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Stockholm suburb tops school rankings: report

Peter Vinthagen Simpson
Peter Vinthagen Simpson - [email protected]
Stockholm suburb tops school rankings: report

The Stockholm suburb of Danderyd comes out top in a new report from the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges kommuner och landsting - SKL) ranking Sweden's schools.

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In Danderyd, a wealthy suburb in northern Stockholm, 93 percent of pupils graduate successfully after the nine years of compulsory school. At the other end of the scale, in Nordmaling in Västerbotten in the north of Sweden, only 54 percent pass all their subjects.

The report, entitled "Open comparison - Schools 2010" and published on Friday, shows that work is needed to improve standards at many of Sweden's schools.

"All pupils can improve their results, and all municipalities can have a positive impact requiring both focus and good relations, and not least endurance and long-term planning among politicians," said Håkan Sörman at SKL in a statement.

The rankings were previously published in 2006 and some of the municipalities have shown improvements in the interim years including Olofström, Öckerö, Borgholm, Överkalix and Gävle.

Aside from Danderyd, the municipalities of Hammarö, Lidingö, Nacka and Pajala continue to lead the schools' ranking.

On a national basis the number of pupils achieving passes in all subjects is the highest since 1998. In seven of ten municipalities a greater number of pupils passed maths in comparison to 2009.

However around one in ten of Sweden's pupils does not secure sufficient grades to attend high school.

"Our starting point is that the comparison should lead to discussion, analysis and measures, and that municipalities take poor results seriously, even if there is much to be done," said Håkan Sörman.

The 2010 report has been extended to include indicators over the health and mental well-being of Sweden's pupils including how they regard themselves, enjoy school, view their colleagues and bullying.

"Knowledge and human values go hand in hand. If you achieve and are challenged then you feel better," he said.

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