Comparing Education Systems

In the Swedish education system the school schedule is more similar to college or university. Neither the students or the teacher have the same lessons every day and there are not set hours that the teachers or students are in school on any given day. For example, one of my teachers Hanna begins her first lesson on Monday at 9:00, has only one other lesson in the afternoon, and is finished at 2:10. Tuesday however begins at 9:20 but she has four lessons today, so she is not finished until 4:00. In total, each teacher at Birgittaskolan teaches at least 25 hours per week but they are expected to spend 35-45 hours working either at school or at home outside of class. While it is nice to have large breaks, I enjoy that in the U.S., I teach the same lesson to all students and my lesson has the chance to improve and adapt throughout the school day. The benefit of the Swedish school schedule is that absences do not affect students in falling behind nearly as much because they are not going to every class every day. If they are sick for even an entire week, they only miss about two class meetings per course. Since the teachers have large breaks throughout their day, there is much more opportunity for students to meet with their teachers to catch up on anything they missed. 

Again, the educational requirements in Swedish Gymnasiums are more like what is needed in college. This is largely in part due to the fact that Gymnasium, or high school, is not legally required in Sweden. In Sweden students are only required to attend school until the age of 13 or 14 whereas in America, students cannot make this choice until the age of 18. For this reason, schooling beyond this age is used to set students up for what they want to do with their lives. When they come to Gymnasium, they apply to a program. This could be a vocational program, such as carpentry, in which the student is only required to take one more year of English and their courses are chosen based on what is best suited for their pathway such as mathematics and work release courses. If a student plans to attend university, they will take three more years of English and Swedish along with history, economics, philosophy and social studies classes. 

This is something I think would be quite beneficial for American schools. While I do not think we should alter our legal age required for education, I do think allowing students to consider their future careers in what courses they are required to take would be extremely beneficial and would allow students to make the most of their education. Many students back home come to mind when I think about how this might work in our local schools. I know a large group of students, particularly male students, that know their future is joining the family farming business or learning a trade such as welding or electricity. Instead of requiring these students to take four years of English and math, perhaps their senior year of high school could be solely dedicated to classes that pertain to their future careers and portions of their day could be a part of  work release program like they have here in Sweden.  

As a teacher, one of the most unique aspects of the Swedish schools is their classroom situation. In the United States, a teacher's classroom is like their sanctuary. It is where they spend time preparing for their lessons and it is often decorated in a way that reflects their passion for the subject area they teach. In Sweden, the classrooms do not belong to any particular teacher. Similar to professors at the university level, many teachers take turns teaching in the various classrooms so you will notice that the walls are plain and undecorated. Instead of having a classroom as a home base, teachers share an office with their department. Each teacher has a desk or kind of cubicle area in the office where they keep their materials and personal items.