Research report
Stockholm 2007. 04. 10.14.
In the framework of the project ’Nem halat, hálót’ (Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime) ESF Equal Programme a group of 14 Hungarians visited Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden between 10-14th April 2007.
The members of the group (some teachers and the principal of Green Rooster Líceum, as well as the head of the foundation, the associates from the Independent Pedagogical Institute Budapest, the educational expert and the coordinator for the programme) have been working together on the realisation of the project mentioned for two years.
The goal of the academic trip and research was to get a picture of some educational and social institutes and organisations dealing with problematic children and youth in ways different from those used in traditional organisations.
They were interested in:
- the characteristics of the Swedish educational system
- the appearance of children/youth considered problematic, ’borderline’, ’troublesome’
- the way these children/youth are placed in the education system – integration, segregation, special care etc.
- connections between the social/mental caring system and these schools
- relations between labour market and the schools
- the ways schools adopt themselves to the special needs of these young people
- the bonds and freedom the institutes and their associates have
- mentoring, providing personal help
reasons
methods and technics
the relationship between the reasons and the methods
- The connections among the institutes - networking
Other questions came up, such as:
To what extent do these organisations match the needs of the ’problematic’ students.
In what way do these organisations define the special characteristics of these students.
In order to match the special needs, what kind of skills (expertise, structure, contents, institutional framework, innovations) do these schools involve?
The group focused mostly on the possible ways, institutional or any other forms presented by these schools to help drop-out or poorly performing students get a new, a ’second chance’.
Before going into detail over these questions and our experiences, let’s have a look at Sweden and her capital city.
About Sweden, Stockholm and the Swedish education system
When coming to talk about Sweden, the first ideas crossing one’s mind are the ’rigorous climate’, ’kingdom’, and of course, Alfred Nobel, but we also associate the country with ’well being’ of the people.
Sweden was not affected by the Napoleonic wars, nor was it involved in either of the world wars, though as an independent country exported iron ore to the countries involved.
Sweden, its territory being five times as big as Hungary, but inhabited by ’only’ nine million people, is considered a place where the expected life span is one of the longest in the world, 80,5 years on the average. The country is also known as a target country for immigration, which means majorities being present in huge numbers, including war refugees from the former Yugoslavia, guest workers or refugees from certain Arab countries, as well as Turkey and Greece.
For us, it is of great importance to see how these facts affect the educational system.
The Swedish educational system containing compulsory and non-compulsory institutional elements, is clearly structured from the level of school-preparatory courses up to universities.
The institutions are mostly maintained by the state, but we can find private schools, too. The objectives, guidelines and curriculum in the national education are determined by the government and the parliament. The schools are controlled every three years by the National Educational Office which makes a report to the Parliament and the government.
Education is free of charge for the students at all levels, including universities. Nobody pays for the course books and other devices, school meals, transportation, nor the medical care.
The system lacks the so called ’kindergartens’, but instead, there are family-like institutions for the kids up to the age of five.
Before school, children can go to preparatory classes, which is non-compulsory but recommended.
Children of ages 7-16 go to the compulsory school. There are special schools for blind and hard-of-hearing students, where they can acquire the same knowledge as in the normal schools in a one-year-longer learning time span (10 years).
Youth with learning disabilities are allowed to enjoy compulsory schooling up to the age of 19 (they can go to coprehensive schools, and in the case of having more serious difficulties they go to the so called ’training schools’).
Normally, over the age of 16 students can decide to join the upper secondary school which is a non-compulsory three-year-long department offering two courses for studying:
- the higher-level course prepares students for Universitiy studies in the domains of social and natural sciences.
- the other is a vocational course
but there are ’mixed’ classes as well.
The curriculum in the upper secondary school contains elements from the national programme, from the school’s own programme, and individually developed personal programmes.
There are 17 national programmes for upper secondary schools to choose from, each of them including the eight core subjects (Swedish, English, mathematics, arts, physical and health education, natural sciences, social sciences, religion).
There are special upper institutions for people with learning disabilities over the age of 16. For them, the upper secondary school lasts for 4 years, and contains less theoretical elements than the normal school, it mainly focuses on professional knowledge.
After upper secondary school students can join an university or college. It is remarkable that all the post-graduate studies at the universities are free of charge irrespective of the number of degrees received beforehand.
Adult education has its own scenes in the system. Folk-high schools for example provide secondary level training, or there are the permanent language courses for the new immigrants, and other special institutes matching the needs of those having learning disabilities, as well as one-year-long training programmes offered after secondary school.
Now that we have looked at the Swedish education system let’s recall what we experienced in the places we visited.
First let’s get acquainted with Nacka Gymnasium in Stockholm. We were guided by Ms Monica Erbo who first gave a picture of the Swedish educational system and then she spoke about the mission of their school.
Nacka Gymnasium was built in 1980, and is located in Nacka Municipality (Nacka Kommun). This part of the city is uniquely rich in green areas with groves, parklands and villas in the neighbourhood, and with a big conservation area beyond that.
The main building of the school is huge, having more wings and other inner buildings. There are benches, tables outside, with a lot of students enjoying the early spring sun.
Nacka Gymnasium takes in 16-19 year-old students, 1900 in number, and a 180 staff people. It is maintained by the local municipality. The principal and all the staff are public servants. The school’s three departments operate autonomously, headed by the three deputy directors.
The different departments of the school are directed through the teachers’ teams. The educators discuss their problems and working tasks in these teams, and the team managers are to represent and assert their professional needs in the managerial meetings. There are teams having stronger and weaker positions.
The training courses in the three educational departments (International profile, Sports, Information-communication technology and arts) share a common evaluation system: the core subjects, the special subjects and the optional individual subjects as well as the project work in all three departments are worth the same amount of credits and time units.
We observed that within each department the training was adapted to and differentiated according to the students’ start-up state, their area of interest and their plans. Different individual needs are considered with full particulars in the trainings, leaving place for personal mentoring, and developmental work in the classes. And this is especially important for the youth with learning disabilities. In the school there is a class, a department and organisation specialized for this type of work (see later).
However, the school seems to be tending to become an elite school, some teachers say. It is certain, that much greater amount of money is spent on innovations in areas supporting this tendency than in others. For instance, the musical studio seems to be the best-equipped part of the school, and also the school choir takes a very important part in the school life. Nevertheless, we can say, what you need, you have in this school.
Students are different in many ways. And just like they live next to each other in the same city, they go to the same school as well, no matter where they came from, what colour of their skin is, and what kind of cultural background they have. It sounds simple, but it is not. It is a result of hard effort in realization of multicultural education, it is being permanently aware of the educational objectives. We infer that this school takes in ’problematic’ student in a higher rate than other secondary schools, and that is a deliberate policy on the part of the management of the school
From the 17 national programmes, the school is running seven ones (construction, electrical engineering, business and administration, handicraft, natural sciences, social sciences, technical studies). The school is financially supported through a ’quota system’, similarly to the Hungarian schools. The normative share for a student in Sweden is six time as much as in Hungary. In the case of students with specific needs the support going to the institute is four times the basic quota. Students do not pay for education. The school has shown a considerably dynamic progress during the last ten years. The principal referred to her lobbying effort that has resulted in the realisation of an extra growth.
President Ms Helen Bejmar was our guide through the building. She talked about the period of reconstruction 10 years before and the ways they try to prevent students from putting graffities on the walls: they use graffity technique for making pictures that can be displayed on the walls.
In the teachers’ room we noticed a block of boxes belonging to the teaching staff. Part of the teachers’ section was a spacious meeting room, and we also discovered small computer rooms where they can work separately.
There are rooms with computers at the students’ disposal, too. The students’ groups have separate kitchens and resting rooms as well. There are computer rooms everywhere in the building so that the students can work or play any time. During our visit we saw students sitting at desks working on their individual tasks. The school library is similarly well equipped with computers and nice corners for reading.
Neither getting around nor reviewing the building was easy in the gymnasium. But what really surprised us was the way our hostess expressed her desire to have more room complaining about her group having been permanently taken to different rooms every year.
You can be amazed at the school’s infrastructure, the quantity and quality of fittings and all the equipment. In the handicraft workshops you can find electrical potter’s wheels, kilns, movable desks, a lot of materials to work with. In the musical studio there are synthesizers providing an opportunity for students to make music, not to mention the adjoining room where recording appliances are at their disposal and also the specific room for singers. We saw at least ten electric guitars put against the wall. The school theatre can take in approximately 50-60 people, and it is also well fitted with all the necessary lighting and technical devices, a perfect place for the student actors/actresses to practise. The performances are held in another building in the great hall.
Complex art lesson in Nacka Gymnasium
Having lunch in the canteen, we could also experience, that students could serve themselves as much as they wanted. There is no hungry teenager and there’s no waste of food. What exists: smorgasboard and atmosphere like in a restaurant.
In the Sweden education system there’s a clear objective: every student should pass the final exam at least from three subjects: English, Sweden and mathematics. Preparation for the exam takes 3 years in the grammar school, which is not compulsory. In the grammar school there are many different options for students. They can learn profession, develop their skills and talents, and also specially designed individual and group programs help their integration. Quite surprisingly nearly everybody could speak English. We could even have a discussion in English with students with learning difficulties.
Students with high school achievements have grater opportunities to continue their studies on a University of good reputation. However, the final exam is valid, even if it is full of bad marks, it is possible to utilize it successfully, if students learn a profession, which is popular on the labour market as well.
Places of training courses in Nacka Gymnasium
Ilona Farago, one of the teachers of the individual program informed us about her work here. IP means also to immerse in learning a profession and learning with special support. Thus, those students who cannot fulfil the requirements, can learn in separate groups. During the IP, the personal agreements, the mentoring system and „Learning Centre” can help their development.
In the school, their is a group of Aspergers syndrome children. Students with learning difficulties learn jobs to do around the house, in order to live independently later. Children of immigrant parents can learn Swedish language and get to know the culture of Sweden till the time they are able to join into mainstream education.
Teacher of the IP program has a permanent contact with labour market. The municipality- cooperating with the school – provides accommodation for socially handicapped students. (See later: Youth and care)
The Nacka Gymnasium is actually a huge educational institute, which performs the duties of many other institutes.