Leisure-time centres to become more focused on learning

“Now, the University of Gävle gathers around 400 leisure-time pedagogues for two days focused on the role of the leisure-time centre today. It is very rewarding that this group can meet and discuss their experiences,” says Liselotte Sjöström Wallin, coordinator at the University of Gävle.

The meeting is organised by the University of Gävle and the Mid Sweden University and is a meeting place for Gävleborg and Västermanland above all.

The aim is to disseminate the University’s knowledge about how to fulfil the mission given the leisure-time pedagogues, a mission which has gradually changed over time.

“Our focus is to discuss what this holistic view on the pupils’ learning means to the leisure-time centres and for the collaboration with the school teachers,” Liselotte Sjöström Wallin says.

The mission has changed

The mission for the leisure-time centre has been changed and clarified. One chapter in the curriculum now focuses on teaching in the leisure-time centre and about the abilities that are to be trained here.

The aim has been to clarify that the whole day at school is important, that learning doesn’t only occur in the classroom and that it occurs in different ways.

Play-based learning

At the leisure-time centres, outdoor activities are in focus. Group processes and social abilities are important and the idea is to strengthen learning via playing.

“If I as a teacher talk about the time of the Vikings with the children and they later run out to play Vikings, something happens. Everything happens in the playing.”

“The leisure-time centres also give newly arrived children a greater chance to develop both their everyday language and their school language, and they need both.”

Leisure-time pedagogue: a profession for the future

There is programme for leisure-time pedagogues at the University of Gävle. It is a specialisation of the programme for compulsory school teachers, and last spring our first students graduated.

The profession has evolved: it is possible to become a licensed leisure-time pedagogue today and it will become compulsory in the future.

“There is a great demand for leisure-time pedagogues; it is a profession for the future,” Liselotte Sjöström Wallin concludes.

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Leisure-time centres in Sweden 

Leisure-time centres’ mission is to complement the preschool and school activities by stimulating the pupils’ development and learning, by offering a meaningful leisure-time, by promoting comprehensive social interaction and by building a sense of community.

Above all, the leisure-time centre is a place for our youngest. 80 percent of our school children from the age of 6 until the age of 12 attend a leisure-time centre.

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For more information, please contact:
Lisa Sjöström Wallin, coordinator at the University of Gävle
Tel: 026-64 89 94, 070-212 89 94
Email: liselotte.s.wallin@hig.se

Text: Douglas Öhrbom