“Inclusion has gone too far”: how a slogan became policy in Swedish education

Abstract

Sweden has often been raised as exemplary regarding inclusive education. This image has, however, been questioned as inclusion is not a prioritized concept in central Swedish education policy. Despite this, political moves questioning inclusive education have increased in the last few years, through political discourse and debate, governmental policy, and even financing. This article aims to map out these political shifts and illustrate their development through policy tools on different levels in the years 2018–2024. Using a broad definition of policy, the materials studied are a selection of debate articles from politicians, government reports (green papers), parliamentary motions (white papers), government agreements, and documents describing targeted funding for segregated environments. The results show how inclusion became negatively connoted through political discourse and the slogan ‘inclusion has gone too far’, established in public debate–primarily driven by one political party. The slogan subsequently became official government policy through political agreements, investigations, and funding. There are no signs of reversal regarding this new policy direction, meaning that Sweden is among the first countries to actually abandon inclusion as a political goal for education.