The shortage of teachers in Gällivare and Kiruna has been dire for many years. Therefore, the mining companies LKAB and Boliden have agreed with the municipalities that mining employees with teacher training should be able to return to school.
At LKAB, there are a number of teachers who left the school world to work in the mine, according to Åse Juhlin, LKAB's HR and communications director.
- If we can make it easier to get some to take the step to work within the school and thus facilitate the supply of teachers, we want to do it.
She continues:
- It is important to have attractive business locations and then you also need people who work in the other sectors as well.
The offer means that mine employees can take a leave of absence for up to three years to return to the teaching profession. At LKAB, they get to keep parts of the benefits available at the mining company, for example health care and compensation for dental care. Regarding the salary, it is something that the mining company will review on an individual level.
- We can imagine possibly compensating if the salary at school differs from what they have had at LKAB.
Nowhere in the country is unemployment as low as in Malmfälten. To attract teachers, the municipality has also introduced something called the Gällivare package. DN has previously told about 64-year-old Per Han who moved from Stockholm to Gällivare for a job as a junior high school teacher:
- Right now it feels like the red carpet has been rolled out for me, but you can ask me in a year, he told DN.
Petter Lundin is chairman of the Teachers' Union in Gällivare and middle school teachers. He is positive about the so-called Gällivare package, and really everything that is done to increase the number of qualified teachers in schools.
- We have new employees in the municipality and I think it is fantastic that the municipality is actually acting. But we cannot force those who have moved here to stay.
The union wants to see long-term solutions.
- We feel that there is constant restraint when it comes to the economy. Many of the teachers feel, for example, that there is no money to buy teaching materials. And then we won't even talk about the salaries.
He says he understands that teachers have left the profession for a mining job. The conditions and working hours may sound attractive, he says.
- The mining job is a job that you leave when you go home. Our members don't do that directly.
Petter Lundin sees increased competitive salaries and better working conditions as two things that are needed to both attract new staff and retain those who already work within the school.
- It is difficult to compete with the mine. I have worked as a teacher for almost 15 years and someone who comes straight from high school to a mining job can get paid as much as me. It doesn't feel so fun.
Ahead of the autumn semester 2026, no trained teacher has so far taken up the offer from the mining companies. But according to Åse Juhlin at LKAB, several have shown interest.
- We will have a meeting together with the schools in a few weeks. The idea is that those who have shown interest can get more information about what it would mean to change jobs for a short time.
