Creative school – Sweden goes for more culture at school
Every year the Swedish Government spends 55 million SEK, i.e. approximately 175 SEK per pupil, on cultural initiatives at school. The ambition is to advance the cultural work in the 7th, 8th and 9th forms starting from 2008. The initiative applies both to public and independent schools. The long-term goal is to integrate the cultural and artistic expressions into the school’s work by means of an increased co-operation with the cultural life.
By Katarina Dorbell
A lot of schools are focusing on culture, creative work and aesthetic teaching processes; however they seldom base their activities on established goals or requirements for follow-up. At the same time, reports show that the potential of children and young people to create and take part in the cultural life vary greatly. Differently from any other part of the society, the school has the capacity to reach everyone – irrespective of the family’s resources or background.
The subsidy is going to be distributed by the Swedish Arts Council. These efforts should be complementary to the existing cultural work and aesthetic activities in schools.
The initiative is certainly welcome, but there is some criticism directed both towards the sum, which is considered to be too small, and the target group. Perhaps one should start with the youngest children in order to build a firm foundation. At the same time, the subsidy for the publishing house En bok för alla (’A Book for All’) which as been distributing cheap quality books and innovatively working with reading promotion projects, is abolished. The protests have not helped at all.
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Creative school (Swedish)
