A six-year-old student had to change schools in the autumn after repeated violence against his teachers.
Despite a number of measures, the school could not guarantee the safety of the teachers and the six-year-old had to be moved to another, more suitable, school.
The case is one of many and figures show that threats and violence against teachers are increasing.
– What we see today is a situation that would never be accepted in any other workplace, says Education Minister Lotta Edholm.
A six-year-old in western Sweden was moved to another school last autumn after the protection officer directed a protective stop. Teachers at the school were torn, pinched and beaten and despite a series of measures being introduced, studies and the working environment suffered. Among other things, the teachers were offered special equipment and an office room was converted into a smaller classroom where six teachers taught the six-year-old on a rolling schedule.
– Of course we want all students to be able to go to school, but our responsibility is the working environment of the members, said the safety representative We teachers.
41 percent of preschool teachers exposed to violence
The case of the six-year-old is one of many in Sweden, and figures show that violence against teachers increases every year. Notifications to the Work Environment Agency have increased by just over 150 percent the last ten years. In addition, a survey from Sweden’s teachersmade in 2024, that teachers fully or partially experienced that their workplace has had problems with threats and violence from students.
The survey also shows that violence creeps far down the ages. 37 percent of primary school teachers and 41 percent of pre-school teachers have been affected.
– The problem is not only about culture and lack of order. It is about teachers’ lack of prerequisites. The realization of the seriousness is missing, or is it the will? Says Sweden’s Teacher’s Chair Anna Olskog We Teachers.
Led to meeting: “Would never be accepted”
The situation has now led to a meeting, at the invitation of Education Minister Lotta Edholm, which was held on Wednesday. Participants were Sweden’s Teachers, Sweden’s School Leaders and the Municipal Union. Sweden’s Teachers had to present their demands on the government for efforts to stop student violence against teachers.
– What we see today is a situation that would never be accepted in any other workplace. And we need to collectively do everything we can to reverse the trend, says Education Minister Lotta Edholm to TV4 Nyheterna.
Lotta Edholm believes that intensive work is underway to ensure that teachers and principals have good conditions and clear legislation behind them to be able to act.
– I can already tell you that the government will give the Swedish National Agency for Education the task of investigating the dark speech and reviewing how principals handle teachers’ reports of threats and violence. It is important, among other things, to find out what obstacles there are to reporting and how we can ensure that they are removed, she says.