Monday this week the OECD published a report (link) about systematic decline in Sweden's schools. Findings strongly suggest the teaching profession in Sweden needs uplifting.
The report was requested by Sweden's previous right-wing coalition government, who supervised eight years of profiteering while education declined. More schools became autonomously incorporated but teachers became more like production workers.
OECD Director for Education & Skills Andreas Schleicher highlights "Only five percent of teachers think what they do everyday is respected by society." Surely that's a problem!
For more see Sweden's 2013 Teaching & Learning International Survey summary (here); or the full TALIS report (link).
Sweden's educational troubles are no surprise. Increasing numbers of teachers work outside the public sector, in publicly-funded corporate schools. Such "schools" may not be clearly labeled as private businesses though staff are corporate employees, typically subverted as quickly-replaceable units to fuel profit-driven corporate success.
Sweden's school sector has suckled a class of politically well-connected corporate swine instead of cultivating efficiency and innovation. Fat venture capital parasites feast on underpaid labor, minimally invest in professional development, and cut support services & 'non-essential' dimensions such as the school library or student counseling. Students, parents and society are ill-equipped to fully analyze these firms, and there've been tragic cases of full corporate collapse (such as the 2013 JB Education bankruptcy - owned by Danish venture capital firm Axcel - that directly injured 10,000 students in 20+ schools).
The report was requested by Sweden's previous right-wing coalition government, who supervised eight years of profiteering while education declined. More schools became autonomously incorporated but teachers became more like production workers.
OECD Director for Education & Skills Andreas Schleicher highlights "Only five percent of teachers think what they do everyday is respected by society." Surely that's a problem!For more see Sweden's 2013 Teaching & Learning International Survey summary (here); or the full TALIS report (link).
Sweden's educational troubles are no surprise. Increasing numbers of teachers work outside the public sector, in publicly-funded corporate schools. Such "schools" may not be clearly labeled as private businesses though staff are corporate employees, typically subverted as quickly-replaceable units to fuel profit-driven corporate success.
Sweden's school sector has suckled a class of politically well-connected corporate swine instead of cultivating efficiency and innovation. Fat venture capital parasites feast on underpaid labor, minimally invest in professional development, and cut support services & 'non-essential' dimensions such as the school library or student counseling. Students, parents and society are ill-equipped to fully analyze these firms, and there've been tragic cases of full corporate collapse (such as the 2013 JB Education bankruptcy - owned by Danish venture capital firm Axcel - that directly injured 10,000 students in 20+ schools).
