Helena Ackesjö
Associate Professor of Education
Helena Ackesjö is originally a recreation instructor. Her primary focus is on the younger children in the education system, especially in the preschool class and school-age educare. Her research addresses, among other things, teachers’ mandate, work, and conditions. Helena also has recurring assignments from the Swedish National Agency for Education, the Swedish Schools Inspectorate, and the Ministry of Education on issues related to her research areas.
Funds awarded since 2017
SEK 5.9 million; funder: the Swedish Research Council.
SEK 6 million; funders: Ifous AB, the Research Council of Norway.
School-age educare has changed and become more comprehensive in recent years. As part of the education system, it is meant to complement school, but also compensate for children’s diverse circumstances. However, Helena Ackesjö believes that there is far too little discussion about what this compensatory role involves and how it should be implemented.
“Even though we know that the education system acts as a strong safety net for children and young people in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, school-age educare is not offered to everyone, since it depends on what the parents do for a living. This means that many children in areas with good socioeconomic conditions go to school-age educare, but significantly fewer in areas with poorer conditions”, she says.
The approach in this project is quite bold and may well be a bit provocative.
In the project “Det (o)likvärdiga fritidshemmet” (which roughly translates to “the (in)equitable school-age educare in Sweden”), Helena and her fellow researchers are studying school-age educare in socioeconomically challenged areas and examining how teachers there work with the compensatory role: to even out the differences between children’s diverse circumstances and backgrounds.
“School-age educare centres have enormous potential to care for and protect the youngest children. Not only do they provide reliable adults, but also fundamental things such as food. Many head teachers also describe school-age educare as a crucial key to keeping children away from gangs, but despite this, we don’t have a universal school-age educare system where everyone can get a place. This makes the school-age educare system fundamentally inequitable”, she says.
School-age educare should be a right
In November 2022, an investigation into an extended right to school-age educare was concluded, where the government’s special investigator presented the proposal to make school-age educare universal, like preschool. Municipalities must offer all children a place in preschool from the autumn semester of the year they turn three.
“In exactly the same way, all children should have the right to attend school-age educare”, says Helena, who thinks it has been a bit too quiet on this front in the past year.
“Overall, I find it strange that school and school-age educare aren’t receiving more attention in the political debate right now, when we’re talking about gang crime and recruitment. Head teachers describe seeing 9–10-year-olds being recruited quickly and easily. The teachers in these areas are well aware of the conditions some children go home to and often do their best to keep them a bit longer in the afternoons, even though they don’t have a place in school-age educare”, she continues.
The contribution of school-age educare to pupils’ goal achievement
Something else that Helena studies is how school-age educare contributes to pupils’ goal attainment. At the end of 2023, she and her research team launched the project “Fritidshemmets bidrag till elevers måluppfyllelse” (meaning ‘the contribution of school-age educare to pupils’ goal achievement’), which is a collaboration with four different municipalities.
“School-age educare, which was originally meant to offer care and inspire creativity, must now provide education, based on curriculum requirements. This is interesting to study, partly because it clashes with the original intentions of school-age educare, and partly because there are often few staff with pedagogical training. How do you implement the teaching mission then?” she says and continues:
“The approach in this project is quite bold and may well be a bit provocative, but when it all comes down to it, everyone working in the education system is supposed to contribute to pupils’ goal achievement. Therefore, we want to investigate what the contribution of school-age educare is and what the children who don’t have a place miss out on.”
Practice-based research develops school-age educare
One way of getting closer to what is being studied is through practice-based research – working together to find opportunities for improvement, based on the profession’s own issues. Helena also works on a ULF project, which is a government initiative aimed at bringing schools, academia, and municipalities closer together.
School-age educare hasn’t involved teaching before; it has almost been a dirty word.
“There’s a lot of competence to be found in school-age educare centres. Many have worked there for a long time and possess a wealth of knowledge that often goes unspoken. We want to help bring that knowledge to the table. Therefore, we start out from the local challenges faced by the different organisers and work closely with teachers and head teachers.”
Many head teachers and teachers have expressed that after participating in practice-based research projects, they have started talking about the content of school-age educare in a whole new way; they have become more confident; and they have developed a greater sense of professional pride.
“I think that precisely this – professional pride – is key here. School-age educare hasn’t involved teaching before; it has almost been a dirty word. Now, it needs to be embraced and turned into a natural part of the practice”, says Helena.
