The student/teacher ratio (Swedish: elev/lärare-kvot) indicates how many students there are per full-time equivalent teacher (counted as full-time positions, not number of individuals). A lower figure means each teacher is responsible for fewer students, which may but does not necessarily mean more individual teaching time per student.
What affects the ratio?
The ratio is affected by several factors beyond the number of employed teachers: how teaching is organised (group sizes, parallel classes), the proportion of special needs teachers and resource teachers, and how much of teachers' working time is spent on instruction versus other tasks. A school with a low ratio can still have large class sizes if teachers have many other duties.
National average and variation
The national average is around 12 students per teacher in compulsory school. The ratio varies depending on school type — upper secondary schools often have a higher ratio — and municipality type. Small rural schools sometimes have very low ratios (under 8), while large urban schools can be at 15 or more.
The ratio does not tell the whole story
The student/teacher ratio is a crude measure. It says nothing about teaching quality, teachers' qualifications or how resources are distributed within the school. The ratio should be combined with other measures such as teacher qualifications and cost per student for a more complete picture.
Skolkoll retrieves ratio data from Skolverket's statistics and displays full-time equivalents. Data refer to the 2023/24 school year.