Wallinska skolan

Prayer hall in Wallinska skolan, 1908

Wallinska skolan (Wallin School) or Wallinska flickskolan (Wallin Girl's School), was a Swedish Girls school in Stockholm, active from 1831 until 1939. It was one of the first five schools in Sweden to offer serious academic education and secondary education to female students. In 1870, it became the first Gymnasium (school) for females in Sweden, and in 1874, it became the first girl school permitted to issue first professional degrees to females.[1]

History

It was founded by the historian Anders Fryxell upon suggestion by bishop and writer Johan Olof Wallin in 1831. The school was not founded for economic reasons, but out of discontent over the contemporary shallow education of females at the finishing schools, which was at the time a debated issue in intellectual circles. It long remained as the only girl school in the capital of Stockholm to give its students equal education to that of boys. In accordance with its rules, it was managed by two principals: one male and one female, in parallel.

At the time of the introduction of the compulsory elementary school for both genders in Sweden in 1842, it was one of only five schools in Sweden to provide academic secondary education to females: the others being Societetsskolan (1786), Fruntimmersföreningens flickskola (1815) and Kjellbergska flickskolan (1833) in Gothenburg, and Askersunds flickskola (1812) in Askersund. Of these five schools, Askersunds flickskola and Wallinska skolan were considered to offer the highest academic quality to their students.

By two reforms in 1870 and 1873, women were given access to the universities in Sweden. To make this possible, access to the other levels of education was necessary, and the same year, Wallinska skolan became the first Gymnasium (school) for females in Sweden. In 1874, because it met with the demands stated in the Girl School Committee of 1866, Wallinska skolan was given governmental support: the same year, it became the first girl school in Sweden to win the right to issue first professional degrees to its students. It was one of the first four girl schools with this right, followed by Ateneum för flickor (The Ateneum for Girls), Lyceum för flickor (The Lyceum for Girls) in 1882, and Åhlinska skolan in 1894: no girl school outside of the capital was given this right before Tekla Åbergs högre läroverk för flickor in Malmö in 1898.

In 1939, the school was united with the Åhlinska skolan to the co-educational Wallin-Åhlinska gymnasiet (Wallin-Åhlin Gymnasium) as a result of the new educational reform.

Notable students

A great number of notable personalities have been students at the school during its existence. Among them were: Karolina Widerström, Rosalie Roos, Ellen Fries, Anne Charlotte Leffler, Emilia Broomé, Anna Paues, Ellen Roosval von Hallwyl, Ebba von Eckermann, Fredrique Paijkull, Lydia Wahlström, Maria Cederschiöld, Gulli Petrini, Hanna Rydh and Naima Sahlbom.

References

  1. ↑ Evelina Wilhelmina Fahnehjelm, urn:sbl:15001, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Bengt Hildebrand.), hämtad 2015-05-11.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 15, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.