The aim of this article is to examine how transnational concepts within educational policy interact, converge or diverge with national curricula in the re-conceptualization of educational policy into concrete curriculum texts. Drawing on methodological cosmopolitanism (Beck 2006) and the concept of Europeanization (Lawn & Grek 2012), transnational interactions incorporate the nation-state in transnational systems. The analyses, which are based on Bernstein’s (2000) terminology, show a certain convergence between a European and a Swedish conception of schooling. By identifying a third-wave of European policy discourse, it can be somewhat pointedly said that Sweden strives to improve its competence-based PISA results using a performance model of curriculum.