Those who got the mission to realize the modernization and democratization: how did they handle the development and the reforms and what was social justice in their view?  In Sweden after the Second World War, democracy and social justice were parts of the political agenda when building the welfare state. Equal education was one of the debated ideas and a suggestion was to have one 1-9 year compulsory school instead of the system of parallel schools with several forms of elementary schools (ex Folkskola) and secondary schools (ex Läroverk) for boys and for girls. The development from a parallel school system to one unified school, a 9-year compulsory school was part of the democratization and modernization and the municipalities had the responsibility to make the change come true. 

In my research, Storfors and Arvika, two smaller municipalities in Sweden are in focus. Archive material from the two municipalities' primary school board and municipal council shows that the development of the school system and solutions regarding different reforms in both the municipalities has similarities and differences. When the development of the school system placed in a local context, it makes it clear that different factors and actors have influenced the development of the school system, both changes, decisions and actions implemented and those not implemented. It is also obvious that the municipalities' views on social justice differed from those of the state and that local circumstances affected how reforms were implemented, or not implemented.[1] In a wider perspective, the research concerns how municipalities handled the modernization and democratization (ex. equal education) that permeated national politics during the second half of the 20th century. 

Researchers have primarily studied the school development from a top down perspective: “The State decides and the municipal realize”. Even if political decisions do affect changes, they should not be overestimated.[2] The implementation of the new school system and the reforms[3] that followed needs to be problematize from a bottom-up perspective, changes are not as simple as political decisions. In my presentation, I aim to discuss social justice and school development in municipalities during the time from parallel school system to one unified 9-year school, by using example from my empiric material. 

Key words: school developing, municipals, social justice, modernization, implementation

References 

Larsson, J. (2008). Folkhemmet och det europeiska huset : svensk välfärdsstat i omvandling. [Folkhemmet and the European House: Swedish welfare state in transformation ]Stockholm : Hjalmarson & Högberg, 2008.

SOU 1974:53 (1974). Skolans inre arbete. I: Utbildningsdepartementet (red.). Stockholm: Skolöverstyrelsen, Statens offentliga utredningar.

Sundberg, J., Sjöblom, S. & Wörlund, I. (2011). Kommunala folkhemmet: Uppbyggnad, de gyllene åren, nedmontering.The [Municipal folkhem: Construction, the golden years, dismantling] Stockholm: Academic Press Sweden.

Storfors kommunarkiv [Storfors municipal archive]

Arvika kommunarkiv [Arvika municipal archive]

 [1] Implementation and policy processes should be understand as actions, or non-actions, decisions or non-decisions, consciously or not consciously made at local (municipal) level, based on local circumstances and by various local actors. [2] Westberg 2014 s 305-307. Also the historian Björn Tropp (1999)have showed that the welfare politic was realised and influenced by local circumstances and that the local welfare could differ depending on municipal. The same with (Larsson  2008,ss 98 f) and (SOU 1974:53  1974; Sundberg et al.  2011, ss 12 och 243)[3] Example free school lunch, dental care, school buses.