We can measure quality in many different ways – some of which are concrete and tangible, while others are more difficult to define. The first category includes the share of students who qualify for upper secondary school – which for IES is 92 per cent compared with the national average of 84 per cent, the results of the national tests which show that grade inflation is not an issue in our schools, the high percentage of students who receive a passing grade in all subjects and the outcomes of the annual quality surveys.
The second category includes all the students who testify that our schools have succeeded in what I believe is the real quality in what we deliver; namely that we encourage our students to learn, that we prepare them for the world and for adulthood, and that we show them that it is OK to fail, that the most important thing is to keep pushing through and not give up in the face of adversity, that’s how you learn.
IES is currently the largest independent operator in compulsory schooling in Sweden, and it is the fourth largest operator in the country overall, including the city municipalities of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. We are also the school operator from which the second-highest number of year-nine students in the country graduate after Stockholm municipality.
We are just as convinced today, as we were when IES started, that our students’ success is grounded in excellent English skills, a peaceful classroom environment and in the high expectations we have of every student. English and bilingualism are increasingly important in our globalised society. Many students also state that the international environment characteristic of our schools – with substantially more students than the national average with a foreign background, and teachers coming from many countries – increases their interest in, and understanding of, the outside world and different cultures.
As our surveys clearly show, this is the basis of our success and it has to permeate throughout all of our schools, which is a major responsibility for our school leaders. Our schools are located in different types of socio-economic areas, and the composition of students in some can be more challenging than in other schools – but we do not choose our students. To succeed in areas where there may be some insecurity in the child’s family and local community, it is even more important to create a caring school environment with adults who create a feeling of safety.
We constantly invest in improving our organisation in line with our ethos, so we are gradually expanding our activities down the age groups in more and more schools, towards preschool class and primary school. During the past academic year we had more projects than ever before. We restructured the schools in Linköping, Hässleholm and Kista so that they now encompass also years F to three, which means that we now have 21 schools that offer the entirety of the compulsory school years. In addition to these, we built two completely new schools, in Norrtälje and Österåker. Furthermore, during the summer of 2024 we moved two of our schools into new premises – in Liljeholmen in Stockholm and Södra Änggården in Gothenburg.
Our society has undergone radical changes since IES started. Today young people suffer from increasingly unsafe communities with violence and gang-related crime, the drawbacks of digitalisation through online bullying and a more sedentary lifestyle. This has led to poorer mental and physical health. More and more of our Initiatives are therefore aimed at counteracting these negative effects and supporting students to become strong individuals, both mentally and physically. These initiatives encompass everything from offering a greater range of physical activities during and outside of school hours, to encouraging students to read more via our excellent school libraries with trained librarians, and surrounding children with plenty of safe adults.
Our fantastic colleagues are the key to our success in all of this: committed teachers and other school staff who see and acknowledge every student every day, and who are good role models for hard work paying off.