How problematisations of school failure condition provision of educational support and make schools default on the Education Act

This article analyses problematisations of school failure and their implications for the provision of educational support. A study conducted over three semesters in two lower secondary schools in Sweden gathered empirical data including observations and interviews conducted with a total of 104 pupils, parents and school personnel. Four main problematisations of school failure were found: attitude, absence, migration and neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD). These amount to an overarching problematisation of school failure that relieves schools and their personnel of responsibility, attributing it mainly to pupils and their parents. As a result, micro policy is created contidioning provision of educational support, although the Education Act mandates unconditional and universal provision when a pupil is at risk of school failure. The micro policy evident in the findings imply limiting the provision of educational support to (for example) pupils with NDD-diagnoses, native parents and desired attitudes. While prioritising support might be understandable in contexts characterised by scarcity of time and resources, it is nevertheless defaulting from mandates of the Education Act and ultimately compromising educational equity. For this reason, the widespread acceptance of micro policy on defaulting is harder to understand and should prompt researchers and practitioners to address its risks and find ways to challenge it and to provide educational support when educational needs require it.