I have written before about how we in the adult world are failing our children and young people when we do not ensure that the resources required to meet the overarching goals of the authorities are set aside. An equally serious, perhaps even more serious problem is the view we have of women in the patriarchal system in the world. You could say that it affects one half of the adult population. Including children, about two-thirds of the human population on earth.

Where should change take place if not in the small individual and in the local perspective? Everyone can do something. The first, and initially the biggest, change lies with ourselves. Make us think a little further than our purely egoistic perspectives with their desire to have more, more and more of everything.

In a society that is mowing faster and faster, the requirements on us as individuals is increasing day by day. Shall we move further into uniform education or to one that takes hight for our individual needs and qualifications?

The responsibility for maintaining and developing competence one has acquired and cultivated at school, within the family, or in the local community lies with the individual. This may seem harsh, but nobody else has a responsibility for one's life.

Rather than diving directly into pedagogy and the role of schools, this text takes a different approach. Pedagogy and its renewal will be the theme of a later text. This text starts from the premise of school as a safe place to be, as well as a space where focus is entirely on learning. This applies at all levels within the school system.

Something we don’t talk about openly is the needs of children with special requirements. Children with a wide range of challenges that manifest in different ways. Some challenges are purely physical or motor-related, others are, from society’s perspective, mental or cognitive challenges. To a large extent, these children are integrated into regular classes alongside children deemed more typical. If we can afford it, children with special needs attending a mainstream class have a support person assigned to them. However, this is not always the case; the class teacher, who already has too many children in the class, is expected to provide the extra support needed.