There are schools run by charlatans

Now the autumn semester starts in Sweden’s schools.

The students go back to a school with declining knowledge results and rising profit withdrawals. The government promises to change that.

– It is difficult, but it is nevertheless very important to increase equality in school and drive out pure charlatans, says Johan Pehrson (L).

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Soon the summer holidays will be over and the country’s students will return to school.

But Swedish schools don’t get high marks at the moment.

The results of the latest knowledge measurement, Pisa, show that Swedish students lose a lot, mainly in mathematics and reading.

Education Minister Lotta Edholm (L) is concerned about the upcoming start of school.

– There are so many problems that Swedish schools have that you risk appearing detached from reality if you don’t also talk about the major shortcomings that actually exist, she answers the question about how Swedish schools are actually doing.

“Living in very segregated environments”

Aftonbladet meets Lotta Edholm and party leader, also minister of labor market and integration, Johan Pehrson at the Ministry of Education in Stockholm.

Summer is still ruling, but soon the autumn semester will begin. Dark autumn clouds once again tower over the Swedish school.

Segregation and the fact that children do not have the Swedish language in their home environment contribute to the students’ results collapsing, says Lotta Edholm.

– We have many children whose mother tongue is not Swedish and who live in very segregated environments.

– Even if they have acquired reading and the Swedish language during a school year, they lose it during the summer holidays. And then you have to start all over again.

As a solution to this, the ministers want to add more money to extra education for students who need it.

Party representatives in L have so often been able to talk about the school having to limit the number of hours with screens for the children and replace them with reading from books.

“From screen to cover” has been the party’s credo.

– The introduction of screens can be cited as an example that causes children’s endurance to sit and struggle with a text to deteriorate, says Johan Pehrson.

Promises delivery by 2026

In today’s system of freedom of choice, where parents and students can choose their own school, parts of the population have fallen behind.

Queuing systems that allow children to queue up from day one have created winners and losers.

The Tidö agreement stipulates that school choice will become compulsory. Everyone must choose a school, in an attempt to create more equal conditions.

But the government’s first attempt failed after the Swedish National Agency for Education pointed out several problems with introducing such a system. So far, the government has no answer as to how school choice should be introduced.

Since Johan Pehrson took over the party, the Liberals have reconsidered the view on profits within the school. Profits are now to be limited, but not completely banned.

Instead, Johan Pehrson and Lotta Edholm envision creating a system that makes it more difficult for school companies to extract profits.

Here too, the Tidö Quartet has, so far, not been able to come up with any proposal on how it should be done. Several investigations are underway, but any new independent school law, as promised, cannot yet be discerned.

– I expect that this will be able to happen in 2026 and we show that we have worked very hard on it, says Johan Pehrson.

– It is difficult, but it is nevertheless very important to increase equality in school and drive out pure charlatans, he continues.

So Sweden’s students go back to schools run by charlatans?

– Yes, I would probably argue that, says Lotta Edholm.

Can it be established that your new independent school team will mean less profits for independent schools?

– Yes, I would absolutely say that.

Listed companies should not be banned

Several of the large school companies are listed on the stock exchange and their main task is to create profits that can then be distributed to the owners.

In its latest interim report, the giant Academedia was able to show its shareholders an increasing turnover to almost SEK 12.5 billion between July 2023 and March 2024.

The operating result came in at SEK 958 million. An increase of 93 million compared to last year.

Over the years, various school companies have distributed multi-billion sums to owners in Sweden and other countries. Amounts based on tax money.

However, neither Lotta Edholm nor Johan Pehrson wants to see a system where listed companies are prohibited from running schools.

Instead, schools must be required to have, for example, libraries, laboratory rooms and relevant staff. These are things that school companies today have been able to ignore in order to cut costs and thereby increase profits.

– I only care that we have a school that is able to deliver future young citizens with sufficient knowledge, says Johan Pehrson.

– If it leads to fewer and fewer people becoming interested in running independent schools, then it matters less.

FACTS Free schools that have received the most state funding (January 2023–June 2024)

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