Increased gaps in Växjö's schools

The National Agency for Education's recently released a report of the final grades of those who have finished ninth grade. The report showed a large gap between students with different prerequisites. Among other things, it was about whether the student is a boy or girl, born in Sweden or abroad and about the parents' level of education.

The gaps are visible in Växjö. An example that Smålandsposten writes about is that every third ninth-grader with parents without post-secondary education left one of Växjö municipality's elementary schools in the spring without adequate grades to attend a vocational program.

– It is not good at all, of course. The school's compensatory assignment is very important, with early efforts and everything that is done. We prioritize it all the time, but it will never be 100 percent successful. Although that is a goal, Pernilla Tornéus (M) tells Smålandsposten.

173 of the 882 pupils who left the municipal elementary schools in Växjö this summer received too poor grades to be able to continue reading at the upper secondary school. Boys, on average, had lower grades than girls, and pupils born abroad received, on average, lower grades than pupils born in Sweden.

– It is not something we put in the drawer. Instead, we can use the report and correct what went wrong, says Pernilla Tornéus.