[ad_1]
In an email to the students’ parents, the principal of Jensen Primary School in Gothenburg wrote that the school has made “a journey to the top.” Four years ago, 90 percent of the school’s students came from vulnerable areas, the principal wrote. Today, 90 percent of the students come from the local area.
“Jensen is not for everyone, but if you share our opinion on what is important, then you generally feel very comfortable here,” the director concluded in his email. The school has also received attention for having a dress code that contains a deterrent to things that may be associated with crime or exclusion. Some examples are soft pants and a stomach pouch, also called a pelvic pouch.
Minister of Education Anna Ekström says she, like some parents of students at the school, was upset when she read the wording of the principal’s email.
– I ask them the same questions as them – do they only want children from “nice families”? Do you want to attract students who need a bit of support and whose teaching costs the school a bit and therefore generate big profits for the school owners?
How should you, as a manager, ensure that certain students are not excluded?
– We have a monitoring system for Swedish schools. But there is also a great responsibility for everyone who has earned the trust of society to run a school in Sweden. That responsibility includes welcoming all students and not behaving in such a way that some feel unwelcome.
Jensen Education primary school principal Mats Rosén writes to DN that it is not true that the school does not want students from exclusion zones, and that it is a shame someone perceives it that way.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
The minister says that the queuing system applied by some independent schools contributes to segregation. This is done, for example, by disadvantaging students who are born at the end of the year and students whose parents have little knowledge of how school choice works.
– A queuing system consists of asking for a segregated school. I don’t think it should be allowed as a selection tool.
Read more: School companies in Gothenburg attract with uniform and discipline
Anna Ekström wants Introduce a common admissions system for municipal and independent schools, to give all students an equal opportunity to be admitted.
– If we start to have schools in Sweden where children with a certain education, a certain background or who live in certain districts do not feel welcome, then we have lost that school is actually a way of keeping Sweden together. To meet and make friends.
What room should there be for differences between schools?
– If schools want to use different pedagogical methods, of course they must follow our laws and rules in Sweden. There is clear research showing that children feel good about a school with study peace and clear and distinct rules about what to learn. All children have the right to this, all schools must be responsible for that, he says.
