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Finland concerned with trend that more teachers moving to Sweden

Xinhua, January 22, 2017 Adjust font size:

Some schools in Sweden are recruiting teachers from Finland, and the trend has worried the Finnish education authority, a Finnish newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Helsinki-based Swedish language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet (HBL) said that Sweden needs 60,000 new teachers by 2019, and Swedish municipalities have already started interviewing Finnish teachers willing to move to Sweden.

Finland is bilingual and operates a school system in Swedish as well. There are no restrictions in emigration between Sweden and Finland.

The only Swedish language college for educating teachers in Finland is located in Vaasa, northwestern Finland. The area has traditionally good connections with neighboring Sweden.

Anna Nylund, a student majoring in education, told HBL that many of her friends have decided to take up teacher positions in Sweden, and Anna herself is considering.

In the Swedish town of Eskilstuna, the first teacher from Finland begins work in late January and 15 others are in the process of interviews, HBL reported.

Several other Swedish towns have sent head hunters to Finland. The Eskilstuna education director Lisa Edholm said she needs 100 teachers, but cannot get all from Finland.

Anita Lehikoinen, the highest civil servant at the Finnish Education Ministry, told newspaper HBL that Finland "cannot educate teachers for export."

Lehikoinen saw as positive that teachers educated in Finland have a good reputation, but this "should not lead to competition in recruiting".

Christer Holmlund, chairman of the union of Swedish speaking teachers in Finland, blamed the working climate for the trend. "It is both the working climate in schools and the salary levels that motivate to leave Finland," he told HBL.

Holmlund said he knew that Sweden has been prepared to pay more than the local average to teachers coming from Finland. "An advantage for Finland is that schools are good on average, while in Sweden the quality of schools varies a lot," he said. Endit