Before the Elemenary School Ordinance (Folkskolestadgan) of June 18, 1842, various forms of education were available to the people of rural Sweden. Who were the actors and what were their motives for teaching Swedish commoners to read, and sometimes even to write? Who took financial responsibility for teachers’ salaries and the building of schools, and what was the extent of their endeavours? What categories of teachers were there, and were there regional differences? Did the funds come from taxation, fees, or private donations? What changes occurred over time, and can we see any domino effects?
In the years 1768, 1812, 1825, and 1839, Royal committees were established to survey rural educational activities. The information provided to the committees by bishops, chapters, and the clergy has been a source of answers to most of the central questions of this thesis.
The geographical extent of the study is the Dioceses of Lund, Växjö, Kalmar, Göteborg, Västerås, and Halland. A comprehensive analysis of conditions in each diocese is supple¬mented by reports on financial conditions at the parish level. Despite the fact that there is considerable variation in both questions and answers at the different points in time and between regions, some patterns can be discerned, such as:
•number of schoolchildren, time spent at school, different categories of teacher, construction and upkeep of school buildings•teachers’ income and other conditions of employment, such as resident or itinerant, payment in cash or in natura as well as other benefits such as meals, lodging, and fuel•cost of salaries, school buildings and upkeep, fees extracted per parishioner and/or per child taught, and monies donated by the church, crown, or private citizens.
The church and, later, the state, were eager to regulate and govern the education of the populace, but neither seems to have been forthcoming in contributing to its financing. The parishioners were obliged to cover most of the costs themselves. The Diocese of Lund is in all respects in the forefront, for example with regard to the number of children in schools, permanent school buildings, and resident teachers. The Diocese of Västerås was also strong; according to the last investigation every parish had some form of resident teacher. The remaining dioceses in the study rarely had the means to finance general education outside of the home, although some progress was made in individual parishes.
Uppsala: Forskningsgruppen för utbildnings- och kultursociologi, Uppsala universitet , 2011. , p. 251