering document identifying the steering values in education. When the 1994 läroplan was introduced, a new label for the constitutive values of the school system was invented: "värdegrunden". The revised Lpo94 opened with norms and values rather than knowledge, symbolically emphasising that schooling can prioritise values over knowledge, and each sector document begins by identifying democratic values all Swedish schools should represent and impart.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Values should saturate all activities and be shared by all working within a school

Constraints¶

• There is a perpetual struggle to reconcile the constitutive values of the national läroplan with outside values, personal values and school practices

Target Learners¶

• All adults and children in Swedish pre-school, compulsory and non-compulsory schooling

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Fostering a shared value system and preparing children for active participation in civic life through democratic organisation of daily work

Claims¶

• Pragmatic values of keeping order counteracted the democratic values teachers were mandated to realise [-W]
• Teachers' spontaneous in-the-moment reactions draw on internalised earlier values rather than the curriculum's constitutive values [-W]

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

• Moral practice in schools must also be deliberative practice, with space for deliberation in teacher education and school

Key Sources¶

• Norberg, K. (2003). Constitutive Values and Daily Practice in a Swedish School. Values and Ethics in Educational Administration, 1(3). http://www.ed.psu.edu/uceacsle/