Posts Tagged sweden
State Sponsored Kidnap?
Posted by Carolina Bracken in Civil Liberty, Education, Human Rights on 15/12/2010
In June 2009, 7 year old Dominic Johansson was snatched by the Swedish authorities as he and his family boarded a plane bound for India. He was immediately taken into care and his parents permitted only one short visit every five weeks. There are no allegations of gross neglect; there is no evidence of serious abuse. Dominic was taken from his parents solely because he was being homeschooled.
Elite British-style schools open to all – but only in Sweden
Posted by James Gubb in Education on 16/06/2008
Schools in the state sector in Sweden can offer the acclaimed International GCSE (IGCSE) science qualifications that have been denied to British state school pupils by the government, according to Swedish Lessons, a report published today by independent think-tank Civitas.
Toynbee: a few mistakes on Swedish schools
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 09/04/2008
Via Tim Worstall, we learn that Polly Toynbee is falling out of love with the Swedish model just as the Tories are gaining interest in it. In the past, responses to a columnist’s claims could only be aired in a carefully guarded newspaper’s letters page. Now many online editions of columnist articles have comment facilities and the global nature of the Internet means that responses from around the world can be almost instantaneous with the original claims. The Local (which provides news about Sweden in English) has picked up on Toynbee’s article and has picked out a few inaccuracies. It is also worth looking briefly at her comments on the Swedish school reforms…
School choice: our best hope for equitable access to education
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 21/11/2007
The Conservatives have barely stuck their head above the parapet with their new education green paper but the backlash from the self-appointed champions of the disadvantaged has already begun. Fiona Millar attacks their policies as re-heated Thatcherism.
Admittedly, the Tories have left themselves open to this sort of criticism. Their policies are a bit of mishmash that combine suggestions for greater parent choice and hesitant supply-side reforms with centrally driven directives that threaten teacher autonomy every bit as much as the New Labour regime. These policies include targets to get every child reading by the age of 6 using synthetic phonics and more streaming by ability within schools. The problem, as we have commented before, is that no matter how well designed these ideas are, imposing them centrally often produces perverse consequences. The, originally Conservative implemented, National Curriculum is a case in point: centralisation leads to politicisation and the easy corruption of teaching by whatever ideologies are nested within Whitehall.