Press release:
The Swedish National Union of Students (SFS) today presents a new report showing that Sweden has the lowest teacher-led teaching time in several subject areas compared to other European countries. With only 10 hours of teacher-led teaching per week on average, Swedish higher education is lagging behind internationally and it continues to decline.
– It is unreasonable that Swedish students get so little teacher-led time. Meeting their teacher is crucial for both learning and the study environment. Self-study cannot replace the meeting between student and teacher, says Elsa Berlin, vice-chair of SFS.
The report shows that Sweden has the fewest hours of teacher-led time in a total of five subject areas. In Pedagogy, students only receive 4 teacher-led hours per week. In Humanities and Religion and Languages, the same figure is 5 hours. The teacher-led time is below the European average in all subjects.
SFS proposes two concrete measures to improve the situation:
- Increase reimbursement amounts for higher education by 50% – to enable more teaching hours and better teacher resources.
- Exempt universities and colleges from the productivity deduction – so that resources can be used to strengthen teaching instead of being wasted.
– We see a worrying trend where education risks deteriorating. How low should teacher-led time be before the government reacts?, concludes Elsa Berlin.