Research project Market reforms, school segregation, and teachers’ work environment

Like many other countries, Sweden has implemented market-oriented schooling reforms through school choice, competition from private providers, and the increased use of standardized testing and early grading. The goal of the project is to determine how such reforms affect teachers' mental health, sick absence and mobility.

Student composition is a central component of teachers' work-environment and also a fundamental determinant of the results that teachers are evaluated against using tests and grades. Swedish school segregation has increased substantially, partly as a result of school choice, competition from free schools, and changes in admission rules.

Teachers' working conditions have thus become more heterogeneous at the same time as results-based evaluation most likely has increased the importance of the student composition for teachers’ work environment.

This project will use quasi-experimental methods and register data to determine the causal impact on teachers' sick-leave absence and mental health caused by 1) changes in the student composition, 2) the introduction of standardized testing and early grading, 3) competition from newly established schools.

The project will provide a better understanding of the determinants of teacher stress and job-satisfaction, as well as providing evidence concerning potential trade-offs between market-oriented reforms and the attractiveness of the teaching profession. This will help gauge the long-term sustainability of such reforms.