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SCHOOLS

Sweden will be short of 45,000 teachers in 15 years, school chiefs warn

In 15 years, Sweden will be lacking 45,000 qualified teachers if current trends continue, according to the National Agency for Education.

Published: 10 December 2019 13:46 CET
Updated: 10 December 2019 16:16 CET
Sweden will be short of 45,000 teachers in 15 years, school chiefs warn
The forecast isn't quite as bleak as it was two years earlier, but Sweden remains in need of teachers. Photo: Alexander Olivera/TT

By 2033, a total of 188,500 teachers and preschool teachers will need to qualify in order to meet the forecasted demand. But if the levels of people starting the qualification and the proportion of students qualifying remain stable, only 144,000 will become qualified teachers in that time. 

The area with the greatest shortage is expected to be subject teachers specializing in grades 7-9 of primary school, primary teachers specializing in grades 4-6, and vocational teachers. 

Almost half of the required teachers are needed in the three major metropolitan areas: Stockholm, Västra Götaland (home to Gothenburg) and Skåne.

“We are seeing a positive developments in the Swedish school system. We want to strengthen this further, but for that it's necessary for students to have access to qualified teachers,” the agency's general director Peter Fredriksson said, referring to the recent improvement in Sweden's Pisa ranking.

The Pisa results did however show that inequality between schools in privileged and disadvantaged areas was a continuing problem, and Fredriksson said a teacher shortage could exacerbate this. 

“Large differences in access to qualified teachers mean that not all students are given the same conditions. In the wake of teacher shortages, there is also a risk that well-educated teachers will move away from schools in vulnerable areas. The teacher shortage risks making the lack of equality in schools worse,” he commented.

The good news in the agency's forecast, published on Tuesday, was that the estimated teacher shortage had fallen compared to a previous forecast in 2017. The earlier forecast had predicted that Sweden would be short of 80,000 teachers within 15 years.

The main cause of the decrease in the predicted shortage is a fall in immigration, which means the population increase is expected to decline. Most of the teachers who are needed will be required over the next five years, due both to a population increase in recent years as well as the number of teachers expected to enter retirement.

But another reason for the slight improvement is that more teachers are choosing to stay in the profession.

“In the data we can see that more people are returning to the teaching profession and that a larger proportion remain in the profession. It's gratifying […] More than 90 percent of Swedish teachers are satisfied with their work, a large international study showed,” Fredriksson said. 

He also highlighted measures being taken at national and local levels to help retain teaching staff and to ensure those working in schools could use their time and skills most effectively, such as hiring more school staff including teaching assistants and social workers.

Detailed forecasts for specific roles and different geographic areas can be found (in Swedish) here.

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SCHOOLS

Ten things you should know if your child is starting school in Sweden

It's the big day! Your baby's all grown up and ready to start at your local Swedish school. What do you need to do to prepare?

Published: 3 August 2023 15:30 CEST
Updated: 21 August 2023 09:30 CEST
Ten things you should know if your child is starting school in Sweden

Many foreigners feel that children start school in Sweden alarmingly late, with most of those starting ‘nollan’ (zero) or ‘förskoleklass’ (pre-school class) already six years old. But it can still feel like a wrench sending them away. Hopefully this list will make the process a little easier. 

What sort of school bag do they need? 

Most children starting school have rucksacks rather than satchels, as for the first few years they tend not to have much paperwork to bring home.

They will also need a sports bag, usually a waterproof one with a drawstring, to keep gym shoes and gym clothes in.

You may also want to send them with a tote bag, or other simple bag, to store any spare clothes you leave on their shelf or peg. 

Children in Sweden seem to hang small fluffy and shiny things off the backs of their bags with little clips, so buying one or more of those might provide your child with a conversation topic. 

A child plays in the rain. Photo: Gorm Kallestad/NTB

What clothes do they need? 

Schools in Sweden are not allowed to have uniforms (and free schools which have tried to bring them in have been reprimanded for violating children’s right to free expression). But there are still things that you need.

These include: 

  • Rain clothes and/or a winter overall. In the zero class, many Swedish children bring the same type of outdoor clothes they would have had at preschool or dagis, so they will need waterproof trousers and a waterproof jacket (or an all-in-one waterproof overall), and also a warmer insulated set of outdoor gear for when winter temperatures arrive. 
  • A winter and/or autumn jacket
  • Waterproof boots. Children in the zero class still spend a lot of their breaks and after-school hours jumping in puddles, so will require a pair of waterproof boots. These could be standard children’s winter boots, but most parents will also send a pair of rubber boots (or wellies). 
  • Gym shoes, gym shorts and top. Not all schools make children change before gym, particularly in zero class, but most do. If you are organised, you will internalise your child’s timetable and send them with a gym bag packed with fresh gym clothes on the days when they have gym.  
  • Spare underwear. Your child may still not have a 100 percent hit rate when it comes to making the toilet in time, especially in an unfamiliar setting, so one or more spare pairs of underwear are advisable. 
  • A spare pair of trousers/leggings/dress. 
  • A spare sweatshirt or jumper
  • Gloves/mittens, ideally waterproof. Depending on where you live in Sweden, your child probably won’t be needing these for a few months.

It’s a good idea to mark the clothes with at least your child’s first name. You can buy name tags or namnlappar online where you can write your child’s name, school and your phone number to increase the likelihood of things making their way back to you.

But changing rooms in zero class are chaotic places and by the time Christmas comes, you are likely to have lost most of the clothes you sent your child to school with. Most schools will have a lost property box which you can check periodically in the hope of recovering at least some of your child’s lost things. 

Unlike in schools in many other countries, schools in Sweden typically supply all stationery. Photo: Ann-Sofi Rosenkvist/Imagebank Sweden

Do I need to buy them any stationery? 

Unlike when children start school in many other countries, you do not have to send your child to school with stationery or a pencil case. Your child’s school may explicitly tell you not to do so. You can buy stationery for home, if you want. 

Do you need to buy textbooks? 

In Sweden, the school is supposed to supply any textbooks, but budgets being what they are, they often don’t, with your child instead being given print-outs. If you want to help your child at home, it can be worth finding out what coursebook the class is using and buying the workbook for use at home (but few Swedish parents would actually do this, so don’t feel like you have to). 

Can your child bring a soft toy or other toys? 

Soft toys, teddies or other toys are normally not allowed at school (apart from the little ones that hang on backpacks), but the whole class may occasionally be allowed to each bring in a soft toy as a reward on a leksaksdag, or “toy day”.

What food or drink does your child need to bring? 

All children in Sweden are fed at school, so they only thing you’ll likely need to provide is a fruit and a bottle of water.

We would recommend apples or easily peelable citrus fruits like clementines or satsumas over bananas (which turn to mush in backpacks) or oranges (which require an adult to peel). If you insist on sending bananas, you can buy plastic banana protectors. 

Do you need to come for the first day? 

Schools may have a gathering of children and parents before the start of the the zero class, with each of the parallel classes meeting their teachers along with the parents. Some schools will have already held this at the end of the summer term and parents will also be called in for a separate briefing where they are informed about what is expected of them. 

Can I sit in with my child in class? 

Parents are expected to attend daycares for the inskolning acclimatisation process, but the same is not the case for the start of school. You have no right as a parent to sit in on your child’s classes. Many class teachers and headteachers are, however, willing to accommodate parents who feel their child needs support on the first few days, or indeed, who are just curious about how the class works. 

How is it different from dagis? 

Förskoleklass in Sweden is less different from pre-school than you might expect, with the focus very much on training the children to sit in a classroom and other social skills, rather than on reading, writing and maths. Foreign parents impatient for their children to learn to read and write to the same level as children in their home country should be prepared to wait until their child’s second year (or the first class) before this starts to happen.  

The big difference from dagis is that school is compulsory, there is a so-called skolplikt, or “school duty”, so children are expected to be at school even if their parents are at home, unlike preschool rules where your child is expected to stay home if one or both parents has the day off.

This means the end to your family’s four-day weekend breaks in European cities or trips outside of the school holidays.

How strict schools are about this varies and it is hard for them to verify that your child wasn’t actually sick on the suspiciously convenient klämdag falling between a public holiday and a weekend.

We would still recommend that you don’t take your children out of school, not least due to the fact that parents caught breaking skolplikt can be fined.

After-school activities/care is an extra which you need to pay for. Photo: Ann-sofi Roenkvist/Imagebank Sweden

How do after-school activities work? 

While the length of the school day varies from municipality to municipality for the zero class, it can be as short as four hours, with the compulsory part of school finishing before 2pm. 

Unlike in many countries, the after-school activities part of Swedish schools, called fritids, or “free time”, is an optional extra which you need to apply for and pay for (normally a little over 1,000 kronor a month). In addition, a child is not normally eligible for fritids if both parents are not either working or studying. 

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