While Västerbotten and Norrbotten are facing a social transformation, it becomes particularly evident what we as a university bring to the table in the area of expertise. Along with the establishment of new industries in the north, the need for trained personnel outside of industry is growing. In addition to the demand for skills in areas such as technology, civil engineering and spatial planning, the expected population growth will lead to an increased need for trained doctors, midwives, nurses, teachers, sociologists, police officers and other important skilled professionals. Education leading to these professions has been long established at the university.
Hans Adolfsson, Vice-Chancellor, Umeå University
Photo: Mattias Pettersson
To meet the skills needs of northern Sweden, Umeå University is offering new courses (in Swedish) and programmes, and is expanding the number of locations for distance education. This includes teacher education, which is one of the skills in high demand throughout the country, and not just in the north. The shortage of trained teachers is an extremely important issue to work on, as it affects the quality of Sweden's entire education system and society at large.
For Sweden as a country to have the capacity to take on societal challenges, education needs to function well at all levels. I have long monitored and worked with issues in the field of teacher education, previously as Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Stockholm University, and today, as Vice-Chancellor at Umeå University, I am a member of an expert group on teacher education within the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF).
In addition to training more teachers, there are several factors that I believe are affecting the ability of universities to provide high-quality, research-based teacher education, so that schools in turn can function on a scientific foundation and provide teachers with good opportunities for skills and career development.
Firstly, the responsibility for collaboration in teacher education and research needs to be regulated. Today, higher education institutions have a responsibility to collaborate with school principals, while they do not have the same corresponding requirements. This affects, for example, the ability of universities to provide high-quality teacher training placements.
Secondly, research that is relevant to schools and teacher education needs to be strengthened so that schools provide an education that is based on a scientific foundation. At the same time, educational staff in schools and pre-schools need to be provided with the capacity to participate in research and third-cycle level education. In this respect, I believe that the best path forward is an investment in national graduate schools that also involve future teachers in teacher education programmes.
And thirdly, the teaching profession could be more involved than today in the production of knowledge that is the basis for instruction and school development. This requires, for instance, structures and forms of employment that facilitate mobility between schools and universities.
By and large, the political governance over teacher education needs to be reduced. One challenge to politicians is to give higher education institutions a stronger mandate to develop and conduct teacher education programmes. We would then have the readiness to, together with the teaching profession, develop content and degree objectives for the programmes, something that strengthens quality and comprehensiveness, instead of the clutter that prevails today.
Now that primary and secondary schools are on autumn break, those working in the world of education have had the opportunity to develop their skills during the Knowledge Week (Kunskapsveckan) conference, which took place earlier this week here on campus and digitally. This year, Knowledge Week brought together more than 500 participants on-site and 1,300 participants via live streaming. It's a wonderful example of recurring collaboration and skills development for existing professionals, which benefits people of all ages on so many levels.