Since 2006, every fourth teacher in Sweden has left the profession for reasons other than retirement. In a survey carried out by the newspaper Skolvärlden, 78 percent of teachers said they "often" or "sometimes" think of quitting, citing insufficient support and a massive workload. Should the current situation persist, Sweden will be lacking 90,000 teachers in three years, says investigator Ebba Östlin who has examined ways to encourage more people to take up teaching.
"It may be very tricky to change the current system for foreign teachers to be able to be certified in Sweden," she told Swedish Radio.
One of the primary obstacles is the new Swedish teacher exam, which is considered by many as too intricate in its evaluation of examinees. As a result, foreign-born teachers tend to score fewer points in comparison to local Swedes, despite having roughly the same level, she argued.
Ebba Östlin proposed a more flexible and generous validation of new arrivals who worked as teachers in their home countries or people who have a university degree. She also believes in individual solutions in order to open more doors for people with non-Swedish university education, who have the subject knowledge but lack pedagogical training.
Helene Hellmark Knutsson, Minister of Higher Education and Research, estimated the proposals as positive, but stressed that the government did not intend to change the requirements for new teachers.
"It would be a significant loss to Sweden, because we need skilled and competent teachers in our schools," Helene Hellmark Knutsson said. According to her, it would be unfair to set higher requirements for Swedes, than to foreign-born teachers.
"It is imperative that we maintain the same high standards for everyone," said Helene Hellmark Knutsson.
