In my previous Youtube video titled, “So frustrated with Sweden,” published September 29, 2026, I talked about “skolresa,” which is the Swedish term for a school field trip.
I am going to discuss this subject in more depth because I have always felt school field trips are interesting and are very important experiences for students. I would also like to hear experiences and insight from others regarding school field trips regardless of which country one lives in.
When I was a child growing up in Southern California I remember a number of field trips I went on with my school. In fact, field trips are some of the most memorable experiences I have from childhood. I recall going to Oak Glen, CA, a very popular tourist destination, as well as Joshua Tree National Park, the Palm Springs Art Museum and the Salton Sea. At the end of 5th grade my class went on an overnight trip at a camp to celebrate completing elementary school.
The Salton Sea field trip was actually largely organized by the Parent Teacher Association chapter at my elementary school which my mom was greatly involved with. She even attended the field trip as a chaperone.
However in the late ’90s and early ’00s I remember hearing about funding being cut in public education and field trips becoming less frequent. I am not sure how schools conduct field trips today in California, if they even conduct them at all.
Fast forward to 2016, I moved to Sweden to a small village in the far north, near the city of Gällivare. I started working as a substitute at the nearby elementary school, called “förskola” in Swedish. The upper level of the school, called “grundskola” in Swedish, was grades Kindergarten-6th and had less than 20 students, so it was a very small school.
But I will tell you I was surprised to see this small school organize an annual skolresa (“field trip”) for five years in a row. The staff, parents and students worked hard to raise money for the trip by hosting yard sales (“loppis” in Swedish), fundraisers and other projects. The students traveled to exotic destinations such as Stora Sjöfallet (close to Gällivare), Luleå, Sweden, Rovaniemi, Finland, Lofoten, Norway and even Tromso, Norway.
I was actually surprised that the school was given permission to travel to Tromso since it was over a 6 hour drive from the school, which I considered to be a very long trip for small children. But this trip did show that the school somehow managed successfully to raise the funds despite the high expenses for transportation, hotel and food.
As you can imagine, I was excited for my daughter to participate in a skoleresa, not just for the trip itself but also for the experience of working with classmates, teachers and parents to do fundraising. It is a great opportunity to socialize, work towards a goal and interact with the community.
When my daughter moved onto grundskola there was a staff change and then aftweards there were problems with maintaining staff during the school year. Unfortunately the skolresa was cancelled because of lack of staff. I tried to gather parents together to still plan a trip. A few parents stepped up but nothing ended up being organized.
I asked the staff person who had been the primary organizer of the skolresa for years if she could give advice about organizing fundraisers but she offered no assistance at all. She completely dropped any involvement with parents regarding the skolresa despite still working at the school part time.
It then became clear that the former staff at the school were the primary organizers of the skolresa, not the parents. This was conflicting for me because when I brought up the topic of skolresa on a local Facebook group I was repeatedly told by group members that the parents are solely responsible for organizing the trip and the school staff have no involvement. Yet at this school the staff were the primary organizers who not only organized transportation, food and hotel, but also the fundraisers. The parents themselves seemed to have little knowledge of how to do any planning at all, including organizing fundraisers.
It also happened that staff members’ own children were attending the school at the time, so it appears that they may have been motivated to organize trips mainly for their own children. Which, why not organize a trip through the school for their own children? Organizing a school trip allows them to dip into grant funding which means their children essentially travel to exotic locations without their own family having to pay for it.
I mention this because, again referencing to when I brought up skolresa in a local Facebook group, I was also told a number of times to forget the skolresa and go on a family trip instead. But what does going on a family trip mean? It means my family will have to shell out hundreds of dollars, even over $1,000 (10,000 sek) most likely, to pay for transportation, food, hotel and other expenses.
Not to mention it is difficult for my family to travel currently because I have small children that are difficult to manage on long trips, so it would actually be ideal for my daughter to go on a school trip instead so my other children can stay at home.
Ultimately I am seeking alternatives for my child to go on a school trip with other children her age, but it has been difficult. People here do not offer suggestions or help so it is not easy to find similar opportunities.
I feel sorry for the children here since not only are they missing out on a trip where they can learn about culture and history in the region, they are also not working together on a team project, not gaining the experience of fundraising and are not developing a sense of pride in their home.
I really hope there is more discussion about this among parents, and that parents become more involved and tell the schools what they prefer for their children. Organizing a skolresa is totally possible if parents put their minds to it, but if they do not then nothing will happen.
I published a video where I discuss this subject, you are welcome to view below.