Swedish students are simultaneously facing declining academic results, mental ill-health, and anxiety about the future. Now, Us together is launching a new, standalone curriculum featuring 154 learning objectives for self-leadership, relationships, and health – spanning from preschool to upper secondary school.
The latest PISA results have once again brought the question of how the Swedish school system can strengthen student learning to the forefront. At the same time, mental ill-health, school stress, and worry about the future are recurring issues among children and young people.
However, the mission of the school system is not solely about what students can demonstrate on a test. Students also need to develop the ability to understand themselves, manage emotions and setbacks, build secure relationships, make well-considered decisions, and see opportunities for the future.
This is the starting point for Us together, which is now launching a new, standalone curriculum in self-leadership, relationships, and health. It contains 154 concrete learning objectives distributed across 17 themes, with gradual progression from preschool through upper secondary school.
– When we talk about school performance, the discussion often revolves around academic results, order, and study peace. But students also need to train abilities that help them apply their knowledge, manage stress, build functioning relationships, and make well-considered decisions. These are capabilities that develop over time.
From emotions and boundaries to future choices
The curriculum is built on six core abilities that develop throughout a student’s schooling, equipping them with tools to understand, apply, and integrate knowledge into their lives:
- Get to know yourself and lead yourself – self-awareness, self-regulation, responsibility, and decision-making.
- Build secure and healthy relationships – empathy, communication, trust, and conflict management.
- Understand your body and your development – body, puberty, and health.
- Make conscious choices and respect boundaries – integrity, personal boundaries, and independent decision-making.
- Take responsibility for your health and well-being – physical and emotional health, risk prevention, and seeking support when needed.
- Think critically and choose with the future in mind – information, influence, digital environments, and long-term decision-making.
The goals are age-adapted. In preschool and early primary school, the focus centers on areas such as emotions, needs, personal boundaries, and empathy. In late primary/middle school, self-image, puberty, self-regulation, peer pressure, and social influence are introduced. In lower and upper secondary school, the work deepens around self-leadership, consent, integrity, critical thinking, digital influence, and future choices.
Faith in the future also needs to be practiced
The curriculum is based on the idea that faith in the future is not just about hope, but also about the ability to influence one’s situation – managing setbacks, understanding one’s motivators, evaluating information, seeking support, and making decisions with future consequences in mind.
– Faith in the future isn’t just about telling young people to believe in the future. It’s also about giving them the tools to shape it. That is why this work needs to begin long before students face choices regarding upper secondary school or their careers.
A complement that strengthens the academic mission of schools
The curriculum is designed to be integrated into regular school instruction and to strengthen students’ capacity to absorb, evaluate, and apply knowledge. It can be linked to subjects such as biology, social studies, and core values education (värdegrundsarbete).
The ambition is to foster long-term, gradual development around issues that might otherwise risk being addressed through one-off theme days or isolated interventions.
– We do not want to replace the academic mission of the school. Students need both subject knowledge and the capability to understand, evaluate, and apply it in their lives. The two perspectives need to reinforce one another.
Facts: The Curriculum
- 4 subjects: self-leadership, healthy relationships, healthy development, and sexual health
- 17 themes
- 154 learning objectives
- Preschool, preschool class, after-school care (fritidshem), compulsory school, and upper secondary school
- Designed for integration into regular school instruction
- Developed by the non-profit network Us together
- Us together is a national network building bridges between school, home, and society
Read the full curriculum here: https://sjalvledarskaprelationerochhalsa.net
