Backing a loser?
“Michael Gove says “No ideology, just doing what actually works”. But he chooses as his model Sweden. Why? … In Finland, school begins at age seven, government policy stresses equity as well as quality, there are very few private schools and these are not allowed to charge for tuition. There is also particular provision for learners with special needs … The Finnish system clearly works. So, if not for ideology, why choose the Swedish model, not the Finnish?”
Brian Butterworth, letter in the Guardian 8.6.10
From the horse’s mouth?
“The Conservatives’ flagship education policy of creating thousands of Swedish-style “free schools” will not improve standards, the man who runs Sweden’s school has warned … Per Thulberg, director of the Swedish National Agency for Education, said the schools had not led to better results … where results had improved, it was because the schools took pupils with better background than those who attended the institutions they replaced.”
Jessica Shepherd in the Guardian 10.2.10
