This paper examines the ideological content of the compulsory school policy of the Swedish Liberal Party. The aim of the study is to investigate whether the Liberal Party does really represent a liberal policy for the compulsory school, or if it is more accurately described as conservative. The analysis is carried through by two separate critical examinations of the Liberal Party motion on school politics to the parliament and the Conservative Party motion on school politics to the parliament respectively. A comparison is then made between the ideological contents of the two documents. The specific party policies are linked to universal definitions of liberalism and conservatism with the help of an analytical tool consistent of a series of educational philosophies. Difference is made between ideologically motivated purposes and concrete policy recommendations in the motion texts.

The results of the ideological content analyses and the comparison show that the compulsory school policy of the Liberal Party can be categorized as conservative, not only vis-à-vis a universal definition of liberalism and conservatism, but also in comparison with the compulsory school policy of the Conservative Party.