Professionalization is the process by which an occupation becomes a recognized profession. This involves setting standards, qualifications, and practices. It includes education, training, and social processes that turn workers into professionals. Key aspects are standards, professional associations, knowledge base, certification, occupational closure, and ethical guidelines (Englund & Solbrekke, 2015). Professionalization can be driven from the bottom-up by workers, top-down by employers or the government, or a mix of both.

The outcome is establishing satisfactory capabilities and recognition as a profession (Brante, 2013). Relevant professionalization research for staff in Swedish SAEC is scant (Holmberg, 2021), but there have been many changes for this professional group (Boström & Orwehag, 2025). Therefore, we examine in this study the reforms carried out in Sweden over 50 years in relation to professionalization theory (Brante 2013). It is based on statistical data between 1971 and 2021, key figures for the SAEC, and document analyses of completed reforms. Empirical data is analyzed based on a top-down perspective with deductive content analysis (Graneheim & Lundman, 2004) based on basic concepts in professionalization theory.

Preliminary results show, firstly, that during the epoch, around 25 reforms were carried out concerning organizational structure, curriculum, and educational level. The requirements for entering education have been raised, the content has changed substantially but the needs of the labor market have not been synchronized with the real need, leading to an accelerating shortage of qualified personnel. On the other hand, the profession has been significantly reshaped through standards, credentialing requirements, and curriculum content, which are important steps in professionalization. However, a solid knowledge base (research) and occupational closure, as well as ethical guidelines, remain. We conclude that the reforms were two-edged regarding the professionalization of the staff. Examples of different directions in the reforms, increasing e.g. certification, regulated content (in curricula) and (indirectly) decreasing: e.g. reduced autonomy through subordination under the school, reduced proportion of certified/qualified staff at SAEC.