Swedish municipalities' collaboration on upper secondary education: driving forces, preconditions and obstacles

Drivkrafter, förutsättningar och hinder

Authors

  • Bo Persson Linköpings universitet
  • Elin Backström Linköpings universitet

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7577/nat.4484

Abstract

Upper secondary school is an area where inter-municipal cooperation has become more common in recent years. Strong hopes are attached to the municipalities, by collaborating with each other, to be able to produce educationmore efficiently and effectively. However, previous research indicates that inter-municipal collaboration on upper secondary education may be associated with significant costs and risks. Although inter-municipal cooperation on upper secondary education is necessary for most municipalities, in this area there are at the same time strong incentives for municipalities to compete with each other for upper secondary school students. The purpose of this study is to analyse Swedish municipalities' views on driving forces, conditions and obstacles for intermunicipal collaboration on upper secondary education. The study is based on empirical data from a survey aimed at officials responsible for upper secondary education in the municipalities. The study shows that the municipalities' collaboration is largely driven by a desire to broaden the range of education. The study also shows that collaboration is made more difficult by what is perceived as complicated collaboration processes and an uneven distribution of power between the municipalities. On the other hand, a lack of trust between participating municipalities, or having bad experiences of previous collaborations, does not seem to constitute any major obstacles to co-operation. Finally, the study shows that the larger urban municipalities are perceived as central nodes for inter-municipal collaboration in this area.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Andersen, O. J. & Pierre, J. (2010). Exploring the Strategic Region: Rationality, Context, and Institutional Collective Action. Urban Affairs Review, 46(2): 218-240. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087410367756 https://doi.org/10.1177/1078087410367756

Arntsen, B., Torjesen, D.O. & Karlsen, T-I. (2018). Drivers and barriers of inter-municipal cooperation in health services – the Norwegian case. Local Government Studies, 44(3), 371-390. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2018.1427071 https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2018.1427071

Casula, M. (2020). A contextual explanation of regional governance in Europe: insights from inter-municipal cooperation. Public Management Review, 22(12), 1819-1851. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1665700 https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1665700

Erlingsson, G., Syssner, J. & Ödalen, J. (2015). Strategier för att möta småkommunernas utmaningar. SNS.

Feiock, R. C. (2007). Rational choice and regional governance. Journal of Urban Affairs, 29(1): 47-63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2007.00322.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2007.00322.x

Feiock, R. C . (2013). The Institutional Collective Action Framework. The Policy Studies Journal, 41(3): 397-425. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12023 https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12023

Gossas, M. (2006). Kommunal samverkan och statlig nätverksstyrning. Institutet för framtidsstudier.

Hermelin, B. & Wänström, J. (2017). Att organisera för regional utveckling. Erfarenheter från regionbildning i Östergötland (CKS-rapport 2017:7). Centrum för kommunstrategiska studier (CKS), Linköpings universitet. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ase%3Aliu%3Adiva-144401

Hulst, R. & van Montfort, A. (2011). Institutional features of inter-municipal cooperation: Cooperative arrangements and their national contexts. Public Policy and Administration, 27(2), 121–144. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0952076711403026 https://doi.org/10.1177/0952076711403026

Kim, S. (2020). Inter-municipal relations in city-region governance. Cities, 104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102771 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102771

Kim, S. Y., Swann, W. L., Weible, C. M., Bolognesi, T., Krause, R. M., Park, A. Y. S., Tang, T., Maletsky, K., & Feiock, R. C. (2022). Updating the Institutional Collective Action Framework. Policy Studies Journal, 50(1), 9–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12392 https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12392

Lee, Y. (2016). From Competition to Collaboration: Intergovernmental Economic Development Policy Networks. Local Government Studies, 42(2), 171-188. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2015.1096267 https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2015.1096267

Lidström, A. & Syssner, J. (2017). Storstadens & landsbygdens utmaningar. I J. Syssner, S. Häggroth & U. Ramberg (Red.), Att äga framtiden (s. 57-64). LiU Tryck.

Lundqvist, L. (1998). Local-to-Local Partnerships among Swedish Municipalities: Why and How Neighbours Join to Alleviate Resource Constraints. I J. Pierre (Red.), Partnerships in Urban Governance: European and American Experience (s. 93-111). Macmillan Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14408-2_6 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14408-2_6

Lundahl, L., Arreman, I.E., Holm, A-S & Lundström, U. (2013). Educational Marketization the Swedish Way. Education Inquiry 4(3), 497–517. https://doi.org/10.3402/edui.v4i3.22620 https://doi.org/10.3402/edui.v4i3.22620

Mattisson, O. (2013). Organisation och styrning på den lokala samhällsnivån – en forskningsöversikt om förändringar och utvecklingstendenser (Underlag till Utredningen om en kommunallag för framtiden SOU 2015:24). Företagsekonomiska institutionen, Lunds universitet. https://www.regeringen.se/49bb0f/contentassets/98220fbc7a8e410a9eae1665f3ac9443/en-kommunallag-for-framtiden-del-2-av-2-sou-201524

Mattison, O. & Knutsson, H. (2015). Samverkan för en fungerande lokal samhällsstruktur. I J. Amcoff, S. Sandberg, A. Lindström, J. Syssner , A. Olausson, O. Mattisson, H. Knutsson & B-P. Larsson (Red.), Urbanisering. Utmaningar för kommuner med växande och minskande befolkning (s. 93-107). Sveriges kommuner och landsting (SKL).

Mattison, O. & Ramberg, U. (2015). Co-owned Local Government Organisations: Conditions for Strategy Development. Financial Accountability & Management, 31(3), 269–286. https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12057 https://doi.org/10.1111/faam.12057

Mattisson, O. & Thomasson, A. (2019). Interkommunal samverkan – en kunskapsöversikt (Underlagsrapport till Kommunutredningen). Lunds universitet. http://www.sou.gov.se/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Interkommunal-samverkan-002.pdf

Ostrom, E. (2009). Allmänningen som samhällsinstitution. Arkiv förlag.

Persson, B. (2010). Lokal och regional näringslivspolitik – konkurrens, samarbete, utveckling. Linköpings universitet (CKS-rapport 2010:5). Centrum för kommunstrategiska studier (CKS). http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ase%3Aliu%3Adiva-62282

Persson, B. & Hermelin, B. (2018). Mobilising for change in vocational education and training in Sweden – a case study of the ‘Technical College’ scheme. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 70(3), 476-496. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2018.1443971 https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2018.1443971

Pierre, J. (2019). Multilevel governance as a strategy to build capacity in cities: Evidence from Sweden. Journal of Urban Affairs, 41(1), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2017.1310532 https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2017.1310532

Rosén, T. (2003). Kommun och landstingssamarbete. En studie om demokrati och effektivitet. Sveriges kommuner och landsting (SKL).

Rosén, T. (2005). Samverkan pågår, möjligheter och begränsningar. Sveriges kommuner och landsting (SKL).

SCB:s statistikdatabas. https://www.scb.se/statistikdatabasen

SFS 2010:800. Skollag. https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/skollag-2010800_sfs-2010-800

SFS 2017:725. Kommunallag. https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/kommunallag-2017725_sfs-2017-725

SFS 2018:569. Lag om ändring i kommunallagen (2017:725). https://svenskforfattningssamling.se/sites/default/files/sfs/2018-05/SFS2018-569.pdf

Silva, P. & Puey, E. P. (2018). Striving for Local Governance Capacity in Portugal and Spain. I F, Teles & P. Swianiewicz, P. (Red.), Inter-municipal Cooperation in Europe: Institutions and Governance (s. 79-104). Palgrave MacMillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62819-6_5 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62819-6_5

Skolinspektionen (2018). Kommuners styrning av gymnasieskolan. Ger kommunerna alla elever möjlighet att nå målen? Skolinspektionen.

Sveriges kommuner och landsting (2017). Kommungruppsindelning 2017. Omarbetning av Sveriges kommuner och landstings kommungruppsindelning. Sveriges kommuner och landsting.

Sveriges kommuner och landsting (2018). Resultat från enkät om gymnasial samverkan. Sveriges kommuner och landsting.

SOU 2020:8. Starkare kommuner – med kapacitet att klara välfärdsuppdraget. Finansdepartementet. https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/statens-offentliga-utredningar/2020/02/sou-20208/

SOU 2020:33. Gemensamt ansvar – en modell för planering och dimensionering av gymnasial utbildning. Utbildningsdepartementet. https://www.regeringen.se/rattsliga-dokument/statens-offentliga-utredningar/2020/06/sou-202033/

Swianiewicz, P. & Teles, F. (2018). Inter-municipal cooperation: Diversity, evolution and future research agenda. I F. Teles & P. Swianiewicz (Red.), Intermunicipal Cooperation in Europe: Institutions and Governance. Palgrave MacMillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62819-6_20 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62819-6_20

Tavares, A. F. & Feiock, R. C. (2018). Applying an Institutional Collective Action Framework to Investigate Intermunicipal Cooperation in Europe. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 1(4), 299-316. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvx014 https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvx014

Teles, F. (2016). Local Governance and Inter-municipal Cooperation. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137445742 https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137445742

Thomasson, A. (2017). Professionalization vs democratic control – are they mutually exclusive in collaboration for local service provision? Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, 119(1), 137-153. https://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/st/article/view/16646/0

Published

2022-05-11

Issue

Section

Peer reviewed articles

Cited by