by The Swedish for-profit ‘free school’ scandal In Sweden in 2023, we allow poorly performing private school companies to make sky-high profits — profits that the Swedish state gladly allows these companies to take from our tax-funded school vouchers. These smart welfare plunderers generally have higher profitability than the business sector as a whole, but when they are finished plundering, they hand over the problems and pupils to the much-maligned public sector. Many are rightly upset, and those who are critical of the privatization of healthcare and education have had golden opportunities to clearly and firmly state that they now want to eliminate the possibilities for profit-driven companies to operate in healthcare, social care, and education. But
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Lars Pålsson Syll considers the following as important: Education & School
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The Swedish for-profit ‘free school’ scandal
In Sweden in 2023, we allow poorly performing private school companies to make sky-high profits — profits that the Swedish state gladly allows these companies to take from our tax-funded school vouchers. These smart welfare plunderers generally have higher profitability than the business sector as a whole, but when they are finished plundering, they hand over the problems and pupils to the much-maligned public sector.
Many are rightly upset, and those who are critical of the privatization of healthcare and education have had golden opportunities to clearly and firmly state that they now want to eliminate the possibilities for profit-driven companies to operate in healthcare, social care, and education.
But that has not happened.
Instead, there has been a steady stream of toothless demands for increased control, tougher scrutiny, and inspections. Now that the privatization dream has turned into a nightmare, some believe that what they wanted to get rid of — regulations and “bureaucratic” control — would be the solution.
Several public investigations in recent years have shown that the system we have in Sweden with profit-driven schools leads to our schools becoming increasingly unequal — which in turn contributes to increasingly poor results. If we are to remedy this, we must have an educational system that is not based on market-oriented competitive thinking where schools, instead of educating, mainly focus on recruiting pupils and school vouchers. Schools should instead be operated as non-profit organizations with quality and a clear and distinct social mission and the best interests of pupils in mind.
Today, we know that private schools drive various forms of ethnic and social segregation, often have low teacher densities and poor academic results, and ultimately fail resource-poor students. That these operations should be rewarded with the ability to extract profits from our tax money is deeply offensive.
In a society characterized by equality, solidarity, and democracy, it should be self-evident that tax-funded schools should not be allowed to operate with profit and segregation as their primary business idea!
The decision to allow profit-driven companies into the welfare sector has been a costly mistake. Since Chile stopped this practice in the education sector a few years ago, Sweden is now the only country in the world that accepts profit interests in tax-funded schools. If Chile can correct its mistakes, we should be able to as well!
The basic question is not whether tax-funded private companies should be allowed to make profits or whether tougher measures are needed in the form of control and inspection. The fundamental question is whether it is the logic of the market and privatization that should govern our schools, or whether it should be through the logic of democracy and politics. The fundamental question is whether schools should be governed by democracy and politics or by the market.
Not only do private school companies lay claim to our tax money and use them any way they want. To strengthen their positions in the market, private schools also systematically choose to give high grades to falsely give the impression that these schools produce pupils with higher knowledge than others. In the world of private school companies, grades are eroded to become a way to get advantages by cheating.
History will judge harshly the responsible politicians who have ruthlessly and with premeditation allowed the once-proud Swedish tradition of trying to build an equal school for all to be sacrificed!
These jokers and cheaters in the free school industry have been allowed to undermine the Swedish school system for far too long. Now it’s time for politicians—who have actively and/or through pure complacency made this scandal possible for thirty years—to show some social responsibility and ensure that Sweden gets rid of the shame that is called free schools.