Distance education at Gothenburg High Schools continues until the turn of the year

Since the start of school in August, students at Gothenburg's municipal upper secondary schools have been able to go to lessons and study on site at the school - but only to a certain extent.

A maximum of 60 percent of students in a pre-university program would be allowed to stay on the school premises at the same time following a decision by the Board of Education.

- In vocational preparation programs, the corresponding figure is a maximum of 80 percent.

It is the very framework that we have set for the schools to then be able to plan according to them, says Pär Gustafsson.

The ones in place

In practice, this has meant that all first-year students have been to school as usual.

This also applies to students in upper secondary special schools, and those who attend individual programs.

- Then it looks a little different in different schools.

At Hvitfeldtska, twos and threes are in school every other day, at Polhemsgymnasiet it is every other week.

The decision on these frameworks for upper secondary education was valid for August and September, but it is now clear that it will apply until the turn of the year.

- We want to ensure that too many students do not gather in schools, to reduce the spread of infection.

Now it is not the same levels as last spring, but we have seen that it has increased recently, especially among young people.

Too early to determine what the pandemic entailed

By the turn of the year, many students will have spent a large part of their studies in 2020 at a distance.

How do you reason about their situation?

- The knowledge results in the spring showed an increase, and that is great.

But it is too early to say exactly what the corona pandemic has meant for the school.

It was a huge change.

This summer, it was identified that students with difficulties needed additional support, and we received SEK 30 million for just that purpose.

Then it is a question of how we can ensure that we continue to maintain a high quality of the teaching itself.

"Homemakers" participate to a greater extent

For students who have previously had high absenteeism, the threshold for lessons can be experienced as lower in distance studies.

- They can be in place in the classroom even when they are at home at the computer.

So those who have previously been “homemakers” have sometimes become more inclined to participate in the lessons than before, and have achieved better results.