Elite education in Sweden

This chapter explains the overall expansion of the educational system has led to a growing overlap between the three definitions of elite education, as well as growing competition over the scarce resources that are assembled, refined and legitimated through elite schools and programmes. The Swedish educational system has undergone a parallel transition. The Sociology of Education and Culture (SEC) research unit at Uppsala University where we work has, however, been studying elite education in some depth for the past 25 years. It share some of the findings from our research, focusing in particular on the national and regional spaces within upper secondary education, and placing the analysis of these within the educational system as a whole. Correspondence analysis (CA) structure of the upper secondary education space is derived by using information on the social origin and gender of all Swedish pupils at this level within a particular timeframe.