SVT Sápmi followed a geography lesson at Lugnvik school outside Östersund.
The municipality has employed a half-time preschool teacher to provide pedagogical support to the other teachers.
– I go around the schools and there I can tell you how we really think. They also realize that there are different peoples who have lived in Sweden, says Åsa Blomqvist, Sami educational developer.
“Important not to get the straw perspective”
She talks about her work and what she wants to convey.
– It is important that the students do not get the straw perspective that they only see the majority of Sweden’s population. In geography, we are working with the SVT film “The Journey along the Indalsälven” and then I have added the Sami point of view as well, which they will look at more closely.
Do teachers generally have enough knowledge?
– I don’t think they have. After all, they themselves haven’t had to learn it at school either. I studied Nordic languages at university, but we didn’t read anything about Sami. It’s not wise, we read Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian but nothing in Sami, she says.