Higher education and research in a steady state–on changing premises and practices for educational research in Sweden

Abstract

This chapter addresses changing premises and practices for and in educational research in the case of Sweden. The ambition is to analyse changing preconditions for educational research and potential implications of this for research practices and knowledge production in the field of education. The text is organised in three inquiries: First, we present a general framework of transitions in the system of higher education and research as a combination of expansion and contraction. Second, we analyse educational research in Sweden, its trajectory, playground and play performances, indicating possible changes in the rules of the game. Here we apply an international perspective. Thirdly, based on this, we discuss the current situation - the condition we are in for educational research, and where to go?.