Exploring equal opportunities: Children’s experiences of the Swedish Community School of Music and Arts

Abstract

This article explores the social stratification of the Swedish Community School of Music and Arts, which offers voluntary extra-curricular arts education to children in Sweden, and children’s experiences of attending the school. A survey was executed where sixth-graders in Sweden were asked about their experiences of the school and about background factors such as their gender, country of birth, parents’ level of education and family involvement in the music and arts. The results show that the typical Swedish Community School of Music and Arts student is a Swedish-born girl with well-educated parents. Children of parents who play an instrument or sing are more likely to find their way to the school, and the level of support that parents provide contributes to the children’s persistence in their studies. In sum, the results largely conform to cultural reproduction theory.