Minister of Education Anna Ekström (S) announced on Thursday that Sweden's upper secondary schools will also have the opportunity to conduct distance education during the spring.

The decision comes as part of the fight against the spread of infection in the country and means that both private and independent principals will have the authority to do what is necessary to deal with the pandemic.

- It is good to be able to make decisions about distance education in upper secondary school if you can not take the responsibility you need from an infection control perspective and the Public Health Agency's recommendations.

And you may not know it.

It can be cramped or difficult to avoid congestion.

It is good to enable principals to be able to take different solutions based on the fact that the problems look different, says Peter Fredriksson, director general at the National Agency for Education in SVT's Morning Studio.

"Better to have schooling"

According to the Swedish Public Health Agency, there is a spread of infection in upper secondary schools among both teachers and students.

Peter Fredriksson believes that distance education is also a way to prevent teachers from falling ill.

But he also points to challenges.

- It is always better to have teaching in school, we must remember that, he says.

- It is a different matter to have distance education in high school than high school.

An 18-19 year old is much more mature and can take responsibility in a different way than a 13 year old.

It is good to understand that it is a little harder to get full quality in distance education.

Prioritize students with difficulties

Prioritizing students who have difficulties is therefore extra important, according to Peter Fredriksson.

- It is of course very important that the schools that plan for distance education look at that there are conditions for distance education.

That the students know what they have to relate to, that there are clear requirements and expectations for the students and that you also have a good collaboration with the parents, he says.

- But it is also important to review which students need extra support and to prioritize that group of students.

Many students will fix it really well, it will not affect them significantly if distance learning lasts a few weeks.

But for other students, a few weeks may be enough to get lost in knowledge development or the social.