Dear Clare/all,
This is very interesting research and the findings are concerning. Your findings echo the data on Sweden in the newly released Unicef child well-being report card on inequality in child well-being that some of us in York have been involved in.
One of the big stories in the Report Card (which examines 41 rich countries in the OECD and/or EU) is that rising inequalities see Sweden ranked mid-table overall in terms of how the most disadvantaged children fare. Though not directly comparable, in an earlier report card with the same theme (but different measures and different country sample) Sweden ranked near the top group.
Some selected findings:
Income: Between 2008-13 the gap between the incomes of children at the 10th percentile and the median has noticeably increased (one of only 13 countries out of 37 where there has been a clear increase)
Health: between 2002-2014 gaps widened in terms of self-reported health complaints and outcomes are significantly associated with family affluence. For physical activity the social gradient is stronger in Sweden than almost any other country we examined and noticeably strengthened over recent years.
Education: Sweden saw the biggest increase in educational disadvantage (in terms of low proficiency in all three PISA subjects) over the period 2006-12. Sweden was one of only two countries where there was a large increase in the achievement gap between students at the 10th percentile and the median due to children at the 10th percentile falling further behind their peers. As some of you will be aware, the OECD recently warned Sweden that it needs to ‘urgently reform its school system’ in part to undo some damage caused by recent reforms (including the increased autonomy for schools being championed by Nicky Morgan - http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/Improving-Schools-in-Sweden.pdf).
The UK meanwhile could do better according to the Report Card (being mid-table overall), but ranked above Sweden on income gaps, education gaps and health gaps (though not on life satisfaction gaps). That said social gradients were often stronger in the UK and, as most list members will be aware, the IFS projects considerable increases in child poverty in the UK as a consequence of ongoing tax and benefit reforms.
Anyone interested in the report card can download it from: https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/830/
Or, for a shorter read, blogs by:
Jonathan Bradshaw (Unicef UK blog, UK Children Left Behind) https://blogs.unicef.org.uk/2016/04/13/uk-children-left-behind/
Yekaterina Chzen (Unicef blog, Mapping inequality for child well-being in rich countries) https://blogs.unicef.org/blog/changing-inequality-in-rich-countries-for-child-well-being/
John Hudson and myself (LSE Policy and Politics Blog - Unequal beginnings: more must be done to give the UK’s most vulnerable children a fairer start in life) http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-uks-most-vulnerable-children-deserve-a-fairer-start-to-life/
Best wishes,
Stefan & John
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