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LÄRARGALAN

MinelslobcyieGtåyrd

Teachers’ contributions to

society take centre stage

Lärargalan Foundation has been presenting annual awards to the best
teachers in Sweden since 2016. Initiator Beata Kull is aiming to reinforce the

role of the profession by shining a light on teachers from all over Sweden.
Lärargalan is now an important activity and platform for recognising the
efforts of talented teachers, supporting their work and passing on their

expertise to other teachers in the profession.

Founder Beata Kull recognised the importance of good teachers “It’s brilliant to see the commitment from students in Sweden.
at an early stage. Kull discovered interests, learned new We received 700 nominations back in 2016, but now nearly 40,000
things and built up self-confidence in the classroom. But the students are choosing to nominate their teachers for the Lärargalan
Lärargalan concept first occurred to her when she visited the US when awards. The ever-increasing number of nominations is an indicator of
she was 18. This was where she encountered a culture that celebrated how much teachers mean to their students. The Lärargalan awards
teachers’ efforts; Sweden had absolutely nothing like it at the time. create a brand-building platform for the profession by presenting
awards to the best teachers in Sweden. The teaching profession
“I was a shy little girl, but my ambitious and talented teachers made is complex. This profession has the greatest understanding of the
sure I eventually was brave enough to do my own thing. But I felt many situation, needs and abilities of each new generation. This has to be
teachers never received the attention and recognition they deserved. put to good use.”
So that’s why I was pleasantly surprised by the American view of the
teaching profession, which went on highlighting and celebrating the DEVELOPING A SHARING PLATFORM FOR LESSONS
role of teachers in society. That was when I decided this approach The foundation is working on a number of other activities besides
should be reinforced in Sweden – and that was the starting point for the Lärargalan awards. Lärargalan has just launched a new platform,
what happens now.” Masterteacher.se, which encourages expertise exchange between
teachers. This platform will allow teachers to share their successful
40,000 NOMINATIONS lesson plans with other teachers.
The annual Lärargalan awards showcase the important work that all
teachers in the country do. What makes the Lärargalan awards unique “We’ve been working on a voluntary basis at Lärargalan for the last
is the fact that students are involved in influencing and deciding which couple of years in order to develop the platform. The reason why we’re
teachers should win. Giving students the opportunity to nominate their developing the platform is that teachers’ efforts to create, interesting
own teachers provides the school system and everybody else with an lessons can take a lot of time. So we wanted to make their work easier.
insight into the characteristics and qualities of teachers. This creates Allowing teachers to save time, this platform will provide a way to build
role models in the profession, and society can draw inspiration from their own brand. We’re hoping that all teachers will join in and work
them. together to take lessons to exciting new levels.”

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