Mellan styrning och tolkning: Islam i svenska läroplaner : En kvalitativ läromedelsstudie av hur islam konstrueras i gymnasiets religionskunskap

Sammanfattning

This study examines how Islam is represented in Swedish upper secondary school textbooks in religious education from the period 1970 to 2025. The aim is to analyse how and in what ways representations of Islam have changed over time, and how these changes can be understood in relation to curriculum reforms and broader societal developments. The study is based on a qualitative content analysis of six textbooks published during different curriculum periods. Curriculum theory consitutes the main analytical framework, with textbook understood as interpretation of the formulated curriculum. Discursive perspectives are used as a complementary lens to analyse language use, emphases and normative assumption in the representations of Islam. The results show the earlier textbooks tend to present Islam through a more static, historical and comparative framework, often emphasising norms, rules and differences in relation to Christianity. Over time, representations increasingly incorporate perspectives on diversity, contemporary practises and internal variation within Islam. At the same time, the study indicates that textbooks only partially reflect the intentions of more recent curricula, particularly regarding religion, identity and religious pluralism.By building on and extending previous research on representations of Islam in educational materials, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how curriculum reforms are translated into textbook content over time. The findings highlight the role of textbooks as a mediating link between curriculum intentions and societal conceptions of religion and demostrate both continuity and change in how islam is constructed in Swedish religious education.