In June this year, the School Inspectorate announced that they revoked the permit for Thoren Business School in Växjö. A school that has received sharp criticism, among other things, because they allocated too few teaching hours to courses on all programs. The criticism also concerned shortcomings in the routines for special support.
All Thoren students were offered a place at Växjö municipality’s secondary schools during the summer.
Worst for the threes on the nature program
But it quickly became clear that many of them would find it difficult to have time to study as many points as are required to be able to obtain a matriculation degree.
The situation is worst for the 20 or so students who spent their first two years on the nature program at Thoren, and who are now in their last year at Katedralskolan.
– In that class, it is the case for the majority of students that they will not have time to make up all the courses, says Växjö’s high school principal Henrik Ahlin.
In the video, student Jessica tells how she feels about having to read Komvux after high school.
All students who attended Thoren have received individual plans for how to make up for courses they missed. For several students who are in their final year, a decision has been made to scrap the so-called high school work, despite the fact that such work is a prerequisite for being able to graduate.
– Basically, it’s better to read eight courses and pass them, than to read twelve and only pass five because they cover too much. It must be realistic, says Henrik Ahlin.
Has passed grades – but not the skills
To obtain a high school diploma, a student must have read 2,500 credits and pass at least 90 percent.
– There are students who have a little too many F’s with them from before to be able to reach the number of approved points in the final year, says Henrik Ahlin.
But there are also students who have received passing grades at Thoren – but who still do not have the skills required to pass the next step.
– There are several teachers who think that the students lack some knowledge in view of the grades they have, says Henrik Ahlin.
According to Henrik Ahlin, it may be relevant to allow some students to attend a fourth year at the upper secondary school.
– Otherwise, they are referred to adult education. A fourth year is not a matter of course or a right. We get to look at what each person’s conditions are.