{"id":5691,"date":"2017-03-17T17:45:49","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T17:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/2017\/03\/17\/swedish-sat-test-change-to-benefit-adventist-and-jewish-students\/"},"modified":"2017-03-17T17:45:49","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T17:45:49","slug":"swedish-sat-test-change-to-benefit-adventist-and-jewish-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/swedish-sat-test-change-to-benefit-adventist-and-jewish-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish SAT test change to benefit Adventist and Jewish students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>17 March 2017 | Stockholm, Sweden [Rainer Refsb\u00e4ck]&nbsp; On Thursday, 9 March, Swedish Radio news and other media highlighted that the small Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sweden is behind the change in how the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT) will be administered. Beginning in 2018 the test will be offered alternately on Sunday and Saturday, instead of only on Saturdays. The SweSAT, or h\u00f6gskoleprovet in Swedish is one important way to gain admission to higher education.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_5684\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5684\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright size-full wp-image-5684\" src=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm.jpg\" alt=\"Impact Scandinavia Ekebyholm\" width=\"250\" height=\"167\" class=\"caption\" style=\"margin: 5px; float: right;\" title=\"Scandinavian youth at an impact event, Ekebyholm Adventist school, Sweden. Photo: Christian Hjortland\/ADAMS\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-700x467.jpg 700w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news-2017_Impact_Scandinavia_Ekebyholm-560x373.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5684\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scandinavian youth at an impact event, Ekebyholm Adventist school, Sweden. Photo: Christian Hjortland\/ADAMS<\/figcaption><\/figure>Since the introduction of the SweSAT in the late 1970\u2019s it has only been administered on Saturdays. For many years the Adventist Church has challenged this situation on behalf of its Sabbath keeping students. In 2001 the Equal Treatment Law gave Adventist students legal grounds to ask for an alternative examination day. Since then a secret fallback test has been administered just once every five years. While other students may do the test over and over again, Adventist students had only one chance.<\/p>\n<p>Union President G\u00f6ran Hansen, along with Dr Bernard Osei-Fofie, a member of the Union Executive Committee, have been engaged in dialogue over the issue with the Swedish Council of Higher Education for some time. In September 2016 the Council announced the SweSAT will be administered alternately on Saturdays and Sundays beginning 2018.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_5687\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5687\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignleft size-full wp-image-5687\" src=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16.jpg\" alt=\"Goran GCAC16\" width=\"250\" class=\"caption\" style=\"margin: 5px; float: left;\" title=\"G\u00f6ran Hansen, Swedish Union President\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-1100x619.jpg 1100w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-700x394.jpg 700w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-900x506.jpg 900w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/images_news_Goran_GCAC16-560x315.jpg 560w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5687\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">G\u00f6ran Hansen, Swedish Union President<\/figcaption><\/figure>However, it was only in the past week the news about the change was released to the media. Hansen was interviewed both by Swedish Radio and the Christian daily newspaper Dagen. All the major newpapers in Sweden have covered this news. Other members and pastors have been contacted by local media regarding this matter.<\/p>\n<p>Not all coverage has been positive. In the highly secular Swedish society media have questioned how a small Christian Church of no more than 2,871 members, can exert such an influence on a government agency and make it change its rules for religious reasons. They asked why this is so important when in one year no more than ten students ask for the alternative examination day among the 80,000 people taking the test?<\/p>\n<p>Hansen explained that it is not a question about numbers but rather one of equal treatment. The reason for the low number of students taking the alternative SweSAT is due to the fact that you can only take it once. In the past this has made many Adventists and Jews compromise with their conscience, forcing them to take the test on a Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Swedish Council of Higher Education spokesman, \u00c5ke Lernefalk, explained in a radio interview that the fallback test is expensive to produce and the Council sympathizes with the Adventist Church request for a better solution. Offering the SweSAT on Saturdays and Sundays alternatively is a sensible alternative, and he added that this arrangement will be beneficial to many, regardless of religious beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is with great satisfaction that we have been able to come to this solution to make it possible for our young to have equal opportunities to enter into higher education,\u201d Hansen concluded. [<em>ted<\/em>NEWS]<\/p>\n<p>See also:<br \/>Swedish Radio news <a href=\"http:\/\/sverigesradio.se\/sida\/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&amp;artikel=6648089\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report in English<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>ted<\/em>NEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Esti Pujic, associate editor<br \/>119 St Peter&#8217;s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England<br \/>E-mail:&nbsp;<span id=\"cloak1c6082dd5c87472bbc711a29faff2a9b\"><span id=\"cloak4e6548daa2fbc8a9689b8eec308e92d2\"><span id=\"cloak342811fae8b0bc2e6015ff26c68b1b0b\"><span id=\"cloakcbda8d0a199e6ffee4fbb8fa9d22b662\"><span id=\"cloak17fb570c05b13281b73dcd1652d1d545\"><span id=\"cloak567904290b4957bf6fa9009f3fa5258a\"><span id=\"cloak0ba7953f84a803b1e1b7d5065dc32d8e\"><span id=\"cloak4b005f53c5a38d3b1b8a9ea904e26023\"><span id=\"cloak16b960c1679c6e2180590c0a71e3fa93\"><span id=\"cloak773fe32719faff519d64d0160c9271b0\"><span id=\"cloak35085232a5ff5bbeff31787b8540238a\"><span id=\"cloak657b1df2cc1de525d4945fa8b511ed52\"><span id=\"cloak9104de432f8c33bf066dc06fdea34021\"><a href=\"mailto:tedNEWS@ted.adventist.org?subject=tedNEWS\">tednews@ted.adventist.org<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><br \/>Website: www.ted.adventist.org<br \/><em>ted<\/em>NEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>17 March 2017 | Stockholm, Sweden [Rainer Refsb\u00e4ck]&nbsp; On Thursday, 9 March, Swedish Radio news and other media highlighted that the small Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sweden is behind the change in how the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT) will be administered. Beginning in 2018 the test will be offered alternately on Sunday and Saturday, instead of only on Saturdays. The SweSAT, or h\u00f6gskoleprovet in Swedish is one important way to gain admission to higher education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1571,7,1593],"tags":[178],"class_list":["post-5691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-educational-entities","category-news","category-sweden","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}