Anna Åfelt (1817—1884) was a
Swedish school teacher. She was one of the pioneers of elementary public schooling in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. She was one of the first Swedish women to become a qualified public school teacher, and was later employed as a regular full-time teacher.
Life
Anna Ã…felt was born on 16 January 1817, in
Vinslöv,
Scania
Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...
, Sweden, to a 22-year-old single mother, Benita Svensdotter. Being the child of an unmarried mother in the 19th century put them both in a precautious situation legally and socially.
From 1837 she was active in
Önnestad
Önnestad is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 1,378 inhabitants in 2010.
Anna Åfelt, one of the first Swedish women to be qualified as a public school teacher, taught in Önnesta ...
, training to become a teacher. When the state elementary public schooling was introduced in 1842, all of its teachers were required to have a teaching degree. She applied for a dispensation, and in 1847 was the first woman to gain a primary school teaching degree in
Lund
Lund (, ;["Lund"](_blank)
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...
.
She retired from teaching in 1874.
Like her mother, she remained unmarried. Anna Ã…felt died on 22 May 1884.
In 1942, on the 100th anniversary of the Swedish public schools' establishment, a memorial stone was built on her grave in Önnestad cemetery.
See also
*
Helena Larsdotter Westerlund
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ã…felt, Anna
19th-century Swedish educators
1817 births
1884 deaths
People from Hässleholm Municipality