ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on education policies in Portugal, Poland and Sweden, exploring links between the political construction of ESL and the fight against it. Portugal still has one of the highest rates in Europe, even with great progress; Sweden is and has been in quite a comfortable position very close to the European average; and the rate of ESL in Poland is significantly below.
We take into consideration the relationships of education with Europeanization, including the assertion of new roles for the state that interacts in a multiple scale governance – the dispersion of decision-making from the states to European institutions in line with Roger Dale (2007). We argue that these processes bring to the fore difficulties and opportunities that are explored in national interpretations of the educational policy and phenomena. Taking into account the specific educational structures, policies and practices in the three countries, the chapter highlights that the educational debate varies in areas of concentration and there are tensions in the discussion of vocational tracks; that the socio-political and economic crisis has reshaped the ways different countries address ESL and try to make the best of EU funding; that tensions remain in varying degrees between the social and educational goals and the needs of the labour market; and that social concerns about equality of opportunities and educational development are not as common as they should be in light of the EU concern about social inclusion.
