In 1993, the Swedish education system was "liberalised" to allow any group to set up a state-funded school. Since then, the 'free schools' or independent schools have grown so that now 10% of Swedish children attend one. One strong argument in favour of this move was the idea that parents in rural areas, without access to a local school, could come together and receive funding for a school for their children, perhaps after a local 'municipal' school had closed down. However, 70% of 'free schools' are located in the three main Swedish urban centres.
The Conservative Party education spokesperson, Michael Gove, has often cited the Swedish free school system as the best model for future reform in the UK education system [1].
Paying For New Academies
One problem for the Conservative Party, introducing this policy at a time when all parties are promising tight control of public spending, is that when David Cameron talks of "people power" and building "a new generation of independently-run state schools," each new school costs money to establish, and some of the cost of this must come from the state. [2]
The funding mechanism envisaged by Michael Gove and the Conservative Party is, like in Sweden, essentially a "voucher" system, where the money is attached to the pupil and therefore goes to whichever state school they choose to attend.
The argument is that, in the long-run, this will be a more cost-effective approach to education. The popular schools will flourish and, in the fullness of time, unpopular, unsuccessful schools will be closed, saving waste.
But a 2004 report carried out by the Swedish National Agency for Education (or "Skolverket") entitled "Schools Like Any Other?" discovered that 90% of the councils with free schools reported a significant increase in costs in order to set the schools up. The report also concluded that areas with a high proportion of free schools had a higher than average cost-per-pupil. This is after a decade of free schools. [3]
Would Introducing More Academies Improve Educational Standards?
Again, the "Skolverket" report suggests that "free schools" have not been the great success that Michael Gove and others have suggested. In Sweden, the proportion of fully-qualified teachers in the free schools is lower than in the "municipal" schools. Another central plank of Conservative education policy is to improve the overall qualifications of school-teachers.
While the Conservative proposals enthuse about the idea of lots more "small schools", the Swedish National Agency for Education is very concerned about the quality of education delivered in Sweden's smallest free schools. The report also concludes that, of all the factors that might impact on innovation and quality in a school, whether it is "independently" or "municipally" run seems to be of little importance.
79% of local councils in Sweden also felt that competition with free schools had done nothing to drive up standards in the other schools in their area. There was also very little evidence of collaboration or partnership between schools.
Per Thulberg, the head of the National Agency for Education in Sweden, has stated categorically that following the Swedish system would not lead to improved educational standards. Indeed, in the "Trends in International Maths and Science Study" report of 2007, the UK was ranked higher than Sweden, and Swedish standards had fallen further than those of any other country.
Although results are higher in the free schools, this – according to Thulberg – is because of social segregation. The pupils in the free schools come from wealthier backgrounds.
Would Introducing More Academies Lead to More Segregation?
The 2004 study found that children in free schools had wealthier and more educated parents than those in the municipal schools. As well as segregation by social class, the agency has also reported an increase in segregation by academic performance and by ethnicity. Sweden did not previously have a culture of "faith schools" but there has been a significant growth under the "free school" system.
The Swedish and British education systems are quite different in a number of ways: the British system involves many more fee-paying independent schools, for example. And the Conservative plans are not identical to the Swedish system. The current Conservative plans insist that groups setting up schools cannot be "for profit" companies. This does raise questions as to what incentive groups would have for setting up such schools: certainly the key players in the Swedish free school system have been chains of "for profit" companies, while the parent group model has happened comparatively rarely. It has been suggested that the operating of Academies in the UK could be outsourced to profit-making companies, including some of the key Swedish operators.
Perhaps all the political parties in the UK need to look much more closely at the Swedish experience before going further down the road of Academies. It would not appear to be the panacea that some British educational policy-makers suggest that it should be.
Sources:
[1] "Michael Gove: We Need a Swedish Education System." The Independent. 3 December 2008.
[2] "The Conservative Party Education Manifesto," 2010.
[3] "Schools Like Any Other? Independent Schools as Part of the System, 1991-2004." Skolverket, Swedish National Agency for Education.
Duncan Hall - Duncan Hall is a semi-professional acoustic musician and lecturer in Government & Politics
