What happened
During the month of September, 338 incidents of threats and violence against staff were reported in the City of Stockholm's elementary schools, which is an increase of nearly 70 percent compared to May. The majority of incidents occurred among pupils in the early primary school years and in adapted compulsory school. The trade union Sveriges Lärare is now demanding administration-wide measures through a formal work environment request, and the city must respond by November 2 at the latest to avoid the case being referred to Arbetsmiljöverket. Opposition vice mayors Andréa Hedin (M) and Gulan Avci (L) are demanding, among other things, security cameras, emergency schools, and suspensions, while school vice mayor Arvid Vikman Rindevall (S) states that the city will work toward higher teacher density and more support for pupils with special needs.
Our analysis
When alarms from classrooms come thick and fast, political representatives react with the same knee-jerk demands for discipline and control. Proposing surveillance cameras and emergency schools when the problems are predominant among seven-year-olds and in adapted compulsory school reveals a complete unwillingness to see the reality behind the numbers. Young children and pupils in need of special support rarely fight out of malice; they fight when adult support has been cut and the demands become overwhelming.
The political right takes the easy way out by shifting responsibility from budget cuts to disciplinary problems. When the solution becomes emergency schools and placements outside the regular classroom, we know from experience which children are sorted out first. It is schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, where many new Swedes live and raise their children, that take the hardest hit when support is dismantled in favor of punishment.
The school crisis cannot be solved with baton rhetoric in the early primary grades. What is needed is more qualified special education teachers, smaller groups, and enough adults in every classroom. Politicians from both old and new parties must dare to foot that bill, instead of letting teachers and pupils pay the price with their own safety and future.
Explained
A 6:6a request is a formal demand from the union's safety representative that requires the employer to investigate and rectify dangerous deficiencies in the work environment, otherwise Arbetsmiljöverket is brought in.