62 | Big Picture
OECD PISA results show that more than a decade after
the reforms, Sweden has one of the least ability-
segregated school systems in the OECD. While these
results cannot be used to compare levels of segregation
before and after reform it is clear that, post-reform,
segregation by ability is still at a very low level in
comparison with other countries. Recent research, also
using PISA, suggests that social segregation (on the
basis of the Dissimilarity Index) is also one of the lowest
in the OECD.
There is also evidence that in some inner-city areas,
school choice is encouraging inter-ethnic mixing and
cultural assimilation within schools, as ethnic minority
parents increasingly exercise their right to send their
children to independent schools.
Innovative organisations have entered the school
system, such as Montessori and Steiner, and existing
state schools have adopted some of their techniques.
Not surprisingly, 90 per cent of Swedish parents now
support their right to be given a choice over which
school their child attends. This high level of support
means that the reforms are extremely unlikely to be
reversed.
The positive experience of education for
parents and pupils in Sweden contrasts
strongly with the experience of children
and parents in the UK, where genuine
school choice is limited to those who
have the money and the ability to move
to the catchment area of a good school,
and where around a fifth of pupils fail to
get their first choice of secondary
school.22
A good example of this is the
respective size of schools. Schools in
Sweden are far smaller than their British
counterparts. In 2005-06, the latest year for
which comparable data is available, the average number of pupils in
independent state schools in Sweden was 127 and municipal schools
213, compared with an average of over 300 pupils in England.23
Competition and technology will also stimulate innovation and new
models of delivery, allowing smaller schools to deliver the full
curriculum range.
Ultimately, the Swedish experience shows that introducing
competition and creating an environment where pupils choose
schools, rather than the other way around, really does make a
major difference.
22
The Guardian, 4 March 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/mar/04/schools.publicschools
23
Swedish National Agency for Education, Table 3.1A, http://www.skolverket.se/content/1/c4/73/36/Tab3_1AEngwebb.xls; Department for Children, Schools and Families,
`Schools and Pupils in England: January 2007 (Final)', 27 September 2007, Table 1
In the UK,
genuine school
choice is limited
to those who have
the money to move

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