Unruly customers? How parents' (in)actions trouble civil servants and local school choice systems.

Based on arguments about the need for greater individual freedom, school choice was introduced in Sweden in the 1990s. Swedish municipalities now set up local school choice systems, whose organization varies between municipalities. This study is based on interviews with three politicians and two civil servants from two average-sized municipalities with different school choice system designs and different political majorities. The aim of this study is to analyze how representatives of Swedish municipalities conceptualize their role and responsibility in relation to the role of parents in school choice systems, with a focus on school choice from pre-school to first grade. The analysis is focused on those instances in which parents fail to act as the design intended in the school choice system. The analysis shows that parents trouble the local school choice systems by both being passive and active when they are encouraged to make a choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]