Uppsala Link: Education
The Llandaff Diocesan link with Uppsala Diocese in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden began in October 2006.
In May 2023 Diocesan World Partnerships Officer Martyn Daviestravelled with Diocesan Director of Ordinands Ryan Green, Head of Education Beccie Morteo and Social Justice and Outreach Lead Christoph Auckland. Each of them have reflected on their experiences during that visit.
Here Beccie reflects on education based on her experience in Sweden.
By Beccie Morteo
There were many things we learnt from our friends in Uppsala during our recent visit, including how to play Kubb like a champion, but two key areas stood out for me in my role as Head of Education.
As I tell everyone I meet constantly, it is a joy to work with church schools. The leaders in our schools share our vision and embrace the Christian ethos. This permeates throughout their schools and communities. We are welcomed into schools regularly and whilst we encourage inclusion and awareness of different contexts, we celebrate together our Christian identity.
In Sweden, Church schools do not exist in the same way, and it is much harder for churches to develop links. The Education Act, which was revised recently in 2023, requires that all schools inform parents about their Christian profile and what confessional elements may be present. The Act also states that the parents and the children have the right to say when they do not want to participate in a confessional element. So, in reality, worship and prayer does not take place in schools and links with churches are not very common.
This means that churches can’t engage or invite through schools, so must think carefully about their offer to children and families. Our Swedish friends don’t necessarily do more; they just think about things differently. The churches and cathedral are focused on education and learning, there is clear investment on engaging with younger children who are yet to start formal education and absolutely everything starts with pedagogy - the theory and practice of learning.
This leads on to the second notable take away. Lotta Ingerholt form Uppsalla Cathedral presented to us on church room pedagogy which allowed us to walk through several activities that children might take part in. None of them imparted knowledge on us, all of them allowed exploration, discovery, questioning and discussion. They were simple approaches, but the starting point was always the how not the what. This approach is reflected in the development of the new curriculum in Wales which is based around pedagogical principles and places a much bigger focus on how children learn.
Having time to learn, think and talk to colleagues and new friends was an invaluable experience. Taking away fresh ideas and approaches is always worthwhile but in addition, the time to reflect on the wonderful opportunities we have in our schools and the exciting developments in our own curriculum was hugely valuable.