”Vi behöver fler akutskolor i Sverige för de elever som inte kan uppföra sig som folk”

The aim of the article is to explore constructions of the disciplinary measure emergency school, understood as an institutionalization of the policy for and the public discourse about “forceful measures for safety and discipline” in schools. Theoretical approach is critical policy analysis. The empirical material consists of, in this context, relevant policy documents, Swedish media discourses and international research. Emergency schools have made a rapid journey through the Swedish school-institutional landscape. From loosely defined local inventions, with a plenty of labels to being constructed as a matter of national urgency. The public discourse has rapidly evolved from stressing that the goal of emergency schools is to offer support to students at-risk (discourse of equity) in a secluded environment to becoming a site where rowdy, violent and criminal students at least temporary can be evacuated (discourse of safety). The question of knowledge is completely absent from public discourse and from the policy foundations. One of the risks with emergency school, apart from anticipated stigmatization and negative impact on learning progress, is that its sheer existence can negatively affect the primary responsibility of ordinary schools for safety, positive school climate and equity of all students. The pressing issue to be raised is not just what emergency schools do with their students, but also what they do with the ordinary schools’ overall responsibility for safety and positive school climate.