Swedish education is known for being a world leader in the free-market education revolution.
[22]
Prior to the 1990s, there were only a handful of
independent schools, mostly tuition-funded
boarding schools. In 1992 the government introduced a system of
school vouchers where schools without the municipality as principal, could receive government funding for each student. The schools cannot charge the students extra fees, nor they can discriminate or require admission examinations. These "free schools" (similar to
charter schools in the United States or
academies in the United Kingdom) most often have an alternate pedagogy (for example
Montessori), foreign/international, religious (for example Catholic or Muslim) or special needs (for example hearing-impaired) profile. There are also several secondary schools with an elite sports profile, called
idrottsgymnasium. There are about 900 free schools in Sweden.
[23] Two large chains of free schools are
Internationella Engelska Skolan and
Kunskapsskolan (“Knowledge Schools”
, which is the biggest school chain.
Anyone can start an independent
for-profit school in Sweden. Free schools are funded with public money from the local
kommun (municipality). Independent schools and public schools alike receive money from the kommun for every pupil they have enrolled. Economic differences throughout Sweden directly affect how much money each kommun can provide per pupil, by as much as 50000 SEK (7150USD, 4375GPB).
[24] As of 2008, more than 10% of Swedish pupils were enrolled in independent schools.
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