Disciplinering och yrkesutbildning : reformarbetet bakom 1918 års praktiska ungdomsskolereform

Sammanfattning: The aim of the dissertation is to investigate the work of five committees, and the motives of the reformers, that gave the rise to the creation of the school reform. Further compulsory education and technical education had been discussed since the 1880s. During the first fifteen years of the 2000th century the debate was intensified. Sweden was transformed to a "modern" industrial society. Through changes in suffrage in 1909, the democratization of the society was initiated. Workers had begun to organize themselves in labor unions. The effects of their fighting spirit became more apparent. The revolutionary, undisciplined workers and their children were perceived as a threat against the establishment. At the same time the Swedish industry and trade needed skilled and cooperative labourers to be able to compete with other nations. The school reform consisted of two parts: 1) A compulsory part-time continuation school in which all youths who did not receive full-time education were to be given a general education during two years after elementary school. 2) A unified vocational education for all men and women employed within industry, crafts, trade and domestic work. The basic level, the apprenticeship school, was mandatory. But it was the task of the municipalities to decide which vocations to be included and when to introduce the education. The main motive of the reformers was to discipline the youths into good, well qualified workers and conscious, responsible citizens. That is, they had to be integrated in the established society by means of social upbringing in a spirit of mutual cooperation. The school organization was especially inspired by the German educationalist Georg Kerschensteiner. Behind this program in Sweden was, above all, the Swedish Association of Public School Teachers. The proposition to the Riksdag in 1918 was characterized by the liberal-social democratic coalition’s ideas of cooperation, a spirit of compromise and understanding of the problems of trade and industry. The school system of 1918 can thus be considered one important contribution to the Swedish "folkhem" (welfare state) ideology and the so-called "Saltsjöbad"-spirit.