The Controlled School Market and Urban Schools in Sweden

The aim of this article is to outline some major defining aspects of the Swedish controlled school market and to describe and analyze how a number of urban school leaders in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Malmö define, understand, and respond to the competition they see. Based on interviews with school leaders and research on a wide range of secondary literature, it is possible to identify three types of rivals: “White” schools, ordinary and religious/ethnic free schools, and neighboring urban schools. The responding strategies vary from the logic of resignation and condemnation of parents for making “wrong” choices to a critical redefinition of pedagogical practices toward minority students and the equivocal alliances. I argue that the specific features of the Swedish urban school market create noteworthy new opportunities and new difficulties.