Kunskapsskolan

Kunskapsskolan (translates "the knowledge school") is a Swedish school that provides education for students from grades 6 to 9 (ages 12 to 16) in elementary school. They also offer a gymnasium schools for grades 10 to 12 (ages 16 to 19) in different areas of Sweden. They function differently from the public schools in Sweden, usually offering more freedom in studies than the public school system does. It focuses on the pupils' own abilities to take responsibility.

Kunskapsskolan is Sweden's largest non-governmental school, with 21 elementary schools and nine gymnasium schools.

General Idea

In contrast to most of Sweden's other schools, Kunskapsskolan functions in a way more resembling the system in the Swedish gymnasium and university. It puts much more responsibility in the hands of the pupil by removing classrooms and letting the pupil choose when, where, and what to participate in. In addition, the pupil works on his own level, which is measured in "steps" ranging from 1-35. Many pupils in the public schools feel that they may be working ahead of their class in some subjects, while being slower in others, this is a problem not present in Kunskapsskolan. Although this may sometimes lead the pupils feeling stressed and the pressure is being greater than otherwise.

It is a mystery as to how Kunskapsskolan succeeds so well. Visiting a Kunskapsskolan school, you'll quickly notice that the atmosphere is very relaxed and many pupils seem to be mostly hanging around. It is true in a sense, but Kunskapsskolan sports an average grade of MVG (Translates roughly as "Very well accepted", an American "A", "pass with great distinction"), something few governmental schools do. Generally Kunskapsskolans students may be stressed but can often be described as more satisfied.

The pupil will work by themselves with support from the teachers for their own education plan.Even though the pupils mostly seem to hang around and it doesn't look like an organised school, the pupils have a very strict plan to follow. We call it a logbook.Every morning the pupils have to take up their logbook and plan the day.The pupil themselves plan the day like a to do list.Kunskapsskolan don't put their students in classes with a teacher lecturing the pupils.Even though the planning of the day is flexible there are some things that are compulsory, among these is the "Kommunikations pass" (En: Communication pass), this is like an ordinary class in any school in Sweden. The WS (Workshops) are not compulsory like the Communication passes but are chosen by the pupil.

The education at Kunskapsskolan is very IT based, instead of giving the pupils a couple of books to work with, they have to find the steps on a website called kunskapsporten and print out the step they are working with.

Kunskapsskolan has not only steps the pupils have to work with. To spice the education even more they add things called kurser (En: Courses). In these courses you study for example social studies, science and technique. The largest difference between courses and steps is that courses are set in the school schedule, with pupils working at the same time and often in groups. In the courses, the different subjects blend to create an overlapping study on a certain subject. For example, when students do a study on the World Wars, they would not only cover the history; they would also explain the science of the period, the social changes and the causes of the events. The key word is analysis, something that is largely missing in Swedish primary education.

Some examples of courses.

Jagkurser (Roughly translated: Me courses): In these courses you generally study biology, working on human anatomy, people and, most notably, yourself.

Europakurser (En: Europe courses): Though the name suggests it, these courses are not just about Europe. In these courses you almost exclusively have social studies. Mostly about economics, geography, politics and such.

Trådkurser (En: Thread courses): About the history of the world and universe. In these courses you study history from Big Bang to modern time, you also study science in this course, mostly related to what you read about in the history part. These courses follow a chronological order, starting as previously mentioned at the Big Bang, through early human civilization, past the World Wars and straight into the future, at the same time studying the development of civilization, arts and science.

People and Places

All Kunskapsskolan schools are built by the architect Kenneth Gärdestad, brother of the Swedish pop singer Ted Gärdestad. The architecture is very open, there is more glass than walls and the walls there are colourfully painted. The founder of the school is named Anders Hultin.

There are a total of 24 Kunskapsskolan schools in Sweden. They lie in Skärholmen, Botkyrka, Fruängen, Nacka, Kista, Täby, Spånga, Globen, Orminge and Tyresö, in Stockholm, and Enskede, Lund, Landskrona, Helsingborg, Västerås, Norrköping, Nyköping, Ystad, Göteborg, Malmö, Trelleborg and in other parts of the country.

Kunskapsskolan in the UK

Kunskapsskolan is currently working on opening 2 schools in the UK. These are Hampton Community College and Whitton School.

External links

* [http://www.kunskapsskolan.se/ Kunskapsskolan]
* [http://www.kunskapsskolan.se/foretaget/inenglish.4.1d32e45f86b8ae04c7fff213.html In English]
* [http://www.economist.com/business/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=11535645 The Economist]