Visit to Kunskapsskolan

As part of my research on the Swedish education system, I visited Kunskapsskolan, one of Sweden's largest for-profit school chains. Borris – on his day-off from working on-set of some of Sweden's biggest TV productions – came along to help me film. We were met by CEO Cecilia Carnefeldt, and two bright and enthusiastic fifteen-year-old girls who showed us around the school.

The first thing that struck me was the layout. It was an open concept design with all of the offices and classrooms enclosed by glass, and there were no hallways.

"Nothing good ever happened in a corridor," Cecilia told me, and she claimed that their transparent rooms had reduced bullying.

Like many of the independent schools in Sweden, Kunskapsskolan offers a unique pedagogical teaching method, in this case, based on personalized learning.  Students are not bound to learning at a certain pace or in the same way as other students. They must only complete 35 "steps" by the time they are 16; how old they are when they complete each step and how they do it is up to them. In addition, each student is assigned a personal tutor with whom they meet once a week to discuss their goals.

It's not a method that will satisfy everyone. A family friend of Åsa and Jerker sent their child to Kunskapsskolan, but she felt overwhelmed by the non-traditional style and left. However, for the two girls I met, who both admitted to feeling unchallenged at their former public school, this was a breath of fresh air.

"I was bored at my old school. We did the same thing every day...I always worked a bit further than the others, then I'd have to step back and wait for them. That really damaged my development," said Elin in perfectly accented English. "[Here] you can always challenge yourself. That's the good thing about this school."

This brand of school is now planning to expand abroad (much to the chagrin of many Swedes – there is currently a big debate here about whether government-financed, privately run schools like Kunskapsskolan should be allowed to operate like a normal company and rake-in profits). It will open a school in the UK – where the government is planning to adopt the Swedish model of free school choice – and in Manhattan this fall.