Researching Research-Based Professionalisation of Music Teachers -- A Swedish Framework to Explore Policy Enactments in Three Contexts through a (Critical) Policy Sociological Lens

This article proposes and discusses a theoretical framework that combines elements from critical policy sociology and discourse theory to study enactments of policy for research-based music teaching in three Swedish policy contexts. Sweden, being the first country to incorporate legal demands for research-based education into its Education Act in 2010, provides an intriguing case study for the professionalisation and legitimisation of music teachers through academisation processes. The law revision was largely instigated by the policy pressure to address Sweden's decline in international educational quality rankings. Thus, subsequent policy efforts recurrently echo governmental ambitions to restore Sweden's former status as a renowned international knowledge economy. In the suggested framework, policy is defined and analysed in multiple forms, that is, as texts, discourses, practices, and problematisations. The framework also explores a combination of discursive psychology and policy theory to analyse rhetorical negotiations of 'spoken policy texts' among music teacher colleagues. It is hoped that the proposed framework can contribute to future studies on the effects of policy on music teachers and music education.