Socioeconomic Inequality and Student Outcomes in Swedish Schools

Abstract

This chapter outlines the current Swedish school system and also explains its governance and administrative processes. Then follows an overview of the study population in general and educational outcomes of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. The chapter highlights how the gap between the high and low performing and socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged students has increased in Sweden over the last decades referring mainly to PISA survey data and national population grades. Lastly, the chapter describes the extensive school reforms that have taken place since the 1990s, including decentralization and marketization. The chapter evaluates whether these extensive reforms have contributed to the decline in performances and whether they have resulted in increased segregation and weakened the school compensatory assignment (which aims at minimizing negative effects of student background on performance). The chapter concludes with recent policy responses to these continuing negative trends of increasing performance gaps between socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged students.