Askersunds flickskola (Askersund Girls' School), 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'' (The Prince Oscar Boys' and Girls' Secondary Educational Academy).

History

The school was founded by the well off intellectual apothecary Carl Göransson, who was active in Stockholm but was raised in Askersund. Interested in educational issues, he founded an educational society in Askersund, who founded the secondary education school for boys as well as that for girls. The school was not founded for economic reasons, but out of discontent over the education of females, which was at the time a debated issue in intellectual circles, and the school's program was at the time a unique innovation in Sweden. Askersunds flickskola employed the same educated (male) teachers as the adjoining secondary school for boys, and the academic quality of the education was therefore high. The principal, however, was always to be female: she was to function as teacher in practical household education and moral subjects, and guard the students. The principal was subject to the vicar and the school direction, not to the parents of the students, which was an innovation and unique at the time concerning schools open to girls. As was normal for academic secondary educational girls' schools, the education was costly and the students were normally from the middle classes. An exception was given to students related to the founders of the school. At the time of the introduction of the compulsory

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

in Sweden in 1842, only five schools in Sweden provided academic secondary education to females: the others being Societetsskolan (1786), Fruntimmersföreningens flickskola (1815) and Kjellbergska flickskolan (1833) in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, and Wallinska skolan (1831) in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. Of these five schools, Askersunds flickskola and Wallinska skolan were considered to offer the highest academic quality to their students.

References

*Marianne Johansson: En studie av synen på kvinnor och högre utbildning. I samband med läroverksreformen 1927 *{{cite web, url=http://staff.www.ltu.se/~tomas/KvinnligaMatematiker08/kvinnligamatematikerA.pdf, format=PDF, title=Flickskola i Sverige, website=Staff.www.ltu.se, accessdate=27 February 2019 * Gunhild Kyle (1972). Svensk flickskola under 1800-talet. Göteborg: Kvinnohistoriskt arkiv. ISBN Educational institutions established in 1812 Educational institutions disestablished in 1906 Girls' schools in Sweden Defunct schools in Sweden 1812 establishments in Sweden 1906 disestablishments in Sweden