This post reviews Cynthia M. Villalba, “Home-Based Education in Sweden: Local Variations in Forms of Regulation” in Theory and Research in Education 7, no. 3 (November 2009): 277-296.
Villalba, who recently received her PhD from the Institute of International Education at Stockholm University (Dissertation title: Home Education in Sweden), here presents an engaging summary of the recent history and current status of homeschooling policy in Sweden. Villalba begins with an orientation. There are currently about 100 families homeschooling in Sweden. Swedish law allows the practice as a legal alternative to compulsory schooling, but several prominent politicians have been speaking out against it of late (seemingly because of its popularity among religious extremists). To better understand the practice and its treatment by municipal government, Villalba surveyed 77 Swedish municipalities, interviewed 26 municipal officials, looked at numerous case documents and news articles, and observed several homeschooling families in action.
As one of her informants notes, in general Swedish law is where the United States was about 25 years ago, with local municipalities deciding somewhat arbitrarily how individual homeschoolers should be regulated. National legislation offers no clear guidance other than a vague assent to the legitimacy of alternative educational options, and few municipalities have any formal policies. So the individual homeschooler’s fate usually hangs on the whim of the local official, whose task it is to decide how much of the government’s regulations of public education to apply to homeschools.
As more families have applied for permission to homeschool, more municipalities are being faced with the need to craft a formal policy. Villalba describes in some detail how several municipal school administrators have been working out effective policies. The most formalized policies that have emerged explain what parents have to provide in an application, require standardized testing to ensure that students are up to government school standards, require home visits (typically two per term), and offer access to school resources and social activities.
Throughout the paper, Villalba makes much of the Swedish term insyn, which translates roughly to “insight” but is often associated with government oversight or surveillance. Insyn is the technical means government employs to ensure its citizens stay within the mainstream. It is clear from her discussion that Swedish society is concerned to a much greater degree than is the United States with ensuring that all of its citizens receive similar upbringings and educations. If school administrators feel that a parent’s home education plan is not sufficiently mainstream, they will deny it. Even if the plan is accepted, “continuous monitoring” including home visits and assessments are ever present to make sure that the “obligations of the modern Swedish welfare state” are met.
This article gave me a good understanding of the educational administrator’s perspective, but the voices of homeschoolers themselves were not there. What do Swedish homeschoolers think of this very invasive regulatory regime? How do they work within it? What motivates the few Swedes who opt to homeschool to do so? These basic questions were not even addressed. I haven’t seen Villalba’s broader dissertation. Perhaps she provides the homeschooler perspective therein. But if you’re looking for a clear description of Swedish policies as well as some behind-the-scenes accounts of how policymakers came up with them, this article is a good guide.
As for the parallel with the U.S. 25 years ago, I’m not so sure. It’s true that in the mid 1980s permission to homeschool was often up to the will of the local school official, whose decision could be quite arbitrary. But at that time there was already a large and growing movement afoot. Sweden doesn’t seem to have that crucial component. Absent a large, vocal, and organized grassroots base, not to mention a long tradition of tolerance for minority views and distrust of big government, I don’t forsee Swedish homeschool regulations softening the way they did over here in the 1980s and early 90s.
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In fact, Swedish home education regulations are getting more stringent. I’m very disappointed that Cynthia Villalba did not include the proposed law there to ban home education for religious or philosophical reasons (but then I suppose she didn’t have enough space). I’m very interested in the possiblie consequences of the proposed new law and whether, if it is passed, home educators in Sweden will be able to find some kind of loophole, sort of like in the Netherlands, where the opposite situation exists and home education is only allowed where there is no school nearby that follows the parents’ religious or philosophical views (so suddenly everyone becomes some kind of religious/ideological homeschooler).
There is a huge controversy about to erupt on the planned government banning of homeschooling which is discussed in depth on my website at:
http://sites.google.com/site/homeschoolinginsweden/home
I am not sure that the government plans to leave many loopholes or even if they are the same as the Netherlands’. The Education Minister, whose educational training is from the army, seems to want to stamp it out altogether.
I have had conversations with Villalba whose primary research work has been very helpful but she doesn’t seem to want to become involved in the politics, which I can respect.
Please send petitions to the Swedish Government and visit our main Homeschooling Organization, ROHUS, links for which you can find on my homepage.
Cynthia made her research long before june 13, 2009 when the first proposal of a new school-law was presented – so it is unfortunate but understandable that there is nothing about all that in her paper.
Regarding the recent development, it is so totally outrageous and surreal, that the proposal is now at stage two (presented to the legal reviewers) without any changes at all regarding “education otherwise” – but the same rhetoric and illogical arguments repeated: “Since Swedish state school SHOULD be diverse and objective, there is no need for education otherwise” !!! All submitted reviews from many organizations, and over 60 spontaneous reviews, are simply neglected.
Many small steps are already made toward a more totalitarian view of families, parents and children, in particular their education – this step must be considered a giant leap, though.
Rohus, The Swedish Association for Home Education, still needs all the support available, and the petition is still running – please consider signing, if you have not already.
http://www.rohus.nu/?English_information
Hi, CCM Warren. I did read your report a while ago and it is very interesting. I did not understand, however, how home education would be forbidden for foreigners living temporary in Sweden. It seems to me that this group would have a practical reason for home educating, as opposed to an ideological one (even if they were already home educating for philosophical reasons before moving to Sweden) and so wouldn’t fall under the ambit of this law.
Any child residing in Sweden, is regarded as a separate entity from parents, and have the “right to education” = school duty = they have to go to school. In some very peculiar circumstances, e.g. if parents are refugees, this may be different, but in general this is the case. A family’s particular circumstances may be conducive to allowing for home education, but in general no. Especially if the law proposal goes through as is is written today, where education otherwise require “extraordinary circumstances” – and those are in all other areas of law VERY few.
The situation at present here in England is worrying.
In November 2009 the Government tried to change the law on home education via the new Children Schools and Families Bill.
Amongst the proposals are the right for Local goverment officials to enter the home and interview the child alone as well as a ‘license to home educate’ and strict monitoring arrangements.
This bill if enacted will, for the first time in our history, tear away from parents and give to the state the responsibility for a child’s education.
Please if you can consider signing this petition:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Home-ed-families/
I am not a temporary resident in Sweden (I have been here 12 years) so the exclusion clause probably would not affect me. I think the government has in mind foreign workers coming into Sweden for just a few months or basically short-term jobs who are planning to return to the home countries.
Mischa is right – we don’t own our children here – the state does. The government mindset is basically Soviet. It wouldn’t surprise me, if the present trend isn’t reversed, that children will be wearing blue EU scarves around their necks in the future.
Helena, compared to what we have here the proposed new rules in the UK are mild indeed even though I fully understand your disgust. You do have the advantage of a long homeschooling tradition there and there are lots of you – we are a mere 50 families in Sweden with a voice no louder than that of a mouse.
The petition you mention has already been closed, I believe, and Gordon Brown has basically indicated that all the Badman proposals will be implemented – but then petitions these days are just “symbolic democracy” – unless people come out onto the streets or can get sufficient coverage in the media you can assume that the government will ignore all petitions. The only thing modern governments respect is an action that might affect their re-electibility. And since Brown has already lost the next UK election, I doubt he could care less.
What I am waiting for now is some EU homeschooling directive so that a common law exists for all member states. If that happens, though, I can only think they will want to mimic Germany.
These are dark times indeed.