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On Thursday, about 50 preschool students from Uppsala University will undertake an internship, several of them trembling at the risk of contagion.
They want the internship to be moved to the spring semester, which is not relevant according to the director of studies Jörgen Mattlar.
– It’s not something we do in the blink of an eye, he says.
Photo: Private
Frida Hörnsten, 20 years old.
Frida Hörnsten, 20, will have to take two different commuter trains and a bus to go from Uppsala to the preschool in Sigtuna in Stockholm County for the next ten weeks. But even if she could have taken the car, she doesn’t think it’s time for her and her classmates to be in a workplace under the prevailing circumstances. The spread of covid-19 is spreading rapidly in the area and she does not want to contribute to it increasing further.
– I’m very nervous about the whole thing. This involves risks. Partly for us as students, but also for our peers on public transportation and preschoolers. Children, parents and staff. It would be terrible to get sick, but being the reason someone else gets sick also feels very uncomfortable, he says.
“Distinguish between people and people”
She, like several others in the program, has asked those responsible to postpone the internship for a semester. Without result.
– We have received the response from the director that we do not understand how difficult it is to move the courses. But it is obvious that it is possible and we do not think it is a reasonable excuse that we should expose ourselves to this because they do not have the strength to row.
However, teachers who often visit students in nurseries will not have to leave this year, due to the pandemic.
– They have the opportunity to stay at home, so they feel that they make a difference between people and people. It feels degrading and waning. We don’t think there should be any difference.
Can’t afford to get sick
This is something that 25-year-old Josefine Puska Wallström agrees with. But he is also concerned that the internship will cost him financially.
– We do not have opportunities to work with protection, with a visor and mask. We work with young children who need our closeness and to be seen. But we are also only entitled to two sick days. So if any of us get infected or sick, we run the risk of being rejected and getting rid of csn. It’s a pretty big risk for us, he says.
But according to Jörgen Mattlar, director of studies in the pedagogy and didactics department, this did not happen in early autumn, when two other groups of students had ELV courses in preschool.
– No one has been infected and we have not received any indication that there has been a significant absence, he says.
Photo: Private
Josefine Puska Wallström, 25 years old.
Not done in the blink of an eye
Mattlar believes that the faculty follows the recommendations of the Swedish Public Health Agency and says it is not relevant to postpone the practice, as the guidelines look like at the moment.
– We have educational programs with thousands of students and moving courses is very complex. This would cause significant organizational and administrative problems. It’s not something we do in the blink of an eye, just because some people are worried. It is not the case that we have received massive pressure from the entire group of students.
But even if all the students had stuck together and said no, the planning would not have changed.
– No, as long as the preschool is open and public transportation works, the activities will go according to plan.
Photo: Private
“I understand that people are concerned, but we have no reason to cancel any courses,” says Jörgen Mattlar.
Teachers go out in some cases
Nor does Mattlar believe that criticism from students regarding canceled physical gatherings at preschools is justified.
– If a supervisor indicates that a student has problems with their leadership, pedagogy or something else, the teacher will leave. But if the student does well, we can pass the exam in digital conversations between the teacher, the supervisor and the student. A visiting teacher would have also visited multiple preschools, which would mean a large group of contacts that students are not exposed to when they are in the same preschool all the time.
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