Gothenburg City

What was the challenge you faced and needed to address when you first decided to use AV1?

It is a classic scenario for AV1. A headmaster said we have this dilemma: “We have a student that can’t come to school because they have a serious illness. How can we solve this?

We started looking at what options there were and what technology was available. Pretty quickly we discovered AV1, and also found out that the cancer foundation here in Sweden was using them. At that point, they had been using them for about a year and only one municipality was using them. That’s where we saw that we could increase our support and tools to help children that can’t come to school.

We started by renting 12 AV1s, starting with a five-month pilot project that was very positive and from that we purchased the 12 AV1s then eventually further down the line we purchased another 8 so we have 20 AV1s now.

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Before you were using AV1, what other kinds of interventions did you have to support students with long-term absence?

Generally people used home schooling. People were also being taught in hospital schools by hospital teachers.

Reflecting back, something we now know is really important is access to high quality teaching. You may get that in some subjects with a home tutor or hospital teacher, but they don't provide access to a variety of teachers with their individual experiences and qualifications. For example, I could go to a pupil's home and teach them English or History really well, but I can’t teach them Mathematics, Biology or Chemistry to the same standard. So that is what we saw – by using a AV1 robot you can have access to every single teacher, and therefore access to high quality teaching.

‍We also saw – certainly for children going through cancer treatment – that it wasn’t possible for tutors to go to the student's home anyway because of the risk of infection. This was something that was especially highlighted during Covid, although during Covid we couldn’t use our AV1s to the same extent.

What were the outcomes you were trying to achieve when you first started using AV1, and how does that compare to now?

When we started using AV1s we had three groups of children we were using them with. The most obvious were children who were sick, who had a serious illness or a large operation which meant that they couldn’t be in school for a longer period. We also saw we had a problem with children who had problematic school attendance (also known as EBSA or school avoidance) and weren’t coming to school. We also had challenges with children who were living under protection, with protected identity.

We saw very clearly that children who were sick were very easy to use AV1 with. Children with problematic school absence posed more of a challenge. Children in protective homes also had some challenges but it was fairly easy once we worked through them.

So we started to get experience and started to document all the challenges and what worked and what didn’t work. But five years down the line and about 150 different children have received one of our AV1s. So we have a huge bank of experience and resources so we can help new schools when they start using AV1.

Of those 150 uses, about 70% have been used properly and have been successful. For children who are sick, they usually work every single time. It’s only if they are too sick or something like Covid that stops us using them.

We have improved how we use them for children with problematic school attendance, but there are still areas we need to be better. Firstly, identifying the right student from the beginning is crucial; there is no point giving an AV1 robot to a child if they just refuse to use it, or the parents, teachers or school refuse to use it. Another issue is if schools request to use AV1, go through the process but it doesn’t get used. This tends to happen when a student is sick and they want an AV1 immediately, but something happens like the operation gets pushed back, or the child continues coming to school. But this is a very interesting thing we have noticed, that even if the AV1 isn’t used, it can be a security for the child. In many cases the child has received an AV1, thought ‘oh great I have an AV1 waiting in the cupboard’ in case they do have to go off sick. So it can work as a support even if the AV1 doesn’t get used, knowing it is available. I’m almost tempted to have just a box or a husk of an AV1 to place in the classroom.

Is the success rate different depending on the reason for absence?

Problematic school absence has a success rate of about 60-65%. For children who are sick, the success rate is about 90%. So I guess it is a success rate of 70% in total.

How do you measure success?

I tend to do surveys with the schools who are using, or have used, AV1. So I get the feedback of ‘Yes, it has been successful. The child is in school every day, where previously they hadn’t been in school for a year.’ So just that is a success. Also, even if they aren’t reaching attainment goals in every subject, there is an improvement.

For a child who has had an operation and been out of school for six weeks, success might be different. If they have been able to follow lessons through AV1, and they’ve been able to reach their goals, then that is a success.

Another example is children who are in their final year of school. If they are able to get into their next school (e.g. senior school or college) thanks to learning they got through AV1, that is a success for them.

Those are the things that are easy to measure. The things that are difficult to measure are contact with classmates and teachers, and if their social interactions have improved. It is also difficult to measure if at one point in time they are on their way to attaining their goals.

Twice a year I do surveys with the school, then also when a robot intervention has been completed. We tend to chat and see how things have gone. So we do document success.

Are 20 AV1s able to meet your needs?

One of the dilemmas we’ve had in Gothenburg is that we’ve had many restructures so it’s not always easy for me to reach all the schools. We have 140 schools in Gothenburg so it’s difficult for me to access them all and share information about our AV1 service. What we notice is that schools that have used AV1 will come back and use them again. But we do know that a lot of schools have never even had one. Informing our schools that the AV1 is available is a challenge.

We do have a waiting list today, so we could do with having more. For example, I went and collected an AV1 from a school on Monday and by today, Wednesday, that is already out with another school. I’ll pick another one up tomorrow that I will check, charge and send out to another school right away. So that is one positive thing of managing AV1s as a central organisation; we can use our resources very effectively. But we could do with having at least 50% more AV1s.

Gothenburg has the highest number of schools organised by the municipality. I work 50% just on the robots.

How do you see the future of AV1 at Gothenburg?

AV1 is definitely a tool that will be around for a long time I think. We could do with more. We’ve seen the product improve. At the same time we are improving our experience, and therefore improved how we use it and educate the schools about it. I certainly think some of the new features are good, such as the green light to show the student has raised their hand. I’d like to see more emoji eye expressions. If I look back five years, the technology is a lot more stable than it was. It’s definitely a tool we’ll be using in the future.

What we do have a challenge with is the school law. We interpret it in a way we aren’t sure we are supposed to. We think they are worried that if they change the law to make telepresence technology available, it’ll open the door to a lot more students staying at home. So that is one of our thoughts – that school law really does need to adapt. There are municipalities out there who refuse to use it because they’re saying they don’t know if they have the legal right to do so. That still feels like something hanging over us even after five years of using them.

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Visit our page about the school law in Sweden here.

Anything else you’d like to add?

There’s one thing that sticks out. In Sweden, school is compulsory. There is a school law that says you have to go to school. In year 9, the last year of compulsory school, you should attend school every day.

But if in the last term of year 9 you have a student who is not attending school, you need to make sure they can reach their goals as much as possible. Forcing them back could mean that they drop out completely. Instead, focus on setting them up so that they can get into the next school where they can start a new course or programme they have chosen themselves, new teachers and new classmates. So that’s something we notice – quite a few students in the last year tend to bail out. But if they can just make it through the last term, get the grades they need to move onto the next stage, I think that is something important to focus on. I have a phrase I use ‘Don’t force the issue, just make sure they can get into the next one.'

We’ve also got a lot of new material. I introduce the AV1, go through the introduction, look at 'Why AV1?', the school law, and how to implement AV1. Then we focus on the school’s individual needs.

I have a ‘ladder’ for problematic school absenteeism. This shows that you need to have certain things in place as a starting point, which includes starting off small, finding out which subjects and teachers they have a good relationship with. Then there are different ways of starting. It doesn’t have to be in the class, it could just be with friends. I always include the question it’s important to ask: ‘Do we cement Problematic School Absence by using digital tools? Do we make it worse?’ The answer is yes, it is a risk if you don’t do things right from the beginning. So then we talk about the important success factors for AV1. Then, once all this is in place, the school can apply for an AV1 and go through our recommended process for planning, implementation and follow-up.

It’s a job we have together to push things forward – I believe in a sharing culture where we help each other.

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Dominic has kindly made his detailed presentation available to other organisations that use or are looking to us AV1. Contact us and we will email it to you.