Schooling for money: Swedish education reform and the role of the profit motive

Sweden’s free schools greatly influenced the thinking behind autonomous schools and the academies programme in England. In this pamphlet for the centre right think tank the IEA, Gabriel Sahlgren claims those for-profit schools, and the introduction of competition and choice in Sweden, improved educational outcomes.

Looking at evidence from the Swedish system, Sahlgran argues that for-profit schools benefit pupils from all socio-economic backgrounds, and actually produce the largest benefits for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. School competition in Sweden has increased levels of educational achievement, and free schools in the country enjoy higher levels of parental satisfaction than state schools. The competition from free schools has also improved conditions for teachers.

Sahlgran proposed that the profit motive provides strong incentives for entrepreneurs to enter the school market to expand their businesses, and that banning for-profit schools risks dramatically reducing the number of free schools that are created, negating the benefits of competition.