Transnational curriculum standards, curriculum reforms and classroom practices – an introduction

The introductory chapter sets the framework for the book. It captures a four-year research project comprising studies on Sweden’s most recent curriculum reform of compulsory schools, from a transnational perspective. Theoretical concepts are outlined, along with the methodology for exploring these kinds of comprehensive and multi-level national curriculum reforms. For example, the Swedish curriculum reform illustrates a transnational standards-based reform movement that stems from current policy flows and takes shape in the local schools and classrooms. In addition to providing an overview of the book, the introduction set a critical perspective on how global and transnational policies are re-contextualised and how they take on different expressions in different national and sub-national arenas.