Eight out of ten teachers say that they do not intend to register the undocumented – even if there is a law on it.
This appears in a recent, so far unpublished survey from Sweden Teachers.
– This proposal goes against our professional ethics and also goes against the grain of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, says Anna Olskog, president of Sweden’s teachers’ union.
Last year, the Tidö parties appointed a government inquiry that would investigate how public employees are forced to report undocumented people to the Migration Agency and the police.
The government and the Sweden Democrats justified this with the fact that the number of undocumented people in Sweden today is so large that a shadow society has emerged.
“The proposal is completely wrong”
But in a recent survey by Sweden’s Teachers, in which nearly 1,300 teachers in the country answered, nearly 8 out of 10 teachers state that it is not part of their job to identify undocumented people.
– I am a teacher myself and previously taught for 30 years. Being a teacher means teaching, and it has nothing to do with reporting. Or for that matter being a border policeman. This proposal is completely wrong, says Anna Olskog, president of Sweden’s teachers’ union.
Risk of teachers leaving the profession
In the survey, approximately the same number of teachers, 77 percent, i.e. close to 8 out of 10, claim that a duty to provide information is also contrary to a teacher’s professional ethics.
– If the proposal becomes reality, we see a risk that many teachers will leave the profession. And we absolutely do not want to see that, says Anna Olskog, chairperson of Sweden’s teachers’ union.
The investigation is to be presented on November 29.