The Impact of Teacher Competence in Public and Independent Schools in Sweden

The study investigates the influence of teacher competence on third grade students' reading achievement in public and independent schools in Sweden. The data derive from the Swedish participation in PIRLS 2001. Regression analysis was employed to explore the relative effects of several indicators of teacher quality. Teachers' sex, teaching experience, in-service training and co-operation with colleagues had no significant influence on student achievement. Teacher certification for teaching in early grades, though, was shown to have a strong effect on students' mean reading test scores. This effect was as strong in independent schools as in public schools. Students in independent schools performed better on the reading test than did students in public schools. Controlling for parents' education while entering the two variables teacher education and school type into the regression model, the effect of school type on student achievement disappeared. Though school type had no intrinsic influence it was a mediating factor for parents' education and teachers' education. These effects worked in opposite directions, however. While students in independent schools had better-educated parents, students in public schools had better-educated teachers.