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SCHOOL

New drive to address teacher shortage

Stockholm University plans to launch a fast-track teaching course in a bid to counteract the shortage of qualified science teachers in Swedish schools.

Published: 4 May 2013 13:49 CEST
New drive to address teacher shortage

The one-year programme, which is due to start next summer, is aimed at students with a Master’s degree who did not plan to become teachers when they first started university, reported Sveriges Television (SVT).

The programme will include a 10-week summer course followed by intensive pedagogic training combined with paid placements at schools. The students will become qualified teachers after one year.

Explaining the motivation for launching the programme, Stockholm University’s vice principal Anders Gustavsson said: “The starting point is simple. There has long been a crisis.”

There are also plans for similar courses at Umeå University in the north and Gothenburg University in the west of Sweden.

News of Stockholm University’s plans followed the launch of a government-backed project called Teach for Sweden, which aims to attract new student groups to the teaching profession.

Teach for Sweden is part of the international organization Teach for All and is aimed at top students with leadership qualities. Participants get to teach primarily mathematics and science subjects in poor-performing schools for a two-year period. During this time they receive a salary as well as training in leadership and pedagogy. By the end of the two years they become qualified teachers.

However, SVT reported on Friday that Teach for Sweden has not managed to establish collaboration with higher-education institutions, with Umeå University and Gothenburg University among those who have declined offers to work with Teach for Sweden.

“We have looked at studies which show that these teachers do not become better than others and they only stay in the profession for a short time,” said Maria Löfgren, principal of the teacher training department at Umeå University.

“We want to educate for the long-term and we want to hold the courses ourselves,” she added.

The corresponding programmes in the US (Teach for America) and the UK (Teach First) are very popular. Teach First came third in The Times of London’s 2013 list of most attractive employers for graduates.

Gustavsson explained that the one-year programme at Stockholm University is primarily an educational solution. Guaranteeing that the participating students stay in the teaching profession in the long-run is a separate challenge, he said.

“In order to ensure that they remain in the profession I am personally convinced that both wages and conditions in schools need to improve,” said Gustavsson.

TT/The Local/nr

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SCIENCE

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for ‘ingenious tool for building molecules’

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, responsible for awarding the Nobel Physics and Chemistry Prizes, has announced the winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Published: 6 October 2021 16:17 CEST
Peter Somfai, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, announces the winners for the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Peter Somfai, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, announces the 2021 winners. Photo: Claudio Bresciani

The prize this year has been awarded to Germany’s Benjamin List and David MacMillan from Scotland, based in the US.

The Nobel Committee stated that the duo were awarded the prize “for their development of a precise new tool for molecular construction: organocatalysis”. The committee further explained that this tool “has had a great impact on pharmaceutical research, and has made chemistry greener”.

Their tool, which they developed independently of each other in 2000, can be used to control and accelerate chemical reactions, exerting a big impact on drugs research. Prior to their work, scientists believed there were only two types of catalysts — metals and enzymes.

The new technique, which relies on small organic molecules and which is called “asymmetric organocatalysis” is widely used in pharmaceuticals, allowing drug makers to streamline the production of medicines for depression and respiratory infections, among others. Organocatalysts allow several steps in a production process to be performed in an unbroken sequence, considerably reducing waste in chemical manufacturing, the Nobel committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

The Nobel committee gave more information in a press release as to why List and MacMillan were chosen: “Organocatalysis has developed at an astounding speed since 2000. Benjamin List and David MacMillan remain leaders in the field, and have shown that organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions. Using these reactions, researchers can now more efficiently construct anything from new pharmaceuticals to molecules that can capture light in solar cells. In this way, organocatalysts are bringing the greatest benefit to humankind.”

List and MacMillan, both 53, will share the 10-million-kronor prize.

“I thought somebody was making a joke. I was sitting at breakfast with my wife,” List told reporters by telephone during a press conference after the prize was announced. In past years, he said his wife has joked that he should keep an eye on his phone for a call from Sweden. “But today we didn’t even make the joke,” List said. “It’s hard to describe what you feel in that moment, but it was a very special moment that I will never forget.”

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