While many parents choose public schools for their children, an increasing number send their children to independent schools (friskolor). The number of independent schools in Sweden is growing even faster than the children who are attending them.

The Independent School Reform of 1992 made it possible for families to send their children to any school — public or private — without having to pay fees. The law states that children have equal right to education regardless of gender, ethnic or political background, and economic status of their families. Several checks are in place to ensure equal conditions for private and public schools throughout the country.

No fees allowed

Often with a specific focus — such as religion, art, music, or sport — independent schools in Sweden can open as long as they meet the nationwide educational requirements. Once accepted by the Swedish National Agency for Education, the schools receive government funding and must in return not charge any student fees; they are, however, allowed to accept private donations.

The growing interest has resulted in consequences that continue to be investigated. Some people have voiced concerns that it will lead to unfair competition between independent schools and more traditional municipal schools, and that some municipal schools may face the threat of closing as a result. Certainly, the new system is sure to gradually open the traditional Swedish model to new alternative methods of teaching.


Minister for education Jan Björklund wants to see diversity and competition under equal conditions for independent and public schools. Photo: Kristian Pohl

Diversity under equal conditions

Minister for Education Jan Björklund says: “Diversity and competition in education is a good thing, but there must be strict guidelines in place to ensure the quality of education for all children. A commission of inquiry has recently been appointed with the sole purpose of creating equal conditions for public and independent schools.”

Maj Dellström, headmaster of Tibble Fristående Gymnasium, a secondary school in Täby, north of Stockholm, understands that there is as much diversity in opinion as there is in education. As a result of a municipality initiative, Tibble recently became a private school. Many were involved in this ongoing and occasionally heated debate about privatization, but the school hasn’t lost any of its 1150 students in the changeover.

Dellström says: “There was some debate, but everybody’s happy now and they will give the school a chance. The teachers and staff are looking toward how we can best use these independencies.”

She says that the transformation has not really changed the direction of the school. Marketing itself as an independent school with an international profile, the school offers a wide variety of courses.

Knowledge is key

The Swedish Education Act states that all schools must teach equality, democratic values, respect for the integrity of the individual and a common environment, and to take a stand against bullying and racism. Teamwork and self-direction is fostered toward the ultimate goal of gaining knowledge and the ability to use it. Both municipal and independent schools are obliged to set this as their foundation.

But in a country that has always been a leader in advocating equality, how can students be educated equally when each pedagogical program is different? Is there a risk the age old “reading, writing, and arithmetic” are being compromised in place of world religion or architectural design?

Magnus Johansson, information officer at the Swedish Association of Independent Schools, doesn’t think so. “The main point isn’t to give all students the exact same knowledge, but to fulfill the nationally defined goals of a ‘common knowledge’ and, at the same time, offer a wide range of education,” he says.

A picnic of choices

The core subjects and goals are in fact regulated in national steering documents. Johansson says that “this is an opportunity for each student to find an education which focuses on his/her interests and which can qualify him/her for a certain higher education or type of work.”

The debate about municipal schools versus independent schools rages on. Meanwhile, for the children who have just begun school, the long road of education in Sweden lies ahead, paved with promise, discovery, and a picnic of choices along the way.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.

Classification: A212EN