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One in two students complain of ‘noisy’ class

Swedish classrooms continue to get more rowdy despite warnings from school inspectors, a new study carried out across the country has found.

Published: 19 October 2012 08:55 CEST
One in two students complain of 'noisy' class

“We see how teachers are forced to check students’ behaviour and are interrupted by nonsense questions in the classrooms,” said Per Ingvar de la Motte, inspector from the Lund Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen) to daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).

Forgetful students having to retrieve their books from their lockers in the middle of class also disturb the other children

“Others just start talking or start putting their things away before the class is over,” de la Motte told the paper.

Dagens Nyheter has looked at answers to a survey taken by tens of thousands of Swedish children, at the behest of the local authorities in the municipalities where they live.

In Stockholm and Malmö, some 50 percent of 14-year-olds said that they never find the peace and quiet needed to work during school hours.

Some 50 percent of Malmö students of the ages 12, 14 and 15 said that they never, seldom or sometimes have the peace and quiet that they need in school.

In Stockholm, 46 percent of 14-year-old students (year 8) said that they could work undisturbed during class, and 63 percent of 11-year-olds (year 5).

A separate study carried out by the Schools Inspectorate on 435 of Sweden’s schools earlier in the year showed that the problem isn’t just a big city phenomenon.

When asked to rate the statement: “During class other students disturb the peace of the classroom”, 54 percent of all 11-year-olds (year 5) fully or partly agreed. Among the 15-year-olds (year 9) the corresponding figure was 57 percent.

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SCHOOL

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Published: 12 March 2021 17:12 CET
Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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