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Swedish free schools open to sects: study

An upcoming European assessment of the Swedish reform that allowed private actors to open schools says oversight is so bad that a sect could easily be spreading its message to Swedish children during school hours.

Published: 14 December 2012 07:32 CET

Swedish free schools open to sects: study

The control of organizations running schools is too lax, said French parliamentarian Rudy Salles, who is looking into the matter for the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE).

“A sect can set up a school and give the appearance they are following the national curriculum,” he told the Swedish TT news agency.

“But during lessons they could be influencing the children with the ideologies of the sect.”

“We do not want this for the children,” said Salles who in May 2013 will present the report to PACE.

The study also looks at France, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Germany.

Salles thinks one weakness in the Swedish system is that the teachers do not become municipal employers when they are hired by the freestanding organisations. In France, even free school teachers are on the payroll of the state.

“The Swedish system is made vulnerable by this,” Salles said.

He also spared little force when critiquing the Swedish School Inspectorate for visits and reviews that he deemed too shallow.

“It is important that the state and different authorities do more checks,” Salles said.

He said sects can pose a particular problem as many of them operate across borders and have deep coffers from which to fund the move into education. He cited Scientology and Jehovas Witness as examples.

TT/The Local/at

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Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government.

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded.

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.”

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres.

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod.

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level, people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used.

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said.

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