Due to political decisions regarding the Swedish school, public and independent schools booth face the need topromote themselves in the quest for new pupils. This study aims to, from a communications perspective, examine how four selected upper secondary schools address their target audience; the pupils‐to‐be, on their homepages. Additionally, I intend to investigate whether, and if so, how, said addressing can be connected to the different target groups applying to the schools in question.

The questions asked in this study regard the way in which the selected schools describe themselves on their homepage; how do they use the textual and visual content to address their audience, and can there be disagreement between the meaning of the text and that of the image? To answer these questions, I use a theoretical base made out of visual communication and semiotic as well as rhetorical analyses.

The methodological procedure is a qualitative approach on the matter, allowing me to understand the “what” of the content on the homepages, as well as the “how” it’s being communicated. I have separated the text from the image, analyzing them separately, so that I can make sense of the whole based on what the segments tell me.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there seems to be a pattern between the way in which a Swedish upper secondary school address their target group, and which pupils choose to apply to the school. The schools whose applicants have a high median value in their grades tend to refer to academic values in their descriptions, while the schools whose applicants have the lower median value tend to speak more of the world outside the classroom, and refer to such things as connections with companies or the pupils’ interests.