The education system in Sweden has taken a strong neo-liberal turn over the past 15 years. This article uses ethnographic research from an Individual Programme (IP) in a Swedish upper secondary school to explore how alliances, collective actions and resistance can be materialised within the changed system. According to the author, the teachers in the study tried to implement consciousness-raising work in three ways: through 'encouraging critical awareness', 'encouraging students' collective actions' and 'working towards a collective'. This view of education stood in sharp contrast to a dominant ideology of education, which was characterised by self-regulation, self-governance, personal choice and other self-monitored activities.