Improving Schools in Sweden: An OECD Perspective Improving Schools in Sweden: How can Sweden reverse the decline in student performance and make sustained improvements in the quality and equity of its school system? This report analyses the strengths and challenges facing the Swedish school system from an international perspective, and An OECD Perspective provides a number of recommendations and policy actions to strengthen it. It highlights the need for a comprehensive education reform that will bring about system-wide change and raise the performance of all Swedish schools and their students. The reform should define priorities, establish clear responsibilities across the system, and consistently provide the appropriate support and challenge to schools, municipalities and private organisers in their efforts of improvement. This report will be valuable not only for Sweden, but also other education systems looking to raise their performance. Contents Chapter 1. School education in Sweden: Strengths and challenges Chapter 2. Promote quality with equity across Swedish schools Chapter 3. Building a high-quality teaching profession Chapter 4. Steer policy and accountability focused on improvement Write to us Policy Advice and Implementation Division Directorate for Education and Skills - OECD 2, rue André Pascal - 75775 Paris Cedex 16 - FRANCE Find us at: www.oecd.org/edu/policyadvice.htm YouTube: www.youtube.com/EDUcontact Twitter: www.twitter.com/OECD_Edu Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/OECDEDU GPS: www.gpseducation.oecd.org IMPROVING SCHOOLS IN SWEDEN: AN OECD PERSPECTIVE This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of OECD member countries. This document and any map included herein are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. Photo credits: Portrait of a young Swedish football / soccer fan, with the Flag of Sweden on his face, stock, Getty Images International, © Duncan1890. You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of the source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. IMPROVING SCHOOLS IN SWEDEN: AN OECD PERSPECTIVE © OECD 2015 FOREWORD – 3 Foreword The highest performing education systems across OECD countries are those that combine excellence with equity. A thriving education system will allow every student to attain high level skills and knowledge that depend on their ability and drive, rather than on their social background. Sweden is committed to a school system that promotes the development and learning of all its students, and nurtures within them a desire for lifelong learning. PISA 2012 however showed a stark decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in all three core subjects (reading, mathematics and science) during the last decade, with more than one out of four students not even achieving the baseline Level 2 in mathematics at which students begin to demonstrate competencies to actively participate in life. The share of top performers in mathematics roughly halved over the past decade. Sweden has used these disappointing findings to foster a national debate on how to raise the quality of school education and to build a broad consensus on changes in the education system. The report Improving Schools in Sweden: An OECD Perspective seeks to support this process. It draws on key lessons from high performing and rapidly improving education systems as well as on the research and analysis of education policy and practice in Sweden that was undertaken by the OECD as part of this project. It identifies three priorities for Sweden, namely to: Establish the conditions that promote quality with equity across Swedish schools. Build capacity for teaching and learning through a long-term human resource strategy. Strengthen the steering of policy and accountability with a focus on improvement. Across the world, Sweden was once seen by many as a model for high quality education, and it possesses many of the ingredients to become that again. Among these is the unwavering commitment of its citizens and policy-makers from across the political spectrum to do whatever it takes to provide all children with the knowledge, skills and values which they need to succeed in tomorrow’s world. The OECD is there to help Sweden rise to that challenge. Andreas Schleicher Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General OECD Acknowledgements This report is the result of an analysis of Sweden’s context and policies, as well as relevant international best practices to support school improvement. The complete process has involved a background report prepared by the Swedish government, an OECD pre-visit to define the key areas for review, and an OECD team review visit to Sweden in October 2014 (see Annex A and B) and many exchanges and consultation with different experts and stakeholders in Sweden and internationally. The OECD review team (see Annex A) is indebted to the Swedish government which under the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Research (MoER) has supported this initiative. Special appreciations are due to OECD-Sweden Education Policy Review Steering Group members Annica Dahl, Anna Westerholm, Johan Lindell, Kerstin Hultgren, Merja Strömberg, Anna Barklund, Peter Johansson and Annika Hellewell for their guidance and support in conducting the review. We are also grateful to Annika Hellewell and Merja Strömberg for organising the review visit, and Annika and Peter Johansson for coordinating the whole review process. We would like to further thank the authors of the Country Background Report which was extremely valuable to the review. We also wish to convey our sincere appreciation to the many participants in the review visit who provided a wealth of insights by sharing their views, experience and knowledge. The courtesy and hospitality extended to us throughout our stay in Sweden made our task as enjoyable as it was stimulating and challenging. The OECD review team was composed of Beatriz Pont who led the review and was main author of Chapter 2, Marco Kools the coordinator of the report and author of Chapter 1, and Judith Peterka co-author of Chapter 2 and who provided analytical support in the drafting of the report. The external experts on the team Richard Elmore and Graham Donaldson authored Chapters 3 and 4 respectively. The author team acknowledges the support from Andreas Schleicher, Director of the Department for Education and Skills, and Richard Yelland, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation Division, and that of Tue Halgreen and Tracey Burns who provided in- depth feedback and advice at critical stages of the drafting process of this report, with Tue also contributing to the analysis during the early stages of the development of the report. We are also grateful to our colleagues Christophe André and Jon Pareliussen from the Economics Department for engaging in fruitful discussions and their feedback to the draft report. Rachel Linden provided administrative support, Susan Copeland edited the report and Louise Binns organised the publication process. IMPROVING SCHOOLS IN SWEDEN: AN OECD PERSPECTIVE © OECD 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS – 5 Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................. 7 Part I: A school system in need of urgent change ............................................................................... 11 Chapter 1: School education in Sweden: Strengths and challenges................................................. 13 Introduction and background ................................................................................................................. 14 Low student performance, though not in all domains ........................................................................... 27 Swedish schools are equitable, but not always conducive to student learning ...................................... 31 A motivated workforce, despite underdeveloped conditions for excellence in the profession ............. 38 High local autonomy, but weak and unclear accountability measures .................................................. 46 Increased focus on assessment and evaluation, but underdeveloped synergies in arrangements .......... 52 Education reform is a priority, but reform efforts lack a strong strategy .............................................. 54 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 55 References ............................................................................................................................................. 58 Part II: A comprehensive