Literature reading in school – an analysis of the syllabus for Swedish and its view on literature reading

Abstract

The aim of this article is to critically analyze how teaching of literature in compulsory school is articulated in the syllabus for Swedish. In the analysis, the two concepts Episteme and Phronesis are used in order to categorize the various sections about teaching/reading literature that appear and particularly to define what kind of knowledge they each represent. Furthermore, the article examines whether the syllabus facilitates teaching where the democratic potential of literature can be realized. The results show that the syllabus expresses different views on knowledge within Swedish as a subject, which can be problematic when it comes to the enactment of literature teaching and which can mean that the democratic potential of literature reading cannot be realized