Christian Values : The Swedish Christian democratic party´s view on confessional charter schools 1984-1994

This study has investigated how the Swedish Christian Democratic Party (KDS) argued for the right of private actors to operate tax-funded schools outside of the public sector – charter schools. The hypothesis of this study was that KDS were openly positive to such a reform and saw it as a chance to run state-funded confessional schools.The study examined political texts produced by the party during a ten-year period, ranging from 1984 to 1994. The study’s methodological approach was one of a qualitative textual analysis, aided by a theoretical framework adapted from Samuel Moyn’s thesis in his book Christian Human Rights.The study concluded that there is empirical support to the thesis, and that KDS were very positive to a reform of the public school system in order to enable publicly funded private schools. There is less evidence to conclude that KDS intended for these schools to be confessional, although this study proposes that there is evidence to suggest as much