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EDUCATION

Reinfeldt talks schools in annual Christmas speech

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt announced on Monday that his party was ready to put more money into schools next year, adding that he was open to the idea of giving written grades to younger students.

Reinfeldt talks schools in annual Christmas speech

Reinfeldt held his annual Christmas speech at the Skansen museum in Stockholm on Monday afternoon, stressing the importance of maintaining Sweden’s reputation worldwide.

“When Sweden is compared with other countries, we are often at the very top and I’m proud of that. But this doesn’t really apply in the when it comes to schools,” he said.

Reinfeldt stressed that Sweden needed to improve results in children’s education if the country was to maintain its reputation as a top science and engineering country.

He added that he was “ready to take the step” to further lowering the age at which students are first given written grades in school.

As of this year, children in Sweden have been graded from the age of 12 (in the sixth grade), down from the eighth grade in previous years.

Reinfeldt suggested the move would allow teachers to understand faster when a struggling student needed more support.

Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven was not impressed with Reinfeldt’s plans, calling them “desperate and woeful”.

“The problems our schools have with dropping results can’t have escaped anyone,” he said to the TT news agency after the speech.

Meanwhile, Metta Fjelkner, chairwoman for the National Union of Teachers (Lärarnas Riksförbund), was more positive.

“We have said that we’re all for earlier grading in schools, and we’re happy that Fredrik Reinfeldt has now made this connection, but first we have to wait and see what happens with the reform that’s just gone through, we have to let it settle,” she told TT.

TT/The Local/og

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EDUCATION

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

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

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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