Quality indicators for SNE - Sweden

The Swedish educational system is based on goals. National goals are set up by the government, and the municipalities, schools, individual staff and pupils are to make the goals concrete in their own environment and make their own plans for their activities reach the national goals. Quality indicators must therefore stem from educational plans on several levels of the educational system.

Apart from stating the goals of the operation, the National Curriculum also states who has the responsibility for the different assignments of school operation and the fulfilling of the national goals. 

In a similar way as goals are set up, a system of evaluation is operating at several levels. The school board, staff and pupils do their own evaluations and support the school board with the results and other information necessary. Each school board evaluates their school operation and uses the material for the planning of the coming operation and reports to the municipalities. The municipalities are responsible for the operation of Swedish education and they report to the National Agency for Education. The latter, in its turn, reports to the government. Documents are official and should be easily available.

The National Agency of Education has launched a website where results, quality reports and other important documents and plans from all municipalities concerning school operation are available to the public and may be easily compared. The website SIRIS is available in Swedish only.

The National Agency of Education is responsible for the supervision of Swedish education. Each individual school is not supervised, but the Agency supervises a few matters each year and a selection of schools is supervised concerning that specific matter.

Individual schools can also be inspected after complaints. Parents, pupils, teachers or whoever concerned may complain to the National Agency of Education who can, if the matter cannot be solved by the specific municipality, investigate and advise the school in the matter. See http://www.skolverket.se/sb/d/397

At grades 3, 5 and 9 national compulsory tests are conducted in the subjects Maths, English and Swedish. These tests are the basis for  individual evaluations as well as for school plans and national comparisons.

Grades are given to pupils from year 8 of compulsory school. See http://www.skolverket.se/sb/d/354