Teachers are faced with an increasingly complex environment in which they need significant support to foster the classroom climates their students benefit from. Developing a critical understanding of the school and broader social context can foster awareness of the 'bigger picture' that influences the school community individually and…

During the last three decades Swedish education has undergone radical decentralisation involving increased school autonomy. One aspect of this change is the gradual weakening of the state regulation of teaching time. Thus, Sweden is somewhat of an extreme in the EU. This is accentuated by a five-year experiment, where 900 compulsory schools were…