معرفی
Sara Carlbaum is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Educational Sciences at Umeå University, Sweden. Her academic work focuses on educational policy, early childhood education, and the marketization of education systems, with particular attention to how municipalities function as key actors in educational governance.
Her research interests include:
- Educational Policy and Governance
- Marketization and Privatization of Education
- Teacher Agency and Professionalism
- Juridification in Educational Settings
- International Expansion of Educational Models
- Immigrant Integration through Education
Carlbaum's recent scholarly work has examined the dynamics of preschool markets in Sweden, focusing on how municipalities act as 'market makers' in quasi-market systems. She has conducted extensive research on the governance of private preschools, exploring regulatory frameworks and quality assurance mechanisms. Her international research investigates how Swedish educational models are exported to countries like India and Germany, analyzing the challenges of adapting Scandinavian pedagogical approaches to different cultural contexts while maintaining core educational values. Her publications consistently address the tension between equity, quality, and market mechanisms in educational provision.
Her research has been published in leading educational journals including Educational Inquiry, Journal of Education Policy, and Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. She regularly presents her findings at major conferences such as the Nordic Educational Research Association (NERA) and the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER).
Carlbaum is actively involved in several significant research projects examining:
- Preschool as a market (2021-2024)
- Swedish independent school companies in the global school market (2019-2022)
- Integration of newly arrived people in rural areas through educational programs (2018-2020)
- 'Now I was offended!' Socialization effects of school work against abusive treatment (2015-2019)
She has been a principal researcher in the national evaluation of Sweden's Reading Lift program, examining its implementation and effects across different school types, contributing valuable insights into educational evaluation methodologies and their implications for school practice.
