Wallinska skolan (Wallin School) or Wallinska flickskolan (Wallin Girls' School), was a girls' school in Stockholm, Sweden. Active from 1831 to 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 for females in Sweden, and in 1874, it became the first girls' school that was permitted to administer the Studentexamen to female students. [1]
The Wallinska skolan was founded in 1831 by the historian Anders Fryxell upon suggestion by the bishop and writer Johan Olof Wallin. The school was founded out of intellectual discontent over the contemporary shallow education of females in the contemporary finishing schools, such as Bjurströmska pensionen . Wallin convinced Fryxell that girls should be educated "with higher ambitions than to learn to speak French and play the klavér", because also women had the right to serious studies, and that it would surely prove to be needed in the future, which is why they were in need of a school "similar to that of the state Gymnasium (school) for boys". [2] [3] [4]
At the time of the introduction of compulsory elementary school for both genders in Sweden in 1842, it was one of only five schools in Sweden to provide serious academic secondary education to females, and it was the first of that kind in the capital: 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, and the Wallinska skolan was the most progressive of them all. [5] It was the fourth girls' school in Sweden and the first in the capital of Stockholm to give female students an almost equal education to that of boys, in accordance with a structured pedagogic method. [6] It was not an uncontroversial project, but Anders Fryxell had, reportedly, "the, for a principal of a radical pioneer school, invaluable talent to be able to handle parents". [7]
Wallinska skolan was managed by two principals in parallel, one male and one female. Upon its foundation, the school had five teachers and a student number of 33: the subjects were Christianity, Swedish, German, natural science, French, history, handicrafts and drawing. It was partitioned in four classes with the two first divided in four home works groups and the two later classes in three. The course was expansive and scientifically developed for its time. [8] The school year was long, with only a month's summer vacation and two weeks of Christmas vacation. The school gradually changed over the years by continuously adjusting itself to the contemporary progressive ideals of women's education, reforms which were generally controversial, but always introduced nonetheless. [9]
Wallinska skolan was to remain the only serious secondary education school for girls in the capital until the 1860s, when the Royal Seminary was founded and the other girls' schools in Stockholm, notably Åhlinska skolan which was founded by Karin Åhlin in 1847, started to reform into serious secondary schools. [10]
By two reforms in 1870 and 1873, women in Sweden were given access to university education. To make this possible, access to the other levels of education was necessary, and the same year, Wallinska skolan became the first gymnasium for females in Sweden: it formed its first gymnasium class in 1870, and two years later, the first of its students at this level, Johanna Levysohn, took her Studentexamen at the male Stockholm gymnasium. [11]
In 1874, because it met with the demands stated in the Girls' School Committee of 1866, Wallinska skolan was given governmental support. The same year, 1874, it became the first girls' school in Sweden to win the right to administer the studentexamen for its students. It was one of five girls' schools in Sweden to be given this right prior before 1900, followed by Ateneum för flickor (Ateneum for Girls), Lyceum för flickor (Lyceum for Girls) in 1882, Åhlinska skolan in 1894 and Tekla Åbergs högre läroverk för flickor in Malmö in 1898, the first outside the capital.
The reforms of the 1870s signified a breakthrough for the school, by then known as "Wallinium": the number of students increased from 70–80 to 250 during the 1870s, and Wallinska skolan long became nationally known as "the school where you could take the studentexamen" [12] and continue to university. The progressive reforms and expansion during the later half of the 19th-century were credited to Evelina Fahnehjelm (principal 1872–1898), who was given the Ilis quorum in recognition. In 1914, the number of students were 373, and the number of teachers 35. [13]
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.
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, Dr. Ellen Sandelin, Anna Lisa Andersson, Hanna Rydh, Naima Sahlbom, Elsa Stuart-Bergstrom, and Elsa Thulin. [14]
Johan Olof Wallin,, was a Swedish minister, orator, poet and later Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden between 1837–1839. He is most remembered today for his hymns.
Anders Fryxell was a Swedish historian.
Anne Charlotte Edgren-Leffler, duchess of Cajanello, was a Swedish author.
Hedvig Maria Reddita Cederschiöld, was a Swedish journalist and women's rights activist. She was the chief editor of the foreign office at Aftonbladet in 1909–1921, and the first woman in Sweden to hold such a position at a Swedish newspaper. She was also a secretary and vice chairperson of the Swedish branch of the International Council of Women.
Ellen Fries was a Swedish feminist and writer. She became the first female Ph.D. in Sweden in 1883. She was also involved in founding several women's organizations.
The Royal Seminary, fully the Royal Advanced Female Teachers' Seminary, was a normal school in Stockholm, Sweden. It was active from 1861 until 1943. It was the first public institution of higher academic learning open to women in Sweden.
Åhlinska skolan, or Åhlinska flickskolan, was a girls' school in Stockholm, Sweden. Active from 1847 to 1939, it was one of the first schools in Sweden that offered serious academic education to female students.
Societetsskolan i Göteborg för döttrar or simply Societetsskolan, was a Swedish girls' school managed by the congregation of the Moravian Church in Gothenburg from 1 November 1787 until 1857. It is referred to as the first girls' school in Sweden, because it was the first institution to provide serious academic secondary education to females.
Hilda Vilhelmina Elfving was a Swedish educator.
Kjellbergska flickskolan was a Girls' School in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was active between 1835 and 1967.
Uppsala högre elementarläroverk för flickor or Högre Allmänna läroverket för flickor was a pioneering Swedish girls' school and later women's college. Commonly referred to as Magdeburg, the school was located in Uppsala, Sweden and was active from 1865 until 1968.
Hammarstedtska skolan, also known as Hammarstedtska flickpensionen and Hammarstedtska pensionen was a Swedish Girls' school, active for most of the 19th century in Stockholm. It was regarded as one of the most exclusive of its kind in 19th-century Stockholm. The school was named after its principals, and therefore changed name several times: from the 1830s until 1881, it was therefore named as Bjurströmska pensionen, Kockska pensionen, Posseska pensionen and, finally, as Hammarstedtska pensionen.
Askersunds flickskola, was a Swedish girls' school in Askersund, active from 1812 until 1906. It was the second school in Sweden to offer secondary education to female students. Formally, Askersunds flickskola was a branch of the Askersund secondary educational school for boys. The schools were formally referred to as Prins Oscars goss- och flickläroverk.
Hilda Wilhelmina Josefina Caselli, or Casselli was a Swedish reform educator. She played an important role in the debate of educational issues and women's education in Sweden in the late 19th century. She served as principal of the Statens normalskola för flickor and vice principal of the Högre lärarinneseminariet, and became the founder of the regular national girls' school meetings, Flickskolemöte, in 1879.
Anna Rönström (1847–1920) was a Swedish educator. She was a local pioneer of female education in Lund, and the founder of the secondary education school Högre Elementarskolan i Lund for girls, also customarily known as Rönströmska skolan.
The Rossanderska kursen, also called Fröknarna Rossanders lärokurs för fruntimmer, and Jenny Rossanders Lärokurs för fruntimmer, was a female seminary in Stockholm, Sweden in 1865-1882. It played an important part in the history of the developing women's education in contemporary Sweden.
Helena Eldrup, was a Swedish educator. She was the first principal of the Kjellbergska flickskolan in Gothenburg from its foundation in 1835 until her death in 1872.
Therese Kamph (1836–1884), was a Swedish educator. She was the principal of the Kjellbergska flickskolan in Gothenburg from 1872 until her death in 1884. She is credited with having developed the school to one of the foremost institutions for secondary education for women in Sweden.
Gustafva Röhl (1798–1848), was a Swedish educator.
Maria Beata Catharina Henschen, also von Bergen was a Swedish school director. She founded Uppsala högre elementarläroverk för flickor in 1865.