Upper secondary education in Sweden involves around 98 percent of 16-18 year old adolescents. Among these 55 percent attend vocational training programs. To meet changing demands on the labour market caused by technological development and structural reorientation, the educational system has to adjust to these new circumstances by reorientation in education methods, action target (i.e. learning in working settings) which will eventually improve the quality in education and the pupils/students employability. This reorientation concerns particularly vocational-oriented schools. To improve the quality of upper secondary vocational education, the Swedish National Agency for School Improvement started a two year project in 2006 with the aim of encouraging upper secondary schools to form networks with other schools and through these spread and share experiences and ideas about school improvement, working methods and organisation. Behind the project there was a vision encouraging other school organisations to learn how to improve quality in education by the experiences of previously successful local projects.Empirical data have been collected through interviews with some of the schools in the project and a questionnaire has been handed out to all of the schools. Data also include newsletters and minutes (covering meetings) received from the networks as well as documents concerning how and why these ideas originally was formulated by the Swedish National Agency for School Improvement.The aim of the paper is to analyse the process of diffusion of knowledge about school improvement in these networks.

Lokal uppföljning av ungdomspolitiken (LUPP) är ett nationellt projekt som omfattar samtliga kommuner i landet. Till dags dato har omkring 70 kommuner låtit genomföra lokala uppföljningar (www.ungdomsstyrelsen.se ) Syftet med de lokala LUPP är att "kommunerna på ett enkelt sätt [kan] öka sina kunskaper om ungdomar" (Ungdomsstyrelsen 2006, s.3) och att svaren från enkätundersökningen ska "användas som underlag för politiska beslut och för att utveckla ungdomspolitiken" (aa. s. 6). Undersökningarna administreras av Ungdomsstyrelsen som erbjuder kommunen en statistikportal för enklare statistikuttag kring områden av relevans för de enskilda kommunerna. Utöver det fattar varje enskild kommun beslut om man vill låta genomföra en fördjupad analys av utfallet för den egna kommunen. För det arbetet rekommenderas att anlita forskare eller konsult inom området. I och med att samma enkät används i flera olika kommuner finns det goda möjligheter att etablera en fördjupad analys sett till förhållanden i olika kommuner. Inom ramen för detta uppdrag finns dock inte utrymme för att göra denna typ av analyser. Denna studie kommer bara att indirekt beröra i vilken utsträckning och på vilket sätt som Jokkmokks kommun ansluter sitt ungdomspolitiska arbete till den nationella ungdomspolitiken så som den formulerats i propositionen "Makt att bestämma - rätt till välfärd" (Proposition 2004/05: 2). Detta sker genom återkopplingar till andra utredningar som särskilt uppmärksammat den nationella målsättningarna (se t.ex. FOKUS 05 samt till Ung 2003. Fördjupad analys av den nationella ungdomspolitiken). I huvudsak ger denna enkätredovisning en deskriptiv bild av ungdomars liv och värderingar i Jokkmokks kommun under vintern 2006/07. Med en deskriptiv analys avses att beskriva utfallet snarare än att tolka det och att länka det till vidare perspektiv, ungdoms- och annan socialvetenskaplig forskning.

Internet, Interaction and Networking: Post-national Identities of Youth in Cities around the Baltic Sea There are great expectations concerning new communication technologies and the Internet. A revolution in people’s networking and globalisation is spoken of. Especially young people’s Internet use is in the spot light here. Rarely, however, have supra-national interaction, networking and the new cultural identities being formed thereby been studied in an empirical and comparative way. In the five studies in this book, young people’s post-national interaction and identities are analysed on the basis of a common set of survey data, gathered among 16-18-year-olds in the regions surrounding St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki. In the survey questions, besides asking these young people what they thought about using the Net, factors concerning their European and Baltic Sea regional identities were investigated, as well as the problems of multi-culturalism and the risk society. The different researchers’ articles here are excitingly different from each other, commenting on the supra-national networks and identities of young people around the Baltic Sea on the basis of many different theoretical traditions. According to the research here, some of the young people interviewed have Baltic Sea based interests and identities, but overall activities built up around the Internet do not follow the geographical borders of the region. In this respect also, the Net operates without the limitations of physical space. Young people have new sorts of international contact networks, and in many respects their societal contemplation internationalises and identities blend together. Well educated elite young people from cultured homes have their post-national forums, and they are aware of the global communication connections and solutions required in terms of ecology and the risk society. Post-nationalism, however, only describes the strong orientation of a portion of these young people. Another group see their position as uncertain and take refuge in only familiar and durable communal values and national contacts on the Net as well. On the other hand, national customs are reflected in different ways in the Internet use of all the young people surveyed. Though nationalism is being tested by new international values and contacts, it “strikes back at times” and affects new identities. Young people can have many identities, ranging from local and national to global. Nation-states as well are becoming more open and are considering issues in a more international fashion.