Preschools are getting more and more children, but not more groups.
Today, 55 percent of the groups are larger than the National Board of Education’s recommendations, something that worries many parents.
– It affects my children negatively because it is difficult to see everything that is happening, says mother Jennie Tingzon.
The children’s groups in more and more preschools are increasing significantly, figures from Sweden’s Teachers show. In Lilla Edet and Tibro, all preschools have more children than the National Education Agency advocates, which means they are placed at the bottom of Sweden’s Teachers’ compilation.
– It affects my children negatively because it is difficult to have time to see everything that is happening. If someone falls or hits themselves. If there had been more teachers or fewer children, it would have been possible to fill up the resources better, says Jennie Tingzon from Lilla Edet, who has children at the preschool.
“Devastating development”
The figures show that the size of children’s groups is increasing for the first time in eight years and that 55 percent of the country’s preschools have more children than the Swedish National Agency for Education recommends.
– It is a devastating development that has serious consequences. We demand that the state step in and legislate on the maximum ceiling for the size of children’s groups, but also on the teacher density, says Johanna Jaara Åstrand, chairwoman of Sveriges Lärare.