How Do They Teach in Sweden? – A Report from a Swedish Pre-school
Anna Ćwidak, Poland
Anna Ćwidak is a student of Early Education with English at the University of Gdansk, Poland. During her Erasmus Student Exchange at Linkoping University in Sweden she has completed a Teaching Practice course that gave her opportunity to spend two months at a Swedish primary school observing and organising activities for preschool class.
E-mail: aniacwidak@hotmail.com
Menu
Studying in Sweden
The school
Daily routine
Weekly activities
Extracurricular events
Different countries, different schools
My new experience
References
Coming to Sweden to spend here the whole semester studying at Linköping University I had no idea on how Swedish school system works. My ignorance only intensified my curiosity. How are the Swedish schools different from what I know from Poland? Are they similar to what I remember from my Comenius Assistantship in Denmark? Are Swedish children really brought up in a stress-free way? How does it work at schools? These and many other questions were floating around in my head.
From the very beginning of my staying in Linköping I was looking for an opportunity to visit any Swedish school or kindergarten. The University organised for foreign students some study visits to exemplary schools but they were short and could give us only a vague idea on how the ordinary Swedish schools work. To my surprise, being an exchange student in Sweden doesn’t necessary mean that you will have many opportunities to interact with Swedes, to experience their culture or to learn language. Foreign students are offered courses in English, student district is full of people from all parts of the world and Swedish calm and quiet students seem to be minority within this diverse and colourful cultural mixture.
I was really pleased to find that it is possible to go on an ordinary practice to a Swedish school. There I was finally surrounded by the Swedes. I could learn about their culture, traditions and, hopefully, finally find the answers to all these questions I have brought with me to Sweden.
In this report I am trying both describe my experience from the practice at Swedish primary school and compare it with what I know about Polish schooling.
Vreta Kloster Skola is a village school placed in Berg, just 10 km from Linköping, the major city of Swedish county Östergotland.
The school looks like most of the Swedish schools look like. It consists of a few separate buildings, apart from the main building all one-storey. In the main building there are all the offices, staffrooms, canteen, library, workshops and specialised classrooms (ex. music room, science room, computer room, sewing workshop, carpentry workshop). In this building some grades have their classrooms. In separate smaller buildings we can find 6th-graders, 1st-graders and Preschool classes. There is also a separate sport complex with a gym and all the facilities that is common for the whole school.
During breaks all the pupils spend their time outside. As there is a lot of space around, sport fields and playgrounds are never crowded. Pupils can use sport equipment that belongs to school. I like the way how it is lent to the students for breaks. Children are obliged to put something important or valuable to them in pledge. That usually protects balls and skipping ropes from getting lost. They have places to practice floorball, football, basketball and skateboarding tricks. The youngest prefer playing on the swings or in the sandpit, skipping rope or climbing the adventure playground.
School grounds are fenced but children know that they are not allowed to walk away too far from the school. Spending time outdoor is really beneficial for pupils. They not only stay healthier but also revitalise better during the breaks spent outside to learn easier during lessons. Bad weather is not the obstacle and children can always play outside wearing waterproof clothes that they keep in the changing room.
For me school seems well equipped with everything one can need to teach. There are computers in every classroom, projectors, video and DVD sets to be shared among the teachers. Copying machines and printers are just waiting to be used to improve lessons and let the teachers use their new ideas. School’s storage is full of different art materials and educational tools. Classrooms are also full of stimulating games, books, toys and art materials. Children often just take paper and crayons and draw during their free time at school.
There are approximately 290 pupils in the Vreta Kloster Skola. The considerable number of teachers makes it possible to give each student an individual help and support. The age of the pupils is from 6 till 13-years-old. There are some with a mild impairment and these got an individual tuition apart from normal lessons. School buildings are adapted to suit the needs of disabled. Students with difficulties in learning and problems with concentration meet psychologist and supporting teachers as well. There are two classes at each grade level with approximately 20 pupils each.
The Preschool Classes where my Teaching Practice took place occupy the separate bungalow close to the main school building. It consists of two bigger classrooms: one for Förskola A and the other one for Förskola B, smaller art rooms attached to main classrooms, common hall with cloakroom and toilets. Each classroom is divided into different play and working areas. You can easily feel the link with the kindergarten looking at the cosy corner with doll house or the other with building blocks and games. At the same time pupils have the place to work in groups at the tables and a lot of space for the daily gatherings in the circle in the middle of the classroom. To have a little bit of privacy they can rest on a sofa in the reading corner or move to the art room that is always peaceful and quiet. As usual in the preschool classroom there are lots of children’s works hanging on the walls. There is a computer in the classroom (unfortunately I’ve never seen it on).
There are two teachers in each of two preschool classes. That enables them to divide class of 18 children into two smaller groups (‘red’ and ‘blue’ group). However, pupils usually work together within the classroom. The division is important for the P.E. lessons when one group from F. A and one from F. B are meeting at the gym to play together. Teachers share responsibilities in the class. The situation when one of them cannot be at school is usually not a big problem and one teacher alone can also easily deal with the group of 18 pupils.
The day in F. B class usually starts with the gathering in the circle. Children sing a song ‘I’m Saying Good Morning to You...’ As I have been there on practice and they were all very excited because I couldn’t speak Swedish, pupils themselves asked the teacher to translate their morning song into English so that we could sing together. Another routine is the change of the date on the calendar. They have a stick-on numbers, names of the days and months that are to be changed every day. One of the students is changing the date and then all are supposed to say it aloud (ex. ‘Today is Monday, the 15th of May 2008 and it is spring’). Teacher is also checking the name days and that is usually a good introduction to the talk because children are eager to tell everyone about friends and relatives whose name day is that day.
What I really liked about these morning gatherings is that every child has the opportunity to speak her/his mind, to share thoughts, experiences, and impressions. Pupils are learning how to speak in public; they are tightening contacts within the class. As teachers know how important these skills are for students they are more facilitators than leaders of the discussion. Teacher presents the plan of the day that is depicted on the stick-on pictures arranged in order on the whiteboard.
Then there is time for the proper learning or art activities. They differ every day although there can be found a kind of weekly routine in these activities. When it is time for break, children are taking out fruits they took from home as a healthy snack. They are eating while teacher reads a short story or a chapter of the book. That part of the day is called ‘Frukt och Saga’(‘Fruit and Story’). After that they are free to go and play outside.
To gather children back in the classroom they use an instrument with small bells. Pupils recognise the sound. At the same time this routine prevents them from leaving the school’s grounds because then they won’t be able to hear the signal. After the break they spend some time working with exercise books that are aimed to prepare pupils to gain skills of writing and reading in the first grade.
Then both the preschool classes go to the school canteen to eat lunch. It is something new to me because children really rarely eat meals at Polish schools. What amazed me the most is that here in Sweden food served for lunch is very healthy. Pupils can choose from different types of vegetables, salads and fruits. There is only water and milk to drink. They are also learning how to behave at the table, how to use fork and knife and how to clean tables after themselves. Lunch is not only the time devoted to filling students’ stomachs but also so called school of good behaviour and basic social skills.
There is a longer break after lunch after which not much time is left to the end of the school day. Then pupils are usually continuing work with the exercise books or just play games. At the end of the day there is again a gathering in the circle. They sing a ‘Good Bye’ song and check if the day plan has been completed. Sometimes teacher asks students what they have learnt during that day. Sometimes she distributes letters to parents. Not all the children are going home that early. Some of them are joining a kind of afterschool club where they can play more freely.
Teachers at Vreta Kloster Skola work in teams. The team responsible for preschool classes are not only the four main teachers but also school pedagogue, speech therapist and teachers from afterschool club. Every week they meet to discuss pupils’ problems, to support each other and share ideas. Then, with a general plan of the week, they plan the work in F. A and F. B individually. As every Friday children get letters to their parents with information about the coming week, all the activities should be planed in advance. There is, however, the outline for the week plan that teachers usually follow.
Monday is the day of outdoor activities. There are two places, one can call them orchards or pastures, where children can go and play freely and safely. They have there trees to climb, rolling landscape, bushes and grass to play in. The area is fenced but even without that children don’t go far away. During such an outdoor day they are observing nature, talking about ecology and sometimes making some art. When it is time for a break, they eat fruits on the fresh air and then are back to school for lunch, after which they follow ordinary daily routine.
On Tuesday children sing and have some music education. Usually they meet a music teacher in the main school building in the music room. There they can try to play various instruments and learn to sing in different environment that is quite exciting for children.
Wednesdays and Fridays look more or less the same. In the morning half of F. B has P.E. lesson at the gym. There they are supposed to change clothes into gymnastic suits. They are playing games and doing some exercise. When the lesson is coming to an end there is some time for relax with calm music. After the activities all the children are taking shower (that wouldn’t be so obvious in my home country). At the same time children staying in the classroom learn maths. Maths in Swedish preschool class means rather colouring objects, distinguishing shapes and playing with counting points.
On Fridays time between lunch and the end of the day is devoted to some pleasures. It can be watching a video or playing the game that all the children like. During my practice we were watching ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and I observed that children were a little bit bored. That means teachers should never ‘just’ show a video, but rather create a situation when watching is a kind of game, when children have tasks to complete or know that they will be talking about what they have seen.
Another weekly routine, that was both unexpected and very interesting to me, is massage. On Thursdays pupils massage each other. The teacher pairs the children and gives each pair a cushion and a massage ball (the one with blunt spikes). Then she turns on a relaxing music and one child is massaging the other laying on the cushion rolling the ball gently on the friend’s body. After a few minutes there is a change in pairs and the entire time teacher reminds the children to be gentle and careful. The goal of such an activity is to eliminate violence from schools. ‘How could they hit or beat someone who they’ve just touched that gentle and with care?’ my mentor asked me. And that is true, they cannot. Of course, boys are sometimes fighting but then one could see that it is more a sport, a kind of competition, than an aggressive behaviour.
During these 20 days of my teaching practice I had the opportunity to participate in the whole range of special events and extracurricular activities prepared for children. I would like to mention a few that were the most new and surprising to me.
The most interesting visit was from the school’s Anti-mobbing Group. I have never seen anything like that in Poland so I was very interested in that meeting. Children were talking with the therapist about friendship, relationships and their feelings associated with these. They have learnt how not to hurt other’s feelings. The therapist used plush rabbits to illustrate the stories she told the children. That was a good way to encourage pupils to speak their minds.
Another important event I would like to mention, in fact the whole process that took place during my practice in Vreta Kloster Skola, was preparing children for the changes they would face the coming year. First of all children from F. B. are going to move to the 1st-graders building and have a new teacher. To make it easier for them a visits of the new teacher are organised. That enables both the teacher and students to prepare for the change, gives them time to learn each other names and build a relationship even before the start of the school year.
However, much more surprising for me was the fact that all the preschool teachers were visiting kindergartens to get to know students coming to school in August. They had one day off at Vreta Kloster Skola and visited all the kindergartens that children coming to the school are now attending to. They were talking to them, learning names and talking with kindergarten teachers about problems that can occur later with the children. They organised also a meeting with parents to tell them about their plans for the next year, goals and encourage them to cooperation.
That was not all because soon the group of kindergarten children visited the preschool. Again preschool teachers had the opportunity to talk with children they are going to handle from August. For me all that adaptational process was really amazing. It seems to be beneficial both for students and teachers and I can imagine that they will be well prepared and looking for without fear to the start of the new school year.
At the first glance Polish and Swedish preschools look quite similar. The school day starts at 8:00 and ends at 13:00. However, earlier in the mornings and later in the evenings preschools provides day-care centres for pupils. Children can find in the classroom equipment and toys that is both playful and educational. Learning mainly consists of preparing to acquire skills of reading and writing. It is advised to develop pupils’ social skills and create the atmosphere that will support each child’s natural development. Classes cannot be too big and there should be enough qualified teachers to take care of pupils. In general, the idea of preschool education is similar al over the Europe and Polish system has the same origins as the Swedish one. Nevertheless, when we look closer at these two systems we can find a few differences that make them in some ways less or more formal in the two countries.
Age groups and organization
As it is stated in Polish law, one year of preschool class is compulsory for all 6-years-olds. Children can attend to the state governed or private kindergartens from the age of three. (In some cities and towns day-care centres for 1-3-years-olds can be found but they are not supervised by the Ministry of Education). Preparatory class for 6-years-olds can be organised as the last year of kindergarten or so called ‘0’ grade at primary school.
I was surprised to find that in Sweden compulsory education starts from the age of 7. However, statistics showed me that the majority of parents send their children to day-care centres or schools at the age of 6. The variety of preschool activities enables parents to choose the best solution for their children. It is good that they have the possibility to decide if they want to send children directly to school, to kindergarten or to spend more time with them in family day-care centres(The Education System in Sweden, pp.40).
The economical reasons are probably influencing parents’ choices. In Poland all the children aged 5 and 6 are provided with preschool education for at least 5 hours a day (25 a week) completely for free. However, meals and most of the extracurricular activities (as English lessons that can be found now in the majority of preschools and kindergartens) are to be paid extra (The Education System in Poland, pp. 27). In Sweden only 15 hours a week are financed by the government (Preschool Class)and I’ve heard that because of financial difficulties a lot of parents decide to organize family day-care homes or relay on au-pairs and nannies.
I was surprised that English is not taught in Sweden until 3rd grade. However, children exposed to the language at TV and travelling abroad with their parents know quite many words and common phrases.
Curriculum
I find it different in Poland and in Sweden how curricula are put into practice. In my home country teachers seem to be stressed out fulfilling the directions of the National Curriculum. Here in Sweden I found their work much more relaxed. Of course there are official documents regulating teachers’ duties and responsibilities but they have enough freedom left to use their own ideas and adapt the way of teaching to the pupils’ individual needs. I like it very much that, unlike Polish teachers, they don’t need to plan the whole school year in advance but are able to verify any plans every week and use new ideas whenever they want to do so.
On the other hand, I find the lack of clear structure and consequences in some things they were doing. In Poland every preschool is said to use a particular teaching method or its own innovative programme. Children are learning more and there is not as much time left for playing freely at school. In Vreta Kloster Skola pupils are doing some exercises in their student’s books and they keep a kind of ‘learning portfolio’ but for me everything seemed to be too easy for them and the pace was too slow.
Upbringing
Coming back to Poland and thinking about my future career as a teacher I am also thinking about the upbringing in general here in Sweden. How does it look in families that children are behaving so well while at school? Is the silence a kind of national characteristic or Swedes are taught to be silent in certain situations? Is it only the well-being and social support or rather Swedes’ mentality that makes them so different from Poles and other European nations?
It can be hard to imagine but a lot of Polish pupils are aggressive, rude, have problems with concentration, fight, swear and can destroy even the most peaceful atmosphere in the classroom. Sometimes school is like a battlefield: teachers are trying to defeat the naughtiest pupils, to tame them and make sit quietly for a moment so that others can learn in peace.
In Sweden children seem to like school. It is a nice, peaceful and safe place. They are given a lot of freedom and from the preschool class on can feel responsible for their own education. They take this responsibility unexpectedly seriously. It cannot be only the way how kindergartens and schools work. There must be something within families and society that makes children so different from Polish ones.
I observed the way they behave outside the school or even outside the school’s playgrounds during various outdoor activities. I cannot imagine Polish teacher letting children play just a few meters from the canal or near to the road. It would be considered too dangerous and risky. As pupils are wild they cannot be trusted and there is a strong belief in Poland that school should protect them from any injuries and accidents. Swedish children were climbing trees, playing with sticks in the water, crossing the busy road on their way to the forest. It was something usual for them and all knew how to behave. There was no running, fighting or pushing when it was time to concentrate on safety of the group. Children were aware of the borders and rarely were trying to cross them. They are very self-responsible and that must make life easier both for teachers and parents.
The parents’ attitude is also very different from what you can observe in Polish schools. They have no power, or at least it is not common, to interfere into teachers work. What is more they are welcome to participate in their children’s school life. I saw some of them spending a school day in preschool just to accompany the child in that very important experience that schooling is.
How has the practice changed me? I feel much more confident as a teacher after these 20 days at school. My previous Comenius Assistantship gave me some knowledge on teaching children who speak neither English nor Polish. I had had already a lot of ideas coming to the Swedish classroom for the first time. However, during my staying in Denmark I was avoiding lessons with lover grades that haven’t started learning English yet. Here, on the contrary, I was staying with a preschool class that so far had no formal contact with any foreign language.
What surprised me at my first day of my practice, pupils, unlike Danish or Polish children, were very confident and even ones who knew only a few English words (‘Hello’, ‘Bye’, ‘Thank you’ and numbers) were trying to greet me or ask me some questions. That gave me courage to introduce some English words during everyday activities at school. As my knowledge of Swedish increased during my practice after a few weeks I didn’t need much translation of what children wanted to tell me but some of them were still trying to talk to me in English.
What I see from my practice abroad is that it can be almost as much beneficial for pupils as for teachers and teachers-to-be. In my future work, if I would ever work with children, I will try to give them an opportunity to meet people from different countries. For Swedish pupils it can be quite obvious that people looking different and speaking other languages are their neighbours but in homogenous Poland children meet foreigners really rarely. There are a lot of possibilities to change it. Apart from Comenius Programme and all the national initiatives I would now encourage everybody to just write to the teachers from other countries asking them if they are interested in cooperation.
As I mentioned I came to Vreta Kloster Skola with my own ideas I wanted to try out. Happily, my mentor was as enthusiastic as me and she let me do quite a lot of things. I had the opportunity to realise my own projects from the idea to the end. Of course I made some mistakes: once children were too tired, once the task was too difficult and sophisticated. Now I know which actions I should avoid in the future and how to better plan my lessons.
Observing the work of my mentor and other teachers was also very inspiring. There are hundreds of ideas that I have in my mind and I hope I will have the chance to use them once in my future work. These are mainly new games, songs, ideas for scientific experiments and art projects.
However, there were a few things that I felt uneasy about, at lest at the beginning. Unlike in the Polish preschool here children are not learning much. Most of the time at school is devoted to playing around. Of course at that time pupils are learning as well, but I have the feeling they are mature enough to work on harder and more complex tasks. At least Polish children are able and they do that.
As Swedish pupils are playing freely for the most time there are not many things teachers can be involved in. If not all the creative ideas buzzing in my head I would be just bored after a few hours of my practice. It is neither good nor bad. It is just totally different. Swedish teachers could let the children play outside on the playground without almost any supervision. Pupils used to the fact are just so self-responsible that they play safely. They are also used to invent their own games and find interesting activities for themselves. During my whole practice I haven’t seen any child bored. What I remember from Poland are busy teachers inventing many various activities and exercises to keep children absorbed all the time.
The teaching practice opened my mind in some new directions. It was the best opportunity for me to get to know Swedes, not only Swedish university students but also the school employees, children and their parents. I think I noticed much more things than I managed to mention in that report.
I really appreciate the chance that I was given, the possibility to spend so much time in Swedish school and be a part of it. My practice in Vreta Kloster Skola will be one of the most important experiences I’ll take home with me from Linköping. I will keep it together with all the good memories from Sweden.
The Education System in Poland, 2005/06, European Commission:
www.eurydice.org/ressources/eurydice/eurybase/pdf/0_integral/PL_EN.pdf
The Education System in Sweden, 2006/07, European Commission:
www.eurydice.org/ressources/eurydice/eurybase/pdf/0_integral/SE_EN.pdf
Preschool Class, Swedish National Agency for Education:
www.skolverket.se/content/1/c4/09/51/en_forskoleklass.pdf
www.linkoping.se/InformationOm/Utbildning/grundskola/LjungsbroVreta/verksamheter/grundskolor/Vreta/index.htm
Please check the Methodology and Language for Kindergarten Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the From Teaching to Training course at Pilgrims website.
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