ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will focus on a less talked about education system currently used in Sweden, namely that of municipal adult education (MAE). Here, the market emerges through a system where municipalities contract private providers through public procurement. This in contrast to the voucher system and free school choice operating in the compulsory and upper secondary school system in Sweden. While the latter system positions students and their parents as customers, the former has municipalities decide if and who they want to contract. In MAE, students can choose what courses to take, but it is the municipality that decides who provides said courses. In other words, marketisation in MAE is not based on the student’s power to choose, but on the municipality’s discretion. This makes for a different type of privatisation of education that, potentially, has different consequences for those involved. In this chapter, we look at privatisation of MAE in Sweden, specifically focusing on what consequences this might have for those engaging in MAE, i.e. students, teachers and principals. Firstly, we elaborate on MAE as an institution, beginning with its history and by providing some descriptive statistics. We then explain the way procurement takes place in this context and end the chapter by providing some notes on what consequences this kind of system might have for those involved.
