Looking for peace in the Swedish National Curricula

Abstract

This study analyses, in the light of peace educational theory, the presence and absence of peace elements in the Swedish national curriculum for compulsory schooling. Using the theoretical framework developed within the international Peace Education Curricular Analysis Project, content analysis and mixed methods we identify how the Swedish curriculum underscore and lack the peace elements of recognizing violence, non-violent conflict transformation and positive peace. Our analysis shows that the Swedish curriculum supports teaching and learning which may help pupils to identify violence in society and internationally, lack many aspects of non-violent conflict transformation (especially conflict resolution) and emphasize positive peace in numerous but limited ways. We find that many dimensions of peace are underscored in the syllabus of civics, making peace education primarily a concern for a few teachers. Noting how peace in education is a wide-ranging concern for all educators, we highlight how peace may in more nuanced ways become a part of the Swedish curriculum, today and in the future.