Students with disabilities face obstacles in their encounters with higher education. The aim of this study is to investigate how the institutional context shapes students’ experiences of unequal opportunities in higher education. In comparing disabled students’ experiences from universities in Sweden, the Czech Republic, and the United States, the study makes visible the kind of experiences that students share and how experiences differ between these countries within the global context of higher education. The study has shown that students’ possibilities for equal participation are shaped by the institutional context that is based on medical diagnosis and compensation for an inaccessible education.

The austerity measures in social welfare implemented by street-level bureaucrats in their practice are changing the direction of social policy. This article examines the strategies used by public officials in implementing austerity measures in needs assessment for personal assistance in Sweden. The article is based on a document study with N = 100 records of needs assessment for personal assistance for persons with serious functional disabilities. Findings show that the public officials at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency either limit or extend their discretion as a strategy, as well as use weak warrants as strong warrants in recommending decisions. Other strategies involve the organisational logic, fragmentation of the content in the needs assessment and division of work among the public officials. Implementing the cost-cutting goals causes severe consequences for persons with disabilities who bear the brunt by being excluded from participation in society. The social policy values of fifty years, emphasising the right to equal participation in society, are traded for economic austerity goals.

Young children and adolescents who have a parent with a serious physical illness require information and support to cope with their everyday lives. The purpose of this scoping review was to summarise and disseminate the research findings of interventions that support children in families with a serious physically ill parent. The review also aimed to identify research gaps in the existing literature. Following a comprehensive search, only nine support interventions from 12 studies were identified, indicating that a dearth of intervention research has been conducted in the area. Although positive results were reported from all interventions at some stage, many of the studies were small pilot studies that did not show robust proof of the effectiveness of the interventions. However, the scoping review revealed that the main aim of most interventions is to enhance family functioning for all afflicted families by helping parents to communicate with their children. Further, some interventions offer a comprehensive support for identified “at risk” families. Few interventions examined the improvement within the everyday lives of families facing a serious physical illness other than cancer or HIV. The measures of effectiveness for children were limited to internal psychological symptoms of stress and depression, behavioural problems and issues regarding communication within the family. Few studies evaluated external measures; for example, effects on children's care burden, improved support from social network or school achievements. Implications for practitioners include gaining inspiration from the programmes to enhance communication between parents and children and also, wherever possible, to ask children themselves to evaluate the effectiveness of the support offered to them.

In recent years, educational systems in Europe have experienced a rise in the number of immigrant youth. The experiences of immigrant youth facing the challenges of an unfamiliar educational system is of continuous relevance in youth studies. This article aims to explore the schooling experiences of 19 immigrant youth in Sweden, focusing on the institutional obstacles they encounter as students in the national educational system. It draws on semi-structured interviews with immigrant youth attending upper secondary school or preparing for it by taking transitional classes. Findings are that familiarity with the majority culture, how the educational system works and how to use the majority language for learning purposes in Sweden constitute crucial knowledge for progress in upper secondary education. However, immigrant students state they have not been adequately prepared for these demands in their transitional classes. The authors suggest acknowledging students’ cultural backgrounds and argue for allowing English parallel to Swedish as a transnational language of communication during a transition period, thereby improving students’ chances of having their embodied cultural capital validated in the upper secondary school system.

The use of private consultants in child protection investigations in Sweden is an evolving practice that occurs under the radar; it is not in the political agenda and it is obscure in relation to legislation. The aim of this article is to analyse the contextual forces, facilitators and intentions behind the ongoing implementation of privatisation in child protection investigations. For this article, both quantitative and qualitative data for the years 2013–2017 were obtained through a telephone questionnaire. Managers of 32 social services departments were interviewed. Statistical data of the year 2018 collected by the National Board of Health and Welfare was also included in the analysis. Applying a mixed-method design, the article shows that some prerequisites in legislation make it possible for privatisation to develop. There are societal changes that act as contextual forces, and there are structures in place from earlier stages of the development of privatisation that facilitate the new practice. Also, there are professional intentions that drive the process. The implementation of private consultants in child protection takes place during a period of high workload for social services. The article concludes with a discussion about the consequences for children and families of this new trend in privatisation.