Sweden's IES language teachers lose contracts after watchdog crackdown
More than 30 language teachers at the IES school chain have lost their permanent contracts and either been made redundant or moved into other roles after Sweden's Schools Inspectorate criticised the group for its use of teachers without a Swedish certification.
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More than 30 language teachers at the IES school chain have lost their permanent contracts and either been made redundant or moved into other roles after Sweden's Schools Inspectorate slammed the group for its widespread use of unlicensed teachers.
Sally Thornton, the vice chair of the IES division at the Swedish Teachers' Union, said that "about 30" teachers were affected, of which a handful had already been made redundant.
"IES didn't have the right to give these permanent contracts, so a lot of teachers are feeling depressed and angry because they thought that they were safe, and they weren't," she told The Local.
"We've been pushing really hard for some kind of compensation for those who had their permanent contracts torn up, but unfortunately we do not have the law on our side, because the law is that teachers need to be certified."
In June 2024, the Schools Inspectorate threatened "thoroughgoing sanctions" on IES's school in Norrtälje if it did not immediately stop using language teachers who lack a Swedish teaching certificate, the latest in a string of cases where the inspectorate has threatened fines over use of unlicensed language teachers.
IES makes use of an exception to the rule that teachers need a Swedish teaching licence, or lärarlegitimation.
Teachers of maths, science, and aesthetic subjects like art or music, are allowed to teach with teaching qualifications from their home country, allowing the chain to recruit thousands of teachers for these subjects from English-speaking countries.
The chain has, however, flouted the rules by also recruiting internationally for teachers of English, French, Spanish, German and other languages, ignoring the fact that teachers of these subjects do require a Swedish license.
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"Since 2022 the School Inspectorate is clear that if we are to be compliant, our international language teachers, who have not yet obtained Swedish teaching credentials, and who cannot be reassigned to other roles or teach other subjects in the school, cannot have permanent employment," Catarina Friborg, the group's head of human resources, told The Local.
"We are therefore encouraging all our international teachers to take a Swedish teaching license, and we are offering all our employees the opportunity to study Swedish during working hours," she added.
Most of those affected by this year's crackdown, she said, had been given jobs teaching maths, science, and aesthetic subjects, or else moved to teaching fritids, or "after-school care", with only a few made redundant.
Thornton said that while the union supports the Schools Inspectorate's position that all teachers should have Swedish qualifications, it believed that IES should have acted sooner.
Above all, she said, the chain should have offered the affected teachers the chance to study during work hours for a Swedish license, which among other things, requires proficient (C2-level) Swedish.
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"At every yearly budget meeting for the past few years, we've said, 'we need more resources for our teachers [to get certified]. They have had an online course but very few teachers take it because we have a lot to do. We don't have that much free time."
"They have offered days off without pay, but we think, from the union side, that if you bring teachers over here, then you should actually take responsibility for them and help them learn the language."
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