JOB SHADOWING - Skövde (Sweden) Monday 24th April

Monday 24th April 2017

Last working day in Skövde. The visit to Kavelbro is a must if you come to Skövde. It is vocational training high school with very updated facilities for the students. The Principal of one of the programms, Anna Lena Göteberg, has showed the premises and explained about the different programs students can follow. You can choose from plumbing to nursing, from cooking to building, from electricity to hairdressing, from social care to car mechanics, there is a very wide rage of posibilities.

  

Students have "theoretical" and practical lessons during the firs two years and after that they have a working timetable, they wear uniforms and the colours of the helmets indicate what branch of studies they are in. These professions are well placed in the job market, in fact most of the car students get a job right after their studies and those preparing to become a cook are offered a well-paid job even before finishing their studies and teachers have to struggle to keep them at school the last eight weeks!

There is also a section to teach less gifted students how to live on their own, they are taught to cook, to clean the house, to iron, to buy food, everything to have an independent life. 

Angels Romeu with Anna Lena Göteberg

Talking with the teachers, they have pointed out that maybe the fifteen-minute pauses between lessons are a bit too long and students disconnect too much. Also, there is a growing feeling that students do not appreciate the "free" things they get at school. For example lunch at school, even at upper secondary school, or the trips abroad. Of course, all this is paid with the taxes but students do not realise that it is a great amount of money dedicated to education and they have to be aware of where all that investment comes from.

After lunch at Kavelbro, Teresa C. Linderoth showed us Kultur Fabrik. It is a new museum and music school in one building. The music school is already working and the city museum will be finished by June. The resident exhibitions are those showed in the old City Museum, displaying the history of Skövde and its main treasures. There will be a clear connection between this historical funds and the approach to culture and its production. One of the main objectives is to promote the creation of culture and to encourage young artits to share their love for any cultural product and their own production.

With Tomas Olausson

At three I met Stefan Svensson and Teresa C. Linderoth, together with teachers Romina and Vicent, in a feedback meeting. We discused about this fruitful week and the collaborations to come. We are sure our relation will continue with the students exchanges of one week and with the long exchange we are about to start. Also, we will share all the good practises and teaching ideas as we have been doing for three years.

We had also a last meeting with Marie-Louise Brage to recapitulate and set the amin lines of work for the years to come, although there are great differences in the educational system, the realation between the Administration and the school management, and so on, education is one strong point in both our teams. As principals, we want the best for our schools, our students and our teachers. Our objectives are pretty much the same: ensure quality education.

That ensures a long realtion between both schools! See you soon in Valencia!