Nursery World - Swedish free schools have no impact on achievement, research finds

Children from better-off families make small gains in their educational performance in free schools in Sweden - the model for the UK's coalition Government policy - but the effect does not last and schools have no impact on the achievements of poor or immigrant children, according to new research.

The study throws into question the Government's claim that free schools have improved academic performance in Sweden. Rebecca Allen, a senior lecturer from the Institute of Education, analysed evidence of the impact of the reforms in Sweden and found that while children from highly-educated families made small gains in their academic performance at the end of lower secondary school, when they are 15 and 16, these benefits do not persist by the time they leave secondary school, and high school exit tests at 18 and 19 show no difference in their educational attainment.

Ms Allen said, 'The biggest beneficiaries are children from highly educated families; the impact on low educated families and immigrants is close to zero.'

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