Profit and quality — can independent school groups have both?
The debate about independent school groups' profits is intense but rarely data-driven. One common hypothesis is that high revenue per pupil suggests that resources are prioritised differently — away from teaching. Another hypothesis is that profitable groups can afford to recruit better and invest more.
The chart tests this empirically. The x-axis shows revenue per pupil (thousand SEK) for the independent school groups for which we have financial data. The y-axis shows average SALSA score for their schools — that is, how much better or worse their pupils perform compared with what the pupil composition predicts.
The SALSA adjustment is crucial: without it, a group that selects pupils with favourable backgrounds would appear to perform well for the wrong reason. With the adjustment, we can distinguish between 'good school' and 'good pupils'.
Interpret with caution: revenue is not the same as profit (margin), and the financial data covers only a subset of the groups. But the pattern in the data is a valuable basis for an evidence-based discussion about the independent school sector.
Statistics: academic year 2023/24. Source: Skolverket open data, Kolada and SCB. Processed by Skolkoll. Glossary · About the data.