Organisation, attendance, and gained knowledge: a case-study of local variations in parish schools and ironworks schools in northern Sweden

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sweden’s first Elementary School Act of 1842 stated that every parish was obliged to organise and fund schools to be offered to all children in the parish. Many parishes were poor and had a difficult time funding schools. In some parishes, local industries, such as ironworks, organised, funded, and managed schools for their workers. Even though state regulations might have striven for more comprehensive schooling, parishes faced different local conditions that could have affected school organisation and results. This study examines four elementary schools in northern Sweden to analyse differences and similarities caused by local conditions and local actors. Two of the schools were ironworks schools and two were parish schools, and they are studied from the 1840s through the 1860s. This case study of the Robertsfors and Gideåbruk ironworks schools and the Bygdeå and Gideå parish schools focuses on the school organisation, school subjects, children’s attendance, and reported gained knowledge. The research questions are: how were the four schools organised in their local communities? Which subjects were taught in the schools? How were the children’s reported attendance and gained knowledge? What similarities and differences can be seen among the four local school cases? The results indicate both similarities and differences. One school, Gideåbruk ironworks school, reported higher attendance and higher results, traceable to variations in local actors and local conditions in Gideåbruk. The Gideåbruk ironworks and its role in the community seem to be crucial for the ironworks school organisation.