Popular education, Folkskolan: The Elementary School
In 1992 the 150th anniversary of the Swedish elementary school was celebrated, but it was not with the 1842 Elementary School Statute that popular education started. There was a well-developed system of popular education much earlier. Nor was it the case that the elementary school was all prepared once the statute had been adopted. Swedish popular education has very deep roots. Put simply, through the Reformation Christianity became a book religion. The sermon became the central element in the cult and church books, primarily the psalm book and the small catechism, carried very great weight. Sven Hartman 259 10880 Gbgs Universitet _direkt 07-04-10 11.52 Sida 259 The programme of popular education was filled out. It was stressed more and more that it was not enough to know the catechism by heart, one also had to be able to read ‘and see with thine own eyes what God in His holy word offers and commands’.
The 1686 Ecclesiastical Act was an important milestone for Swedish popular education. It indicated effective methods of checking that the population was fulfilling the obligations prescribed by the educational programme. The Act made parents and masters responsible for teaching their children and servants to read. It charged the clergy to check and record, by means of oral examinations at