In this post Nina Ahlroos from Euroguidance Sweden discusses material from a project that she has been involved in to broaden engagement with, and participation in higher education.
Welcome to the university! (Välkommen till högskolan!) is a set of teaching material for teachers and guidance practitioners in compulsory school and for those who work to broaden participation in, and provide information about, studying at a university.
The Swedish Council for Higher Education (Universitets – och högskolerådet, UHR) seeks to broaden participation in higher education. Swedish universities have worked with this for many years. Nevertheless, it is still much more common that:
- children of highly educated parents choose university studies;
- the study subjects students choose differ based on their background; and
- gender-specific study choices are still common.
Start early
To counteract this, the idea of higher education must be raised early on in compulsory schooling. A key aspect of this is de-mystifying the higher education system, so that those who have the ability to study at higher education level are not prevented from doing so by irrelevant factors.
The UHR has therefore produced pedagogical lesson material in collaboration with a head teacher from Botkyrka municipality, Jorjet Barelias, and a researcher and senior lecturer at Malmö University, Frida Wikstrand. The material is intended to be used in primary school grades three to six (age 9 – 12) during a lesson. The purpose is to inform all pupils about higher education.
The material consists of a short, animated film, an accompanying lesson guide and exercises. The lesson can be given by a guidance counsellor or by a teacher. Guidance councellors within the university can ask primary schools to complete the lesson before a visit to the university, or before staff or students from the university visit the schools.
Subtitled in several languages
The film is subtitled in different languages. The basic film on Youtube is subtitled in Swedish – with Arabic, English, Finnish and Yiddish as alternatives. Versions with subtitles in Meänkieli, Romani and Northern Sami are available as separate films in the playlist. There is also a visually interpreted version.
Lesson guide with exercises (pdf in Swedish)
For further information please contact Euroguidance Sweden
Critical Perspectives on Career and Career Guidance (COCAG) 