Introduction
Different countries in Europe have different systems of education. The systems have different degrees of comprehensiveness. The Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) developed a unified system that is integrated in the elementary and secondary levels. Children go through the same kind of education system regardless of their social backgrounds. Germany and England have managed to have such a system in the elementary level only. These countries have selective systems of education to date.
Wiborg proposed four factors that have led to the uneven development of education systems. The first factor is the pattern of state formation in the nineteenth century. Second, the class structure developed in the nineteenth century. Third, the nature of politics of the liberals and the kind of partnerships that developed among the political parties. Fourthly, the nature of social democracy as well as the alliances the social democrats established in the different countries.
In Germany and England the social democratic parties failed to form partnership with liberal parties hence they did not develop a comprehensive education system. On the other hand, the Scandinavian countries had strong democratic parties that formed alliances with liberal parties and hence developed comprehensive educational systems (Wiborg 5). This paper will endeavour to analyse a case of secondary education in relation to the perspectives developed by Andreas Walther and Suzanne Wiborg.
Sweden secondary education
Education in Sweden is compulsory form the age of seven to sixteen. This basic education is provided in Grundskola schools and the programme lasts for nine years. At the end of the academic period, learners get a certificate or diploma called Slutbetyg Fran Grundskola Upper Secondary. After the basic education Grundskola, learners proceed to secondary school. The school that provides secondary education is the Gymnasium and the programme lasts for three years. Learners join at the age of sixteen and leave at nineteen. At the completion of the academic programme, learners get a certificate or diploma known as Slutbetyg Från Gymnasieskola Upper Secondary. In Folkhogskola (Folk High School), learners are awarded a certificate known as Upper Secondary. This certificate gives a learner general eligibility to an institution of higher learning. They also get a certificate called Intyg om särskild behörighet, which gives a learner specific eligibility (Sweden, Structure of Education System, para.1).
Historical analysis
The education system was not always comprehensive because the Scandinavian countries had a parallel system in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There were schools that catered for the upper class known as Cathedral. On the other hand, there were schools called elementary schools that served children of the peasantry and the working class. The parallel education system faced opposition because it did not give an equal chance to the children in elementary schools to transfer to secondary schools. Therefore, they were not prepared to join any meaningful occupations. The parallel education was abolished and students had a chance to go through the education system depending on their academic abilities instead of their social class (Wiborg 5).
The comprehensive school movement led to the establishment of comprehensive educational system. This led to phasing out of the belief that people from different social classes needed different education and there was the desire to have a uniform kind of education. The movement encouraged social mixing so that schools would be a platform for enabling students from the various backgrounds to have equal chances. This would lead to social equality and hence cohesion in the wider society (Wiborg 5). A new school called the middle school was formed in place of lower secondary school. The middle school was placed between the elementary and upper secondary school. This created a ladder system of education, which began with the elementary school, then the middle school and finally the upper secondary school. The middle school helped to create unity in the education system (Wiborg 5). A school act was established to introduce the middle school in 1909 in the Scandinavian countries and hence by early twentieth century the countries and a ladder system of education.
The ladder system of education was made possible because the peasantry had a strong role in the social class structure and by the turn of the nineteenth century, they had become an economically and socially independent class. This meant that they had political power as borne by the bourgeoisie because by 1835 the peasantry owned over half of the total land.
The upper secondary education system in Sweden is comprehensive (Hall 1). This system was introduced in the 1990s. The reforms saw the reduction of the gap between vocational and educational tracks. This was a result of prolonging and an increment in the academic content in the vocational tracks. As a result, about 80% of school leavers had a certificate that could enable them to seek higher education (Walther 125).
In the universalistic system in Sweden, national frame works set standards in the education system as well as training. The programmes in both training and education system are flexible and allow individual learning as well as training plans. The government has a welfare level based on social responsibility. People from the age of eighteen years and over can access the funds regardless of their socio-economic status. They get an educational allowance in the type of education they choose, either training or formal education (Walther 127).
The universalistic regime system as practised in Nordic countries such as Sweden, Norway and Denmark has a more socially heterogeneous intake and this has narrowed the gap between schools hence, there is lower inequality in the educational outcomes. On the contrary, in countries such as Germany and England there is greater segregation in schools intakes, which results in greater inequalities in their educational outcomes. Due to this factor, Nordic countries have higher social and economic equality. In addition, they have more egalitarian school systems when compared to German and English-speaking countries. For example, in England comprehensive education is inadequate because the education system is differentiated and incomplete. In German-speaking countries, the comprehensive education is yet to be introduced and there is a tripartite selective secondary system. This has led to inequality in the education system and the countries are unwilling to address the inequality.
In the Scandinavian countries, selection is postponed until the learners reach the age of sixteen. One advantage of their education system is that learners attend comprehensive schools in spite of their social backgrounds (Wiborg 4). This gives the learners an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams. In addition, the private schools in these countries are funded by the state by about 80% of their running cost. This gives the state a hand in them and thus they are subject to state regulation. The private school do not serve a certain class or the privileged, as they are egalitarian in nature.
Walther
Walther sees the need of transition in education system as having been brought about by changes in the society such as lifestyles, female employment, labour market and a trend towards individualisation. People have had to change to cope with the modern day changes. These changes have affected the youths the most. They have to make a transition from childhood to adulthood. After school, the youths have to make transitions into adulthood and look for employment so that they can become financially independent. However, making this translation is not easy due to the prolonged passages from school to work. Therefore, “situations of youth-like dependency and adult autonomy may co-exist simultaneously within the same biography” (Walther 121). The transitions are also influenced by old inequalities based on social background, region, gender, ethnicity and education. Furthermore, young people have unequal access to resources and yet, they have to make decisions about their lives own their own. Furthermore, the world welfare regimes play a role in integration of youths into the society.
The youths have sometimes failed to gain from programmes designed to enable them integrate into the labour market. This means that there is a mismatch between reality and the institutions assumptions. A sign of this mismatch is the large number of the youth drooping out of school. For example, the reforms made in the Swedish education system concerning vocational training saw the programme extension by one year. The period therefore, became three years instead of the usual two. According to some studies, the number of dropouts increases as people did not want the three-year period even though it made them more employable (Hall 5). On a positive note, the extension of the programme gave the students a basic eligibility to university. This gave the children of the low educated a chance to go to the university because most of their children often choose the vocational track instead of the academic track even if they had a higher ability.
Cohesion in society
According to Wiborg, cohesion in society can only be brought about through about by an equal education system. In her work, she details how the Scandinavian achieved their comprehensive education system that has led to a greater social equality in the society. After the breakdown of the Kalmar Union that united the Scandinavian countries in the fifteenth century the countries went to war and as result, a process of formation of states began in the region. Countries like Norway and Denmark were able to introduce powerful absolutism from 1660-1848 and the influence of the nobility was curbed. In Sweden, absolutism was short-lived and hence the nobility was able to remain powerful until 1920. However, the aristocracy did not enforce over the peasantry and hence the peasantry had a say in the society. The nobility did not claim sole power in this country hence social equality was easy to achieve because no class dominated the others.
For a state to achieve cohesion, it must have an educational system that is equal. Sweden’s educational system is equal and gives an equal chance to all learners regardless of their social background. No learner is locked out of any school because they are from a low background. In addition, the government also gives educational allowance to any students who need it without discriminating them based on their background. This ensures that all learners are able to access higher learning and can thus, have an equal opportunity in getting into the professional careers of their choice.
The Scandinavian countries had state action that led to the consolidation of their national systems of secondary and elementary schools in the early nineteenth century. During the rest of the century that countries continued to seek improvement of the educational system through legislation. Therefore, over half of the secondary schools were under the state and could compete with the private schools. This ensured that learners who attended both public and private secondary schools had equal opportunities to access higher education because the learning given was almost equal (Wiborg 214-215). This system of education became comprehensive because it was easy to link the elementary schools and the secondary school using the middle school. On the other hand, in a country like Britain did not have a state education system during the nineteenth century as a result of the liberal politics as they opposed formation of the a state controlled education system. There lacked incentives from the state to make the education system become a ladder system. This led to a parallel education system and over half of the children in the country attend low schools meant for the peasants who made up the largest number of the population.
Conclusion
The educational systems of countries need to be made equal so that learners get an equal opportunity in advancing into their careers of choice. This can only be achieved if the state takes control of the education system. With the government in control of the education system, it is easier to regulate and eliminate discrimination of learners due to their background or academic abilities. This will give the learners an opportunity to interact with learners who come from various backgrounds. This will give them a chance to know one another. When they form friendships in schools, they can see each other as equals. This will help to remove the animosity that is created between students who get a chance to attend high-class schools and get a chance to advance to institutions of higher learning and those who attend schools that are so low that they lack basic facilities. The students from the two divides cannot meet eye to eye because they are strangers and this perpetuates divisions in the society that would have been lessened or bridged by having all the learners go through a similar education system. Therefore, for a country to promote cohesion in the society, it must address the issue of disparities in the secondary education system.
Works cited
Hall, Caroline. “Does making upper secondary school more comprehensive affect dropout rate, educational attainment and earnings? 2009.
“Sweden.” EuroEducation.net Web.
Walther, Andreas. “Regimes of youth transitions: Choice, flexibility and security in young people’s experiences across different European contexts. “Sage journals online. 2006. Web.
Wiborg, Susan. Education and social integration: Comprehensive Schooling in Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.