The following text is a personal description of "History in Sweden":
The Swedish public school system is made up of 9 years of compulsory education and 3 years of upper secondary education. Upper secondary education is free and a non-compulsory form of school, but almost all compulsory school students continue to upper secondary school.
Upper secondary education is divided into 17 national 3-year programs. Every program comprises 2500 upper secondary credits (from the beginning a credit was fairly equal to an instruction hour, but now this part is negotiable…). The guaranteed number of instruction hours varies from program to program; from 2180 to 2430 hours. All national programs include eight core subjects; English, the Arts, Physical Education and Health, Mathematics, General Science, Social Studies, Swedish (or Swedish as a Second Language) and Religion. These core subjects add up to 750 credits.
History is not one of the core subjects which gives the effect that half of the students at upper secondary level never study history as a separate subject! Only 3 of the 17 programs offer History as an obligatory subject; Natural Science (subdivided Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Environmental Science, Natural Sciences), Social Science (subdivided Economics, Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, Languages) and Arts (subdivided Arts and Design, Dance, Music and Theater). All programs offer a little bit of 20 th Century History within the core subject Social Studies – “Historical events and personalities in the 20 th century”. A few schools could also offer History as an individual choice.
History as a subject is divided into three different courses. Each course comprises 100 credits. According to the national curriculum;
History A builds on the compulsory school course and provides context and background to history from ancient times up to the present, as well as providing the opportunity for focusing in detail on specific areas that relate to the pupils' own needs and interests. Events, phenomena and persons are a central and indispensable part of the education. The course should be adapted to the study orientation chosen by the pupil.
History B builds on History A and is adapted to the pupils' orientation. In-depth studies and thematic work should increase the pupils' skills and critical abilities. Historical studies are broadened through comparative studies over time and distance. History B is common to the Cultural and Social science branches of the Social Science Program (which has the effect that only a minority studies this more in-depth course - authors comment).
History C provides a deeper understanding of critical sources and views of history. The course builds on History A. History C is an optional course (which has the effect that only a minority of the minority studies the C course - authors comment)
National Curriculum: The national curriculum only describes the general content of each course. Each upper secondary school should make and be able to present their own interpretation of the national curriculum in each subject (and course). There is no formal hinder for a teacher to focus on one aspect of history, ex. feminism, Gustaphus Adolphus etc... as long as the teacher has made the pupil familiar with the ” fundamental features of historical development”.
Examination: There is no general examination. The grade is based on the work completed over the year and the teachers' interpretation of the quality of that work. The pupil can receive the following grades; non Pass (IG), Pass (G), Pass with Distinction (VG) and Pass with Special Distinction (VG). Each teacher is solely responsible for the grading of his/her class. Inspections of the subject (or the schools) are very uncommon.
History education: The education of History teachers at upper secondary education has gone through several changes the last 20 years. A few years ago you could either be affiliated with the Teachers Education Program through the 4-5 years the program lasted or just add 1 year of theory and general teachers training (pedagogy) after studying your topics at the separate university departments. Today going through the Teachers Education Program is required.
Today a teacher of upper secondary school studies 4.5-5.5 years. 1.5 years is common to all becoming teachers whether intending to teach at pre-school, compulsory or upper secondary level. During the other 3-4 years the candidate specializes. After finishing the program a degree is awarded (a diploma where the specialization is indicated). The degree is translated as ”Master of Education for the Upper Secondary School ”.
Teaching hours: Until two years ago a Swedish teacher of upper secondary education was required to teach 507 hours a year. Today a teacher of upper secondary education is required to teach between 500-750 credits (during the school year - 40 weeks, the teacher in upper secondary school should work 1360 ”credits”. Local individual agreements decide how many hours these 1360 credits comprise). Being the Head of a Department does not necessarily effect the teaching hours. Several Heads teach as much as their colleagues. It's the agreement with the school that regulates the hours. Fairly common is 16-18 hours of teaching each week.
Class sizes: The average size of a class in History A varies. At our school the size is between 32-35 pupils. It's very rare with classes under 30 pupils!
Course hours: All subjects are (as mentioned before) divided into courses. They comprise 50, 100, 150 or 200 credits. The hours of each course also differ depending on the local agreement, so the History A course can be 90 hours long in one school while it's 75 hours long in another... Today it's common that a History A course covers one school year with approx. 2.5 hours each week.
History in decline: The subject History at upper secondary school has gone through a negative development in Sweden the last 30-35 years. Before we got the 17 national programs the Swedish upper secondary education was divided into three or two year programs. The three year programs were preparation for Higher Education and therefore had a more theoretical profile. There were 5 different choices among the three year programs - Humanities, Social Science, Economy, Natural Science and Technical program (this last program had a fourth year...). In 1971 Humanities and Social Science studied 248 hours of History - spread over two years. In 1993 these hours were cut to 190 hours per year and the last two years they have been cut to 75-90 hours per year. In 1971 Economy, Natural Science and the Technical Program studied 149 - 99 hours of History per year. In 1993 these hours were cut to 75-90 hours and the last years History has been dropped on the Technical Program. Several changes to actually reinforce History in the future has been discussed and we are now waiting for the Swedish government to present their plans for the future of the History subject in Sweden. We hope that the previous decline will stop and that we will see a reinforced subject!
