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Welfare conditionality and policy contingencies of school-allowance retractions in Sweden

Sandberg, Johan LU and Fredholm, Axel LU (2023) In Social Policy and Administration 58(1). p.175-188
Abstract
The article analyses policy contingencies and welfare conditionality
of school allowances in Swedish upper-secondary
education. In contrast to most countries' use of positive
incentives toward school attendance through added cashbenefits
for targeted students, Sweden employs sanctions
on a universal study allowance that in essence constitutes
an age-extension of the universal child benefit. We analyse
register data from 2012 to 2018 and find significant discrepancies
in required school-reporting when controlling
for school populations and key official school-parameters.
These results indicate that negative conditioning through
sanctions constitutes an often-forfeited measure against
the... (More)
The article analyses policy contingencies and welfare conditionality
of school allowances in Swedish upper-secondary
education. In contrast to most countries' use of positive
incentives toward school attendance through added cashbenefits
for targeted students, Sweden employs sanctions
on a universal study allowance that in essence constitutes
an age-extension of the universal child benefit. We analyse
register data from 2012 to 2018 and find significant discrepancies
in required school-reporting when controlling
for school populations and key official school-parameters.
These results indicate that negative conditioning through
sanctions constitutes an often-forfeited measure against
the rather complex interplay of factors driving truancy,
while enforcement of conditionality seems largely contingent
upon schools' different reporting strategies and processes.
We identify a set of veto points whereby school
officials may opt not to enforce conditionality, and further
problematize additional findings that the overwhelming
majority of students with retracted allowances fail to return
to school and complete their educational cycles on time.
Our findings contribute to ongoing research on welfare conditionality,
hitherto largely dominated by studies on labour
market activation policies and social services. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
policy contingencies, recruiting effects, Sweden, upper secondary school, welfare conditionality
in
Social Policy and Administration
volume
58
issue
1
pages
14 pages
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85169162538
ISSN
1467-9515
DOI
10.1111/spol.12957
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b0dd1c89-eca9-4c69-9c0e-8379e8f67db6
date added to LUP
2023-09-11 15:24:07
date last changed
2024-01-04 15:43:40
@article{b0dd1c89-eca9-4c69-9c0e-8379e8f67db6,
  abstract     = {{The article analyses policy contingencies and welfare conditionality<br/>of school allowances in Swedish upper-secondary<br/>education. In contrast to most countries' use of positive<br/>incentives toward school attendance through added cashbenefits<br/>for targeted students, Sweden employs sanctions<br/>on a universal study allowance that in essence constitutes<br/>an age-extension of the universal child benefit. We analyse<br/>register data from 2012 to 2018 and find significant discrepancies<br/>in required school-reporting when controlling<br/>for school populations and key official school-parameters.<br/>These results indicate that negative conditioning through<br/>sanctions constitutes an often-forfeited measure against<br/>the rather complex interplay of factors driving truancy,<br/>while enforcement of conditionality seems largely contingent<br/>upon schools' different reporting strategies and processes.<br/>We identify a set of veto points whereby school<br/>officials may opt not to enforce conditionality, and further<br/>problematize additional findings that the overwhelming<br/>majority of students with retracted allowances fail to return<br/>to school and complete their educational cycles on time.<br/>Our findings contribute to ongoing research on welfare conditionality,<br/>hitherto largely dominated by studies on labour<br/>market activation policies and social services.}},
  author       = {{Sandberg, Johan and Fredholm, Axel}},
  issn         = {{1467-9515}},
  keywords     = {{policy contingencies; recruiting effects; Sweden; upper secondary school; welfare conditionality}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{175--188}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Social Policy and Administration}},
  title        = {{Welfare conditionality and policy contingencies of school-allowance retractions in Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/spol.12957}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/spol.12957}},
  volume       = {{58}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}