How many village schools there are in Sweden - and how many that have been closed down in recent years - there are no statistics at the National Agency for Education today. There is no official definition of what a village school actually is. But in Västerbotten, the village schools must now be mapped.

It is Tobias Thomson on Region Västerbotten who will do the survey. He is involved in several current investigations concerning the schools in the county - including the investigation done in Lycksele and the review that Vilhelmina and Storuman do of the schools in Slussfors and Dikanäs.

A hot question

Investigations about village schools often arouse strong feelings, but Tobias Thomson wants the focus to be on the quality of education in the village schools, not the symbol the school has for the village.

Mapping the village schools that have disappeared is important, he says.

- There is a value in showing how the population has changed in the urban areas and in the villages. And link it to which schools were closed, says Tobias Thomson.

In the clip above you hear him tell us why the mapping is needed.