CLS is happy to welcome Kristin Arnberg to her new position at the Swedish School in Lisbon. With experience as headmaster from both private and public schools in Sweden and an international education, Kristin seems to be a perfect match for her new role. And, all CLS look forward to meet and introduce Kristin to our Swedish Portuguese community. Get to know more about Kristin in her letter to our community!
Hi,
My name is Kristin Arnberg, and I have just taken up the position as headmaster for the Swedish School in Lisbon. The school was founded as early as 1957, and hosts some 80 students spanning from pre-school to grade 6.
This will be my fourth position as headmaster, and I'm really excited with the challenge to work at a Swedish school abroad. I have gathered experience in the role as headmaster in both private and municipal schools in my hometowns Norrköping/Söderköping as well as Stockholm, the latter where I also lived for over a decade. My most recent position was at Kunskapsskolan, where I oversaw the expansion in a new business field aimed at skills development with clients in both the public and private sector. In this role we frequently cooperated with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce to match skills, educators and talent, and I witnessed first hand the benefits of working together with the Chamber.
Getting my original university degree as a certified teacher in Swedish, Literature and Spanish for upper secondary high school, it is hardly any surprise that my next personal challenge is to learn Portuguese as quickly as possible.
At the Swedish School there are already competent and experienced staff working with the students each day. I consider my work as a leader and organiser, providing our teachers and co-workers with the tools they need to perform at their best in the classrooms and at the school yard. By enabling our employees, we ensure a top-end education and that every student is seen and encouraged. It's an important work where our effort is rewarded in equal measure.
Besides studies in Sweden, Spain and Ecuador, I have also completed the Headmaster program and the so called "rektorslyftet". As an educator by profession, I find it very rewarding to often put myself in different learning situations as a student. The last few years I have designed various bespoke courses for clients with a broad array of requirements, thereby picking up further experience in group & team development, communication, setting and achieving goals, and personal and global leadership.
My predecessor was both highly respected and very succesful, setting the standard for where a school of this pedigree should be. My recipe for success will contain equal amounts of humility, curiosity and outright joy at taking on the challenge. Working in a new country will also be a special experience. While I have been to Lisbon and Portugal before, it is the first time I will actually live here. It was easy enough to convince my husband to come along. With an education in Astrophysics, he has spent the last decade in IT and today runs a tech company together with a good friend and business partner. Since he can work from pretty much anywhere, Portugal was not a very hard sell!
We are both born in Norrköping and share an interest for travelling and adventure, nature and city, diving, boat, football, literature and dog, while also spending time wtih family and friends.
Many thanks for your warm welcome, and I hope to meet you all soon!
All the best
Kristin Arnberg
