I work at an international secondary school in Sweden, where I have taught for a few years.

The scariest thing about being a teacher in Sweden is not being away from home, friends and family, while a deathly global pandemic wreaks havoc across the world.

No, the scariest thing is that sometimes it feels, as an outsider, like no one in Sweden seems to be doing anything about it.

Coronavirus: Business as usual in schools?

The absence of reaction to Covid-19 in Sweden, compared with the rest of the world, is already palpable but nowhere is it more prevalent than within the country’s secondary schools. 

This week I returned to school after eight longs weeks of summer holidays. Immediately in the Monday morning meeting, with over 100 staff present, we were told by the principal that things are “business as usual”.

When globally they are anything but. I wish I was joking. I’m not.

I can guarantee you that if you walked into my school next week, on the day students return, you wouldn’t even know that there was a pandemic.

Sweden’s approach to the virus has already made international headlines, and not necessarily for the right reasons.

This country has a significantly higher death rate than neighbouring Nordic countries and it is actually one of the highest by population size in Europe.

There are many possible reasons for this, but it is undeniable that Sweden’s lack of a serious response to the virus has been a contributing factor.

Masks are unnecessary

Before the summer break, concerned teachers were actively told not to wear masks: even when teachers personally wanted to, they were told by management not to, as they were unnecessary.

This was because the Swedish government had not then issued specific guidelines around mask-wearing within schools.

Even now, eight weeks later, when so many other countries, governments and health authorities are repeatedly and loudly explaining the benefits of wearing masks, the Swedish government has still not made up its mind.

What this means is that people are not wearing them, anywhere. The only other people I see wearing masks are ex-pats who follow the guidelines from their home countries, like myself.

Swedish people have an unusually high level of trust in their government, even, it would seem, when the rest of the world contradicts it.

On returning to school it was just what I had been afraid of. There were still no masks being worn, and staff were still being discouraged from doing so.

Why are schools exempt from the rules?

This is counterintuitive enough, but with an average class size of 32 students, it seems like tempting fate. The Swedish government had implemented some minimal restrictions at the start of the pandemic; all gatherings of over 50 people were to be banned.

However, this rule did not apply to schools. So, on the first day of term the school held a “welcome back brunch” for all staff, with no social distancing implemented and no masks worn.

We were told that the school would be “deep-cleaned” and “sanitised” over the summer. It wasn’t. Not even close. In fact, some of the classroom tables were sticky with things the students had spilled on the last day of term, eight weeks ago.

The measures taken by the school are arguably nothing more than lip-service.

The school can point to the fact that they are doing something, without doing enough to actually make a difference. One of these measures is that there are spots on the floor outside the lunchroom to keep students lining up for lunch “socially separate”.

I saw them being put down today - except there are only 20 spots and every class contains 32 students.

What makes this both laughable and pointless is the fact that once inside, students sit shoulder to shoulder at tables with zero distancing measures in place.

This is also after having just left a classroom which also has no distancing measures in place, as the rooms are far too small for it to be possible.

Pointless and unsafe meetings

On the first in-service day alone, I had three compulsory meetings held indoors in meeting rooms with no distancing measures in place. Every single one of these meetings could easily have taken place over video.

They were also so unessential, they could have been covered in an email. International teachers feel that their health is being put at risk, while Swedish teachers wonder what all the fuss is about.

This puts a huge strain on staff interpersonal relations, when everyone is just doing what they feel is best.

To say that I am nervous about the students returning is an understatement.

To say that I don’t feel that either the Swedish government or the country’s schools are taking the threat seriously enough does not do the lack of response justice.

I sincerely hope that my school is the exception and not the rule, but I have seen too many people flouting the already minimal restrictions over the summer to hold out much hope.

Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention, though - they did put an extra bottle of hand sanitiser at reception.

The author is a teacher at an international school in Sweden