Swedish News:

Skolverket rejects government proposal. Swedes want fewer immigrants. Mediaeval ovens found. Fewer bankruptcies in April. 

  • The Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) is critical of the government’s proposal of changes in the assessment of teacher’s credentials, since it would mean teachers who are deemed unsuitable would not be prevented from teaching.

  • Skolverket rejects government proposal
    The Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) is critical of the government's proposal for changes in the assessment of teachers' credentials. ”The new system means that we cannot even prevent teachers who are considered inappropriate from teaching,” says lawyer Jonas Nordström to Ekot in Swedish Radio. Skolverket will, according to Nordström, not even be able to prevent teachers who are ”extremely unsuitable”. Ekot reports that Skolverket already has turned down some ten applications regarding unsuitable teachers. But the teacher’s union and the employers support the proposal. Minister for Education Jan Björklund says that it is up to the teacher training colleges to take responsibility and fail unsuitable student teachers. He believes that the colleges for decades have had a ”very lax sort of assessment”.

  • More immigrants to Sweden? 44% of the Swedish population think the country is already accepting too many.

  • Swedes want fewer immigrants
    As many as 44 percent of the people polled by Sifo (on behalf of Swedish Television) believe Sweden has received too many immigrants. This is an increase from last year’s survey, when 37% believed Sweden had received too many immigrants. However, seen over time, the percentage has actually gone down, ten years ago 55% wanted fewer immigrants in Sweden. 36% believe Sweden has received the right number of immigrants, and 10% say Sweden ought to receive more. Meanwhile, 16% say that the Sweden Democrats has the best immigrant policy, which is more than any other party. 12% say that the Social Democrats had the best immigration policy, and 47% said they do not know what party has the best policy.

  • Archaeologists in Uppsala have discovered mediaeval brick ovens at the Akademiska sjukhuset, bricks from these ovens were used to build Uppsala castle, above.

  • Mediaeval ovens found
    Archaeologists in Uppsala have discovered mediaeval brick ovens at the Akademiska sjukhuset. A human skeleton, which was discovered as plans were made to build a new parking house, led the archaeologists to the discovery. ”It’s a very exciting find,” says Anna Ölund, archaeologist, to Upsala Nya Tidning. The ovens in the area are from around 1240, and were used up until the beginning of the 17th century. ”Bricks from the ovens have been used to build the cathedral in Uppsala as well as Uppsala castle,” continues Ölund. The human skeleton may be the remains of one of the around 7,000 people killed in the ”långfredagsslaget” (the Good Friday battle) in Uppsala between a Swedish army of farmers and the Danish King Kristian the Second’s soldiers.

  • Fewer bankruptcies in April; a decline of 11 percent compared to April a year ago.

  • Fewer bankruptcies in April
    Five hundred and seventy companies filed for bankruptcy in April of this year, which is a decline of 11 percent compared to April a year ago. The biggest declines were in the fields of transportation, retail, information/communication and the construction industry, according to numbers from UC, a business and credit information company.