It reveals that the drafters of the school choice reform overemphasized the possible positive consequences of market reforms and therefore did not consider it necessary to establish appropriate rules and institutions for school competition. The main goal of this study is to determine to what extent the consequences of the reform deviate from the intended and planned results. The study finds that school choice reform has not been adequately protected against some of the negative externalities described above.
In light of the study's combined analysis of increasing discrepancies between absolute test scores and grades and the implications of other education reforms implemented.
The independent schools
Independent schools then received funding through a voucher system of a minimum of 85 percent of the average cost per pupil in public schools - increased to 100 percent in 1997 in exchange for independent schools abandoning capped student fees , which were initially allowed (Government Project. In the academic year the percentage of students in primary education attended one of over 800 independent schools at this level, and 26 percent of students in secondary education attended any of over 400 independent secondary schools that now exist in Sweden (Ekonomifakta 2018).
Evidence of grade inflation
For example, in the academic year, the leading education sector company, Academedia, enrolled two percent of all primary students and eight percent of all secondary students in one of its wholly owned, but differently branded schools ( Academedia 2017). ). Also, in the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which assesses the knowledge of mathematics and science in grades 4 and 8, even students from the heavily criticized American education system15 achieved better results in mathematics in grade 8 than Swedish students. all student performance levels (Mullis et al. 2012).16 This represented the lowest point in a long decline in Swedish results on international standardized tests since TIMSS 1995, the first year Sweden participated, when Swedish 8th graders far exceeded the international average and the European Union (EU)/OECD average in both mathematics and science (Hanushek, Peterson, and Woessman 2012; Henrekson and Jävervall 2017), reflecting an actual deterioration in knowledge among Swedish students before the 1990s cannot be determined (Gustafsson, Sörlin , and Vlachos 2016).17 However, since the mid-1990s, grades in both primary and secondary schools in Sweden have continuously increased, as has the share of students who do so. In the past, it was often thought that poor content knowledge among Swedish students was compensated or mitigated by the fact that students performed strongly in other important skills that are also taken into account in grades, such as critical thinking and creativity.
Another indicator of grade inflation is Sweden's results in the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIACC)21 survey, which has only been conducted once, in 2012, and which assesses adults' cognitive skills in literacy, numeracy and problem solving. ability divided into age groups. Sweden's deteriorating performance in PISA is perfectly mirrored in the same age cohorts in PIACC, which reveals that poor performance at age fifteen 'remains unchanged at least twelve years after primary school education' (Löfbom and Sonnerby 2015, 71). In addition, it is not possible to charge higher fees to provide a better service in the 'quasi market' (Le Grand and Bartlett 1993) that education has become; Therefore, profitability can only be increased by attracting more students (Lubienski 2003).
A study of the Norwegian education system, which has many similarities with the Swedish system, is also relevant in this context, as it found that grading practices are correlated with the number of schools in the municipality and that. Bergström (2005) who studied grades and performance on Swedish standardized tests in a sample of public school students at the elementary level in the academic year 1997-1998. When including public and independent school students at the elementary level in the same year, Ahlin (2003) reported a similarly significant effect of school competition on standardized test scores (2004) found a positive effect on standardized test scores and final grades in Swedish, English and mathematics for the time period 1998-2000.
Examining grades, Swedish standardized test scores and certain long-term outcomes among compulsory school leavers from 1988 to 2009, the authors found that an increase in the proportion of independent school students 'both improves average educational performance. The authors also analyzed cross-sectional TIMSS data on 8th grade students in the years and 2007.
Markets and institutions
However, faith goods such as education, which necessarily involve elements of lack of verifiability, are particularly susceptible to manipulation by producers (Dulleck and Kerschbamer 2006). Another appropriate regulation is the external awarding of grades, as suggested by studies showing that teacher cheating is sensitive to incentives and that the presence of. However, as will be shown, basic regulatory institutions were either absent or undermined in the Swedish case.
We can get help in understanding the importance of institutions from a strand of literature on the 2008 financial crisis that is linked to these perspectives, such as Richard Posner's book A Failure of Capitalism (2009) and Raghuram Rajan's book Fault Lines (2010). This movement intersected with falling interest rates in the early 2000s and appetite for increased refinancing of existing home loans among borrowers 'with little thought for the future' who often could not afford to service their loans (Rajan 2010, 129). Banks, according to both Posner and Rajan, were behaving rationally from their point of view and in line with the market principle of satisfying demand when they began to compete by lowering lending standards.
Government regulators should have limited this risky form of credit market competition, but instead relied on markets to be self-regulating (Posner 2009). This left the financial system vulnerable when a housing bubble eventually burst and borrowers defaulted on their mortgages, which in turn caused banks to fail. As will be shown in the next part of this study, similar mechanisms are at work in the Swedish education system.
A failure of institutions
Ideas for voucher-based school choice reform had first emerged in the Moderate Party's youth league in the 1970s. In the 1980s, 'the Young Moderates were relatively the only ones who had these ideas, also with regard to the policy of the parent party', according to Odd Eiken (personal communication, January 12, 2014). There was also a general discussion across society, even within the Social Democratic Party, about the shortcomings of the public sector.
This confidence in the market has led the centre-right government to make certain regulatory decisions in the implementation of school choice reform. The new national curriculum determined what would be taught at the local level, in fact in local curricula: "It is true that only in an individual school can we talk about curriculum in the true sense of the word. ,'. This transfer of responsibility to students was prepared by the previous social democratic government, whose Minister of Education Göran Persson guaranteed 'student influence' in the law and argued that the education system can and should instill democratic values in students using "democratic" and not.
With no objections, the centre-right government carried out the policy and implemented it in the new curriculum. Moreover, the traditional concept of knowledge in education has been marginalized or even eliminated in the new curriculum. Lundgren (personal communication 9 February 2018) acknowledges that the description of knowledge in the curriculum has gone in that direction.
As explained in an editorial at the time in the moderate newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (Hellman 1993), the freedom given to schools to determine the content of education itself would force public schools to develop different educational profiles and strengthen competition with independent schools. Liberal market ambitions thus intersected with the post-modern view of knowledge, which was influential in the Swedish National Agency for Education (Kornhall 2013).
Conclusions
This resulted in fundamentally changing the moral aspect of education and reducing grades to a kind of currency whose main purpose was competition with others, which likely also played a role in creating a. preference for inflated grades among parents and students. quality, including grading and other material and hedonic rewards. This analysis, which has pointed out flaws in the arrangement of the school choice reform in Sweden, should not be seen as an implicit defense of school vouchers being implemented in a rational and predictable way. While this has often been pointed out in the privatization literature, this study shows that policymakers may downplay the importance of rules.
This study has shown how this happened in the Swedish school system, but there are other (quasi) markets for tax-financed welfare services characterized by similar institutional weaknesses that trigger welfare-reducing behavioral adjustments , which can be traced to the reluctance of policymakers to take seriously the fact that individuals and organizations can be narrowly selfish. The Role of Government in Education.” In Economics and the Public Interest, edited by Robert A Solo, 123–44. The Importance of Noncognitive Skills: Lessons from the GED Testing Program.” American Economic Review.
Skolans problem: Minskande kunskap och flykten från läraryrket." [Skolans problem: Minskande kunskap och flykten från läraryrket.] I Synen på kunskap och pedagogik: Varför skolväsendet inte levererar och vad kan göras åt det], redigerad av Magnus Henrekson , 26– 64. Moraliskt kapital och handelssamhälle.” I The Challenge of Liberty: Classical Liberalism Today, redigerad av Robert Higgs och Carl P Close, 97–119. Många vill sitta i skolstyrelser.” [Många vill jobba på Skolverket.], 16 augusti.
