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Lessons from Sweden, Summary,
Gunnel Selling-Norell, Principal 'Rektor', Härnösand Sweden

The Swedish School System

• All education throughout the public school system is free.
• There is usually no charge for students or their parents for teaching materials, school meals, health services or transport.

The Education Act

• According to the Swedish Education Act all children and youths shall have equal access to education.
• All children shall enjoy this regardless of gender, where they live, or depending of social or economic factors.

Co-operation with the homes

The Education Act states that the education shall...

"provide the pupils with knowledge and in co-operation with the homes, promote their harmonious development into responsible human beings and members of the community."

New curriculum 1994

• From the autumn of 1994 there is a new nationally approved curriculum for the pre-school class and compulsory school.
• The leisure-time centre shall also follow the curriculum as far as possible.
• The curriculum shall promote the integration between pre-school class, compulsory school and leisure-time centre.

Educational content

The Swedish school system is based on the overall view that the child's/pupil's development and learning needs to bring together health care, social care, fostering and teaching.

Play

• Play has always been central to Swedish child care.
• Nowadays it is even included in the national curriculum for compulsory schools.
• Playing games helps the child to understand the world around it, to develop it’s imagination and creative powers and to cooperate with others.

Responsibility and governance

• Within the objectives and framework, established by Government and Parliament, the individual municipally may determine how its schools are to be run.
• A local school plan describing the funding, organization, development and evaluation of school activities shall be adopted.

School curriculum

• The national curriculum
• The national objectives
• The local school plan (municipality)
• The local work plan (each pre-school and school)
• The principal of each school draws up a local work plan every year in consultation with the school’s teachers and other personal

Pre-school class

• The pre-school class is a non-compulsory form of education within the public school system.
• Municipalities have an obligation to offer children a place in a pre-school class from the autumn term of the year the child turns 6 and until the child starts compulsory school.
• The pre-school class is a part of the public school system and shall be regarded as education in the same sense as other types of schools.
• The program shall have a principal in charge and shall be included in the municipality’s local school plan.

Curriculum

The education given in the pre-school class shall stimulate the learning and development of each child...

and...

lay the foundations for continued schooling.

The Leisure-time centre

• The task of childcare for school children is to complement the school, both from a time- and content standpoint, and to offer the child a meaningful recreation and support in itself.
• The curriculum for pre-school class and compulsory school shall be used as much as possible by leisure-time centres.
• The leisure-time centre provides for children whose parents are in gainful employment or are studying during the time the child is not in school (mornings, afternoons and during holidays).
• Leisure-time centres are open all year round (except for 4 weeks in the summer).
• Daily opening hours are varied to fit in with parents’ schedules (6:30 am – 6:30 pm).

Collaboration

• Policy-makers have declared their intention to bring schools and leisure-time centres closer together...
• and today most leisure-time centres collaborate with schools in the area to a greater or lesser degree.
• In my school to a greater degree.

School District: an example

Pre-school 1-5 years 66 children	Pre-school 1-5 years 66 children	Pre-school 1-5 years 30 children	Pre-school allergic children 1-5 years 21 children
School Pre-school classes 6 years 1-6th grade compulsary school 7-12 years Leisure-time centres/clubs
School 7-9th grade compulsary school 13-16 years

Organization: An example

School
Pre-school class 1-3rd grade Leisure-time centre	Pre-school class 1-3rd grade Leisure-time centre
4-6th grade Leisure-time club
7-9th grade

Teamwork

Pre-school	Pre-school
Team 1 Pre-school class/pre-school teacher 1st – 3rd grade/teachers Leisure-time centre/pedagogues	Team 2 Pre-school class/pre-school teacher 1 st – 3rd grade/teachers Leisure-time centre/pedagogues
Team 3 4th – 6th grade/teachers Leisure-time clubs/pedagogues

A school day

Co-operation

• Forms of co-operation between the pre-school class, the school and the leisure-time centres shall be developed in order to enrich each pupil’s all-around development and learning.
• Co-operation shall be based on the national and local goals, as well as the guide lines applicable to the different activities.

Together

We will create better possibilities for evaluation

* ...learning enviroments/learning from each other
* ...different ways of teaching/pedagogic ideas
* ...better understanding between education and practice
* ...comprehensive view of the child

The Härnösand website (in Swedish) is available at: http://www1.harnosand.se/brannan.