Commercial actors in education - establishing an international research network for theorizing and understanding contemporary challenges

The Swedish school system is one of the most outsourced in the world.

School companies make multi-million profits, the digitalization of education has become a goldmine for IT companies and we see a growing market for continuing professional development for teachers. What the consequences are for school´s everyday life are still quite unexplored.

Studies have been performed in recent years, but a more comprehensive approach - as well as new theoretical and methodological tools - are necessary to understand how the logics and practices of commercialization are performed in schools’ everyday life.

What does it mean that schools are branded, that digital platforms are rented by companies that collect data, and that educational research sometimes is organized by commercial interests?We apply for funding for research activities to shape an international network and to develop theoretical tools for understanding the consequences of commercialization of education.

The activities are 1) an international symposium on developing theories of assetization; how investments are expected to create future value in terms of e.g. harvesting data on teachers’ and students work, or shaping what is considered effective teaching (which can generate future business models); 2) a work meeting for writing further research proposals.