The pressure on teachers from guardians and students is great. In a survey by the Swedish Teachers’ union last summer, more than half of the teachers answered that guardians had made unreasonable demands at least once in the past twelve months.
It may be that the parents want the teaching to be adapted for their child, that support efforts are to be put in place or that a higher grade is to be given.
According to Sweden’s Municipalities and Regions, it happens that the family’s lawyer comes along when the student and the guardian have to have a development interview.
Britt-Marie Selin, chairman of Sweden’s Teachers Stockholm, says that teachers feel it as threatening when a lawyer suddenly stands at the door during the development interview.
Britt-Marie Selin, chairman of Sweden’s Teachers Stockholm, says that teachers feel it as threatening when a lawyer suddenly stands at the door during the development interview.
Photo: Jakob Åkersten Brodén/TT
“Suddenly stands at the door”
Britt-Marie Selin is well aware of the phenomenon.
It can be to question given grades or assessments, even assessments of tests, she says.
She says that the teachers perceive it as threatening.
They can show up without being notified in advance and stand there all of a sudden at the door, says Selin.
She is concerned about the development.
I believe that it will be very difficult to recruit staff to the school if this development continues and that the teacher’s mandate to set grades is called into question.
“Perceived as a threat”
Similar situations have occurred elsewhere in the country, in socially vulnerable as well as affluent areas.
The family lawyer can also come along if the school has made a report of concern, to which the parent reacts. Sometimes it follows when the student has misbehaved, or been involved in threats and violence against school staff that must be sorted out.
Then you can bring a friend or a relative who is considered legally knowledgeable and who then questions the accusations and requests the names of everyone involved, says Selin and continues:
It can actually be perceived as a threat.
Veronika Fridlund at Sweden’s Teachers. Press photo.
Veronika Fridlund at Sweden’s Teachers. Press photo.
Photo: Sweden’s Teachers
Difficult to be a good teacher
Veronika Fridlund is an investigator at Sveriges Lärare, and has written a couple of reports on how teachers are exposed to influence. Parents bringing legal counsel to school is extreme, but in the reports, teachers testify of parents threatening to call in lawyers, and of those deemed to have given too low grades being posted on social media.
Then there is also the fact that they threaten to go to the newspapers, or to report to the School Inspectorate.
Teachers testify that the pressure increases the workload, something that can negatively affect the rest of the class.
Time is spent dealing with unreasonable demands instead of the teacher devoting himself to teaching.
Fact: Unauthorized influence
Unauthorized or undue influence are actions that should cause an official or elected representative to act in a different way than intended. In the case of the school, it may be about getting a teacher to give a higher grade.
Unauthorized influence can be criminal, especially if it involves harassment, threats, violence or corruption.
In a survey from last year, six out of ten teachers answered that they had witnessed someone trying to influence their grading. Most often it is the student who tries to influence, but more than one in four teachers state that a guardian tried to influence the grade in the last year.
Sources: SR, Sveriges Lärare, Brå.