Location Choices of Independent Schools

The project studied the determinants of the location choices of the Swedish independent schools. In particular, factors such as resource allocation and attitudes to school choice at the municipality level, as well as factors related to the student background in a small geographical area. The participants also investigated whether the location decisions vary between schools of different types of independent schools. The background was the dramatic expansion of the independent school sector that followed the independent school reform in 1992. Several aspects of this reform, such as the effects of independent schools on student’s educational results, have been the subject of previous studies, but the location decisions are by large unexplored. The project used detailed information on the geographical location of schools, student background in small geographical areas, and information on municipalities, over 1992-2006, and focused at independent schools at the compulsory level.