Summer holidays in Swedish debate about the crisis in its education

A Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, has been publishing a series of articles by Maciej Zaremba, over the past few months dealing with the crisis within the Swedish education system.

That there is a crisis most people have realised as teachers flee the system and the pupils leave the state schools to go to Free Schools and the academic standards have been falling for the last twenty years (yes, 20 years!). The problem with the debate is that while politicians and more or less self-styled education gurus debate whether it is the free choice of school or the lesson is delivered from the front of the classroom that is the root of the problems, the students are getting a poor education. From an English perspective (England and Wales have their own educational system, Scotland and Northern Ireland their own) I want to tear my hair out. We have similar problems and the same undermining of the teacher role as Sweden has been suffering from the last three decades (at least) and politicians who tear up school reforms before they have been implemented properly to put their own in place instead. There is a lack of respect of the students' right to a consistent and good quality education from those responsible in both countries I believe and there is perhaps time for the citizens to voice their concerns. In England this might happen with the introduction of Free Schools. They will vote with their feet.