A couple of days ago, Gällivare regained responsibility for its high school. The Swedish School Inspectorate has had its own advisors at Sjöparksskolan for ten months, to get the crisis-ridden operations back on track.
A lot has been done during the year. But state advisors have not been able to overcome the fundamental problem: the exceptionally large shortage of qualified teachers in the municipality.
I am almost more concerned about what it looks like in the early years of school, because even there we see extremely low knowledge results. There and in preschool we also have the lowest teaching qualifications – and those are the most important years. So a tough situation now will become even worse, says Peter Olsson, who took office as school principal in March this year.
The mines are pulling
One reason for the staff shortage at the school is a red-hot labor market where the mining industry, with higher wages, is pulling the longest straw.
We have 33 teachers who have left primary school and are working in industry instead. I have spoken to 15 of them and they say it is not the salary that made them quit, but the working environment.
The more the school is drained of skills, the heavier the workload for those who remain.
At the same time, just like in Kiruna, a resource-intensive urban transformation is underway. Houses have had to be demolished, new - and more expensive - ones are being built, but not at the same rate as demand increases. This is hampering new recruitment and the move in of, among others, educators.
Government support
Therefore, Peter Olsson is calling for, among other things, government investment support for housing construction, a reinstated hot spot surcharge, and a mining tax for municipalities that supply natural resources.
If you want to have a mining industry in Sweden, it also requires responsibility from the government so that we can build communities around the mines, he says.
This week, Sweden's school leaders also issued demands for mining companies and the state to support functioning school operations in the Ore Fields.
This summer, Peter Olsson and Kiruna's school principal Viktoria Björklund invited, among others, Minister of Education Simona Mohamsson (L) and Minister of Labor Johan Britz (L) to a meeting in Malmfälten to discuss the vulnerable school and the industrial employees' need for a functioning public service.
They have said no thanks, they don't have time, says Peter Olsson.
Anna Lena Wallström/TT
Facts: Teaching qualifications and study results in Gällivare
TT
Share of full-time positions in preschool with preschool teacher certification, municipally run, 2024: 19 percent, lowest in the country. National average, municipalities: 46 percent.
Percentage of qualified teachers in the municipality's primary schools: 46 percent, second lowest in the country. National average: 73 percent.
Percentage of students in grade 3 who passed all parts of the national mathematics exams: 49 percent. National average: 65.7.
Percentage of students in grade 6 who received a passing grade in all subjects in 2024: 61.5 percent. National average, municipal schools: 69.5 percent.
Percentage of students in grade 9 with passing grades in all subjects in 2024: 60.1 percent. National average, municipal schools: 69.7 percent.
Percentage of students in grade 9 who qualified for upper secondary school, vocational programs, 2025: 78.4 percent. National average, municipal schools: 82.5 percent.
Percentage of high school students with absences of 30 percent or more: 21 percent.
Source: Gällivare Municipality, Swedish National Agency for Education
