Why Are Swedish Students Falling Behind?

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-are-swedish-students-falling-behind-2013-11



A NEW study from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) will land on the desks of policymakers around the world next month. It will make sobering reading for political leaders in many countries. In Sweden Jan Bjorklund, the education minister, is prepared for poor marks too.

The triennial study by the OECD, a think-tank, measures the reading, maths and science proficiency of 15-year-olds. In the first study, in 2000, Swedish pupils performed a lot better than those in most other countries. But even as the country’s schools inspired imitators elsewhere, their results have deteriorated. In 2009 Sweden’s overall score fell below the OECD average. Other rankings show a similar trend.

"I assume the results will continue falling. It will take several more years before the positive effects of our policy begin to show in global ratings," says Mr Bjorklund, referring to an overhaul of Sweden’s education system. Since coming to power in 2006, the centre-right coalition government has introduced reforms such as a new national curriculum. Mr Bjorklund, who heads the Liberal party, is convinced he can reverse the decline. But will voters have the patience to wait? With universities complaining that students arrive unprepared and companies worrying that Sweden will lose out to other countries, a sense of urgency is in the air. Education will be important in next year’s election.

What went wrong? Money is not the problem. Free education from primary school to university has long been a pillar of Sweden’s welfare system, and public spending on education is among the world’s highest, according to the OECD (see chart). Immigration is high, though this according to Skolverket--the National Agency for Education--had only a marginal effect on overall results.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-are-swedish-students-falling-behind-2013-11#ixzz2jUTVYLGU

[Bosso 63]

1. This is just a set up for Ole and Lena jokes.

[rurallib]

2. not really - it is a set up for the right wing crazies to attack

"socialism in th schools" and out r public school system. Thus it and the teachers will go through another round of why schools should be privatized. And they will dig up all sorts of bogus, bullshit numbers to justify their BS. No doubt Sweden's numbers will be magnified.

[Bosso 63]

5. Most right wing crazies think Sweden is where expensive watches and chocolates come from.

[rurallib]

6. true - but they also watch like hawks for any fissure in their socialist paradise

[Sunlei]

3. looks like the changes in 2006 were not the best for education? go back to 2000 policies.

Sweden probably let in some of those 'for profit' companies in 2006 and they can always boot them out of their country before they end up ruined like Americas school system.

[valerief]

4. Charter schools

A growing gap between schools is another reason, says Skolverket. Sweden is now one of the few countries to show both worse results and more inequality. Free school choice is a contributing factor. The system, introduced 20 years ago, allows parents to choose between municipal schools and independent schools, all financed by tax money. The aim was to increase quality by competition, but it has also led to the best students flocking to the same schools.

Many worry that school inequality will spur segregation. Extra resources for schools with weaker students could be a solution but abolishing independent schools is not on any party’s agenda. Polls show a majority of Swedes want to keep the free-school choice. Still, letting private companies run tax-funded schools is controversial. Critics say profit-seeking puts quality at risk. In the wake of several school companies’ bankruptcies, the government has indicated that private-equity funds will no longer be welcome owners.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/why-are-swedish-students-falling-behind-2013-11#ixzz2jUjKBUD5

[adirondacker]

7. They should be able to cure that with a little standardized testing curriculum and less teachers. nt

[valerief]

8. Yes, fewer teachers, but only if you strip them of their pensions, too.

And more guns in schools. Otherwise, Sweden is a Communist Nazi Socialist nation.

Liberty, bootstraps, guns 'n god. The Merkan way.

on edit:
You were being sarcastic, weren't you?

[adirondacker]

9. There should be No Child's Behind Left!

yes I am being Sarcastic.

[valerief]

10. Whew!

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. So, of course, guess which country inspired the English Tory govt for its schools reform?

Sweden, where else?

Sweden inspires when England starts ‘free schools’

Education sector Britain is seeing the establishment of free schools patterned after the Swedish model for non-selective, state-funded independent schools. Generally, the Swedish model involves tax funding of a unit grant to schools for each student attending, regardless whether the school is run by the local government or privately, as long as the school meets teaching and open selection criteria enforced by the Swedish National Agency for Education. Inspired by this model, the British conservative led government has passed a similar legal structure for schools in the UK, which can be an opening for Swedish private school providers to export their know-how.

The British Tory party got elected promising school reform to open opportunities for independent, private schools operating along the same principles as the Swedish school system has for nearly 20 years. 24 new schools have opened in the first year, but observers agree this is only the beginning. And, many expect their impact on the British school system to grow. National school authorities received 323 applications to start free schools, where less than 10% gained approval to open doors. But, expectations are that over 100 more such schools will open in the next four years.
...
”The British press has been filled with articles on the ‘the Swedish free schools’ and many are interested in the solutions we have developed,” says Johan Olsson, Education Policy Expert at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. ”We’re seeing England taking a step towards reforming a highly tradition bound and inflexible school system.”
...
The Swedish private education provider, Kunskapsskolan, has already entered the new market and currently runs three Academies in England—two in Richmond and one in Ipswich—with positive results. Education levels have been raised since the local government allowed Kunskapsskolan in. However, Cecilia Karnefeldt, manager at Kunskapsskolan cannot state when the next school will be opened. ”Everything is still so new, so we cannot specify concretely when we will expand, or who else will enter the market,” she says, ”We have to evaluate the situation.”

http://www.svensktnaringsliv.se/english/sweden-inspires-when-england-starts-free-schools_143480.html

Though the problems were known when the Tories got in, and they ignored them:

Doubts cast over Swedish-style free schools

The Swedish model of free schools, lauded by the Conservatives, has not significantly improved pupils' academic achievement, a study suggests.

The research, published in Research in Public Policy, found the biggest beneficiaries tended to be pupils from educated, professional homes.

The Swedish model has influenced the government's free schools policy.

Education Secretary Michael Gove believes free schools will lead to higher standards in England's schools.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10376457

Free Schools - Sweden is turning into the 'Wild West'

Mr Lofven said that countries should be "very cautious" about allowing for-profit schools to be established. "Look at what happened here. It has developed into something which is almost uncontrollable," he said. "We see today schools going bankrupt, so youth that had started their three-year upper-secondary school education find that after two years their school is gone.

"The school system has developed into the Wild West in Sweden. And it's not a good system."

Sweden's Social Democrats, who are leading national polls ahead of a general election next year, have been uncomfortable with free schools ever since they were introduced by a centre-Right government at the start of the 1990s. But the party has become increasingly critical as private equity companies have taken ownership of many operators.

Mr Lofven said that he believes free schools are partly to blame for Sweden's worsening performance in international educational league tables.

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6343931

[seveneyes]

11. Look for what changed

Like any process control, look for changes that modify the final result. Narrow it down to the weak areas and focus on fixing the problems. Education has been in place for centuries, so this should not be hard to identify.

[riderinthestorm]

19. The article points to the introduction of for profit charter schools. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

13. All of the cheerleaders for a "mixed" system like Scandinavia...

won't like this.

The truth is Scandinavian countries have not been immune to the neo-liberal agenda of the last three decades and more. They started with more "socialistic" type programs, but those programs have been pared back just like everywhere else in the world to feed the "Invisible Hand of the Market". They are merely a couple of decades from where we are now if it goes on like it's been going on.

It's capitalism. Capitalism cannot be controlled over the long term and the entire world, INCLUDING Scandinavia, is proof of that.

[liberal_at_heart]

14. Sounds like our government isn't the only one being duped by business leaders that the way to

improve education is to force all of the children to learn the exact same thing a the exact same time.

[valerief]

18. Govts don't get duped. They get bought. nt

[The Straight Story]

15. Probably all the swedish meatballs they eat (nt)

[underpants]

22. and the gummy fish n/t

[Zorra]

16. Right wingers can't govern, and their concept of education is to dumb down the kids

in order to turn them into stupid, easy to herd sheep who can't tell the difference between democracy and plutarchy.

[liberal_at_heart]

17. It's not just right wingers. At least not here in the US. Here the republicans and democrats

agree that we should be forcing kids to learn the exact same thing at the exact same time. Even Obama thinks this is the best way to improve our educational system.

[FarCenter]

20. Is child-centred Sweden ruled by bratty kids?

Sweden had a head start in the good parenting debate as the first country to outlaw smacking but some argue that its child-centred approach has gone too far and children now rule the roost.

"In some ways Swedish kids are really ill-mannered," David Eberhard, a leading psychiatrist and father of six, told AFP.

"They shout if there are adults speaking at the dinner table, they interrupt you all the time and they demand the same space as adults."

Eberhard recently published a book entitled "How Children Took Power" which argues that over the years Swedes have effectively extended their 1979 smacking ban -- now adopted in more than 30 countries -- to a ban on correcting children in any way.

"Of course you should listen to your children but in Sweden it's gone too far. They tend to decide everything in families: when to go to bed, what to eat, where to go on vacation, even what to watch on television," he said, adding that the permissive approach to child-raising leaves young Swedes ill-equipped for adulthood.

"Their expectations are too high and life is too hard for them. We see it with anxiety disorders and self-harming which has risen dramatically."

http://www.thelocal.se/20131028/51040

[xchrom]

21. oh brother...