Upper secondary school

Fredrik Malm (L)

Mr. Speaker! Upper secondary school is a very important part of the Swedish school system. It is also a quite essential part of youth and adolescence, one can state.

Gymnasiet is important insofar as it is then that one chooses a specialization. One does not do that in primary and secondary school, where all students read more or less the same thing. One must manage more advanced elements, and the personal responsibility increases.

The upper secondary school in Sweden is divided so that one is prepared for higher studies or prepared for working life. Many students who have arrived here during recent years are of upper secondary school age, and they need to quickly learn the Swedish language through, for example, first a language introduction in order to then enter an upper secondary program. The Swedish upper secondary school is important in many different ways. It also means that the primary school must function for the upper secondary school to function, in the same way as the upper secondary school needs to function for higher education to function.

Let me, Mr. Speaker, first say that the practical programs in upper secondary school are at least as important as the theoretical ones. For a long time in Sweden, there has been an attitude that the theoretical educations are a bit finer and a bit more important than the practical educations. This view has led to an increasing desire to theorize the practical educations in order to raise their status. But not everyone wants to become an academic, and not everyone can become an academic. Society would not function if everyone were an academic.

It is a bit strange, Mr. Speaker, but the parties that have primarily deprioritized practical vocational skills are precisely the parties that call themselves workers' parties. We see today a great need for vocationally trained labor. It concerns both upper secondary vocational competence and post-secondary vocational competence.

According to Svenskt Näringsliv's assessment of the needs in the Swedish labor market, approximately four out of ten in every age group should study a vocational program in upper secondary school. Today, that figure is approximately one-third. In my constituency, Stockholm city, it is a good bit under 20 percent who study vocational programs.

Skolverket has the mandate to produce regional planning documents to support the officials' planning, dimensioning, and provision of education. If one wants to increase the proportion of students studying vocational programs, it involves a changed dimensioning of the upper secondary programs, how many should study each program, and so on. It is about making the programs better adapted so that they lead to more students being able to go directly into jobs. That is what it is fundamentally about.

Now, the practical vocational programs will also lead to eligibility for higher education again. I want to be sincere and say that I truly hope that more young people choose the vocational programs, even if I am not as certain as many others in the chamber. I believe there are other factors that also influence, for example, the attitudes of young people that have changed over time, an ever-broadening middle class, the quality of vocational education and so on. It is not only the eligibility for higher education that affects the attractiveness of the programs. I hope that the change will increase the interest in studying the vocational programs in upper secondary school. It would be good for Sweden and for our labor market. But we will have to wait a few years to see how that change has affected things.

Mr. Speaker! However, in the discussion on the dimensioning of upper secondary school programs, one should also have a slightly longer perspective. I have raised this in several debates earlier in the years. Those who are studying in upper secondary school in Sweden today will be out in the labor market in Sweden well into the 2070s. During that time, the labor market will obviously change a lot. Individuals change too. Individuals change jobs or industries, take a new path in life, make new choices, move, and so on. This means that we must not stare blindly at certain abilities or dimension educations too narrowly based on shorter labor market forecasts. There are other values, foreknowledge, learning, and more.

But even other parts of the education system are at least equally important when it comes to skills supply and the labor market's needs, not least the university college, opportunities for retraining later in life, lifelong learning, adult education, and the new retraining study support. It is important to see this in the questions of dimensioning. Ultimately, there is a subject in the context, namely the young person who is to choose a upper secondary school. That person might not want to become a floor layer because we politicians think so, or that person might not want to become a scientist because we politicians think so. That person has their own will, and it is important to include that in the discussion about the design of the upper secondary school.

Mr. Speaker! High demands and high expectations in upper secondary school are a prerequisite for the students who proceed to university to succeed in their studies there, just as I have mentioned. The same applies to the students who leave primary school and start upper secondary school. If primary school fails in its educational mission, the quality of upper secondary school deteriorates, and if upper secondary school does not fulfill its educational mission, the quality and level of education at universities and colleges deteriorate.

In that perspective, it is important to point out that teaching in upper secondary school is best done in classrooms with trained teachers. Sweden's upper secondary students took on an enormous responsibility during the pandemic. The students who studied in upper secondary school during the pandemic years, therefore, spent half of their upper secondary time at a distance. They never received any real recognition for this, and that was because the focus was placed on those who were on the front line against the virus within healthcare and in other areas. But Swedish youth took on a huge responsibility during these years. The pandemic also showed that this was not good and that we must not make distance learning permanent, but it is important to emphasize that teaching is best done in the classroom.

Sweden also needs more engineers, and the journey begins in upper secondary school. The government ensures that natural sciences become a mandatory part of the technology program in upper secondary school. More students who take the technology program shall be given good conditions to pass, for example, biomechanics and develop the medicines of the future. Additionally, we also safeguard the elite classes in upper secondary school, both in terms of resources and in legislation. This has been a pilot project with nationally recruiting elite education in theoretical subjects. It will now become permanent.

With this, I vote in favor of the proposal in the report.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Niels Paarup-Petersen (C)

Mr. Speaker! The Member from the Liberals said some beautiful words in the rostrum, and I would like to begin by praising them. Practical training is just as important as theoretical training. I hope that felt like a reasonable quote.

It is good. But again, it is about the difference between words and actions. The government betrayed its election promise and reduced YH and yrkesvux in the budget for 2023. Furthermore, since then, they have closed the vocational schools, which allow one to specialize during upper secondary education. YH received 74 million kronor less in the budget. Then the government added some back again, but it is still a net minus.

It is very good that money is being added in retrospect, but they represent a lesser value because it is now so late that it becomes harder to create good educations, just as all the industrial organizations say. First you cut back, and then you put back some of the money and call it an investment. It is not serious politics, and it is absolutely not to show that the practical educations are as important as theoretical ones.

They are now shutting down completely decisive educations for an incredibly large number of industries. I believe it was the Energy Companies who said that these are vital educations for the expansion of green and sustainable energy in Sweden. What is the government doing? Are they expanding the practical educations that are so important? No, they are shutting down every single one of them. The practical educations are as important as Fredrik Malm and the government think. If one means that the practical educations are as important as the theoretical ones, we must assume that they will start shutting down the theoretical ones in the autumn.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Malm (L)

Mr. Speaker! Some beautiful words? I would say that Niels Paarup-Petersen forgot a word there, namely the word hundred. There are a few hundred beautiful words in my speech. A few, in fact, means two or more, according to Swedish dictionaries. But I thank you for this fine compliment.

There is also a difference between words and actions. It is sometimes also what is the difference between theory and practice - theory is many words, and practice is a bit more action.

Let me just state one thing, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is important when we discuss these issues that there are two perspectives, which are very important to keep in mind.

One thing is that Sweden created extensive temporary support during the pandemic. Those supports are not intended to be forever. We made major changes during the pandemic in many different ways. We even restricted our civil rights with various restrictions on freedom of assembly and other things. We did that temporarily, and it was necessary to do so.

The second thing we must see in this discussion is inflation. The fact is that inflation is what is currently eroding the quality in many operations, broadly across the whole society. If we do not get down the inflation, it will continue to erode the quality in various operations.

What the government is doing now is that we are back to a support for YH that is approximately what it was before the pandemic, in practice possibly slightly larger, and our ambition is to gear up more. Our ambition is to strengthen this. We do it with 900 new places for YH and for the municipal vocational adult education. For the vocational adult education, I believe it is 9,000 places that we are now investing in. It is incredibly important in this time, and we will continue to gear up that work.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Niels Paarup-Petersen (C)

Mr. Speaker! There were surely more beautiful words. Fredrik Malm is a man who has the word in his power, so there were surely more. I can stand behind that. But I focused on a few specific ones, and that is what I shall do this time as well.

The Prime Minister was suggesting that we temporarily restricted civil and civil rights. One could say that this government is well on its way to restricting some permanently. We shall have to see how that turns out.

But that there has been inflation, that things have become more expensive, is an incredibly poor argument for giving authorities less money. It is not as if the university college, because things have become more expensive, can create more educational places with less money.

If you actually want to increase the number of places, especially when there is inflation, you have to provide more money. The fact that you removed 74 million in the autumn budget and now included 70 million, I believe that was, becomes a minus. It is fewer. It is less. One was larger; the other is smaller. Before it was large; now it is smaller. I don't know how I can explain it better. This is math for grade 1. It should work here in the Riksdag too.

There has been less money. There will be fewer places – at the same time as things have become more expensive and at the same time as Swedish companies are crying out for competence. That is the reality that is. That is why all business organizations think it is shitty and bad and are crying out for more places. It is not because they are against the government; it is because the government has done something that is not good and which has shown that, in practice, one does not prioritize practical education. In that case, it does not help to stand in the speaker's chair and say something else.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Malm (L)

Mr. Speaker! There are two problems with Niels Paarup-Petersen's reasoning. One is that it is not true. The other is that it is wrong. It is somewhat difficult to argue against something when one has such completely different perceptions of reality regarding how things are.

We have made major investments in welfare and major investments in the school area in the budget bill that applies for this year. In the year-end budget, by tradition, no major investments occur. It has been so for many years that the major investments do not come in that one but in the budget bill in the autumn.

We are nevertheless making major investments in the school area now – larger than what usually appears in end-of-year budget revisions. We are investing, among other things, in significantly more places within just those vocational educations that Niels Paarup-Petersen speaks so warmly about. He should actually welcome it. But he says that this is important, and when we deliver, he says that it is foolish of us. It is a strange argument. We should, after all, agree that the investments in new places are important.

But I repeat, Mr. Speaker, that we are also in an economic situation which means that we, as someone mentioned here earlier, also cannot act in a way that fuels the inflation fire.

After listening to Niels Paarup-Petersen's speeches in this debate, I would say that if everything he has promised to the right and left and all sides and corners were fulfilled, then we would not have an inflation of 8 percent. Then it would be many percentage points above that. It would erode the activities that Niels Paarup-Petersen speaks so warmly about.

We must act economically responsibly in the situation we now find ourselves in. That means it is easy for the Center Party in opposition. One can promise everything to everyone. It is tougher for us in the government. We are forced to take responsibility.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Aylin Fazelian (S)

Mr. Speaker! I get angry when Fredrik Malm says that the Liberals value the vocational programs and the theoretical programs equally high, because history has taught us that is not the case.

I was a high school student myself when Jan Björklund headed the Ministry of Education. I remember when the eligibility for higher education was removed from the vocational programs. My friends and I, Sweden's students and young people, understood the signal that was sent. We understood that the politics was telling us: Do not choose these programs! We understood that the politics was telling us: This is a dead end.

Now the Liberals are in power again and are bossing around the Ministry of Education, and they are going at the vocational programs once again.

Now the pilot project regarding the vocational schools is to be removed. It has aimed at a new concept so that students should take with them competencies needed in narrow industries such as sheet metal workers or distribution electricians, industries that are crying out for trained labor.

Of course, there was potential for improvements. It could be that the rules needed to be adjusted. But in many places, it gave promising results. Still, one now chooses to scrap the pilot project - without having a single credible idea of how, instead, one should ensure that the supply of competence in these narrow industries functions.

Why does Fredrik Malm not want the competence supply to function in industries that require vocational training?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Malm (L)

Mr. Speaker! As I said in my speech: Not everyone wants to become an academic. Not everyone can either become an academic, and our society would not function if everyone were an academic.

Nevertheless, the Social Democrats have for many years, on a broad front, had as their primary starting point that even the vocational educations in Sweden should be academicized. I mean that it has been unfortunate.

Now, the eligibility for higher education has been reintroduced in the vocational programs. It existed previously too – then it was voluntary, and now it is voluntary to opt out of it. We will have to see how much that change makes a difference.

I am not so sure that even more theory in vocational programs, where we have people who primarily want to learn vocational skills to quickly enter the workforce, is necessarily the best long-term solution. For us in the Liberals, it is important that there are also educational paths for those people who want to enter the workforce quickly.

I would say that this often becomes extra important in the individual programs, Mr. Speaker. In that case, we have a situation where a student does not manage to get into upper secondary school, spends one or perhaps two years in an individual program, and then is supposed to enter a regular national upper secondary program—and furthermore, become eligible for higher education. This means that those people who perhaps have it quite tough with just the theoretical parts of school, and additionally might be quite school-weary, for some reason are to attend upper secondary school two years longer than everyone else.

One has to wonder how wise such an arrangement for Swedish school is.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Aylin Fazelian (S)

Mr. Speaker! No, not everyone is going to become an academic. But why it is so important for the Liberals to push those young people who choose a vocational education into a dead end is an eternal mystery to me.

That the pilot project with the vocational schools is now being discontinued is a question that Fredrik Malm actually needs to answer. LO and Svenskt Näringsliv are very critical. These are important industries; it concerns, for example, national security and the maintenance of critical infrastructure – skills that do not exist in the labor market today. It is very important that we keep those types of educations. But one is not interested, instead, one abolishes – scraps – the pilot project. There is no will to look further into how it can be developed.

My question remains: It is not about large resources, so why is the opportunity not given for this very important pilot activity? It is good and important for our young people, and it is vital for Sweden. The industry is crying out for it. Why is the pilot activity not given the opportunity to continue?

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Malm (L)

Mr. Speaker! The Social Democrats speak of locking up young people. It is a very strange rhetoric, I must say.

We are a liberal party, and our starting point is the individual. The Social Democrats claim to start from the working class – but they do not – while we start from the individual. And it is the case that children and young people are different. They have different circumstances, different wills, and different dreams. They have different thoughts about how they want to see their future. Therefore, perhaps the goal should not be that everyone should enter university. There may be some young people out there who do not necessarily want that, Aylin Fazelian.

That is why it is important that we have different paths within the education system that allow one to do what they want. It is not about locking people in or about closing any doors. In my speech, I very clearly addressed a number of different parts that are important in lifelong learning, such as the university colleges, the municipal adult education, and for example the transition study support - and so on. It is very important.

If you ask people who have been on the labor market for some time what their first job was, the vast majority will remember it. When you ask if they still have that job now, the answer is that almost no one does. People change jobs, and therefore the possibility for retraining and other things must exist.

The problem is the following: If one academicizes even everything regarding vocational skills in Sweden, the interest in studying these programs will decrease in Sweden. A number of young people who want to enter the workforce quickly will also not have the opportunity to make that journey. I truly hope, as I said, that more choose to study the vocational upper secondary programs now that the eligibility for higher education has been reintroduced. I truly hope that it will be so, but I am not as certain as many others.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Aylin Fazelian (S)

Mr. Speaker! This debate concerns about fifty motions from the general motion period that concern upper secondary school in one way or another.

Upper secondary school is very important - so important that it is a watershed on the labor market. People who have a complete upper secondary education in their background also have work to a much greater extent than people who do not have an upper secondary education. It is one of the fundamental reasons why we Social Democrats have always cared that upper secondary school should function optimally. It is about both the individual's prospects for a good life and about meeting the labor market's needs for competent staff.

During the last parliamentary term, we implemented several major reforms in the area of upper secondary school. From this autumn, higher education eligibility is standard in the vocational programs. When the bourgeois government removed higher education eligibility from the vocational programs and only made it an option to choose, the attractiveness of the vocational programs fell dramatically. Fewer and fewer young people applied there.

Now we have reversed the order. The standard is that the higher education eligibility is included in the vocational programs but is possible to opt out of. It is important that young people want to train to become a nursing assistant, carpenter, chef, or plumber and do not opt out because they perceive the education as a dead end.

We have introduced a new way of planning for the dimensioning of upper secondary education. Previously, the dimensioning has been driven by the students' demand - and frankly also by what the independent school companies can make money from. From 2025, the volume of the educations will also be governed by the regional labor market's need for competence. This will be important for employers to have access to the right trained workforce, but also for the individual to have the opportunity to get a job for which they have been educated. Now it is important that the government engages in the implementation of this reform, so that it reaches its full potential.

We have also decided to introduce subject grades in upper secondary school and changed the assessment principles that govern how teachers assign grades. Moving from course grades to subject grades may sound like a small matter, but it requires a major reforming of the design of upper secondary school. It must move from being course-designed to becoming subject-designed.

The purpose is for learning to take place in larger wholes, with better continuity and with reduced stress and grade-pressure. A low grade in a course during the first year of upper secondary school follows the student all the way to the final grade and the merit value in the course-designed system. In combination with an assessment principle where the teacher is to assign the greatest weight to the student's worst performance, the course grades have created great pressure and stress on the students. This changes from 2025. This reform also requires commitment from the Sverigedemokraternas government.

Mr. Speaker! Three large and important reforms have already been decided: higher education eligibility in the vocational programs, dimensioning to meet the labor market's needs, and subject grades. But guess what - we are not finished.

The Social Democrats want to see a compensatory resource distribution also in upper secondary school. It is a known fact that students have different prerequisites for completing school, for example based on language background, parents' education level, and gender. This needs to be taken into account in the funding of upper secondary school, which almost does not happen at all today. We have successfully introduced an equity grant in primary and secondary school to make the funding more compensatory, and this needs to be expanded to also include upper secondary school.

The upper secondary school is, as I said, a watershed in the labor market. Those who have completed an upper secondary education also have jobs. Therefore, it is devastating that around 15 percent of each year group are disqualified in the transition between primary school and upper secondary school. It is not enough that only 20 percent of those who lack eligibility for a national program after primary school eventually obtain an upper secondary diploma.

Since upper secondary education is necessary to get a job and since a job is necessary to be included in the community, for self-sufficiency and for empowerment, upper secondary school should be for everyone. Therefore, we Social Democrats want upper secondary school to become compulsory.

Mr. Speaker! It should also be mandatory to study an aesthetic subject in upper secondary school. That was the case until the bourgeois government abolished it in 2011, which has led to a dramatic decrease in the number of students who study an aesthetic subject in upper secondary school. Aesthetic subjects such as art, dance, theater, and music have value in themselves. They provide experiences and knowledge that the growing generation benefits from in their lives. They provide experiences and opportunities for expression and impression that are missing in other school subjects.

But it also provides tools that the student can benefit from in their learning of theoretical subjects and in their development. Teaching with elements of aesthetics and creativity can improve learning and the ability for critical thinking. It is important that all our children and young people get the opportunity to get to know aesthetic subjects regardless of what background they have.

Mr. Speaker! In order to improve the skills supply in narrow industries, we have carried out a pilot project with industry schools. The evaluation of it has shown that it has not functioned optimally in all areas, but it shows important results overall and a potential to fill an important function in the national skills supply. Instead of making the necessary improvements and making the industry schools permanent, the government chooses to make the stingy decision to scrap the pilot project. The government is completely unresponsive when it comes to how the skills supply in these industries can function moving forward.

Mr. Speaker! Upper secondary school is important. That is why we Social Democrats are working hard to ensure that it must be reformed. We have carried out large and important systemic reforms during our years in power. Now we need to continue the journey so that upper secondary school is for everyone by making it compulsory, making the funding compensatory, ensuring that it once again contains a compulsory aesthetic subject, and ensuring that the vocational schools are allowed to continue.

I naturally stand behind both of our reservations, but for the sake of time, I move for approval of only reservation 3.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Joanna Lewerentz (M)

Mr. Speaker! Choosing a high school and a high school program is perhaps the first truly big decision you make as a human being, and with your decision, you take your first independent steps toward adulthood. The high school years are an enormously important time for personal development where your own dreams and goals are in focus – a time to make new contacts and a time when you begin to build upon your role as part of our common society.

As we all know, education is the most effective vaccine against exclusion, and therefore we have a great responsibility to ensure that a relevant education that creates conditions for the future is available to all young people.

In order for upper secondary school students to be given the conditions to create this future, the upper secondary school must be a safe place. Students and teachers as well as principals must feel safe in the school, and the classrooms must be characterized by a peaceful working environment. The school shall be free from disruption, threats, violence, insults, and harassment. Disruption and offensive treatment are, however, unfortunately still a major problem. For the school to be able to create a safe environment, a comprehensive and systematic effort is required. Teachers and principals must have tools to be able to maintain order and safety.

It must also be so that the person who is subjected to violations, violence or harassment shall be protected from the person who subjects them. It must not be the case that, in the end, it is the person who is subjected who has to move. It must therefore become easier for principals to suspend or relocate those students who consistently disturb, violate or bully other students. It is very pleasing that the government, based on the Tidö Agreement, has agreed to increase both principals' and teachers' powers to act when students disturb, violate or exercise threats and violence.

Mr. Speaker! From the perspective of the labor market and skills supply, the upper secondary school plays an important role in providing our common society with the skills – both academic and vocational – that we need. The upper secondary school plays an important role in ensuring that all young people are given the opportunity to become part of society while simultaneously being able to build the life they aspire to.

The upper secondary school plays an important role in ensuring that, regardless of which path the student chooses, it actually creates paths to employment, and these possible paths must be many. It must be at least as valuable to take a program that leads directly to employment as it is to take a program that leads to higher education, for we are not all cast in the same mold.

Certain parts of the labor market are crying out for competence - a need for competence that in many cases could be met by students from one of the vocational programs. The Moderates have since the last parliamentary term pushed the issue that the labor market's needs should be taken into greater account in the dimensioning of places in the various vocational programs, and it is now also the government's policy. This is an important piece of the puzzle in solving the competence supply but also in ensuring that a high school education in the future actually also leads to a job.

The government is also investing money to continue to strengthen the quality and attractiveness of vocational education. More people need to become vocational teachers, and more students need to be attracted to the vocational programs.

Mr. Speaker! As I also mentioned earlier, we are not all cast in the same mold. It is of the utmost importance that we ensure that students who need support in their knowledge development also receive it. But a group of students who have been forgotten for far too long are the particularly gifted students. These students also need help and support, but from the other end. They need to be guided and stimulated so that they too can develop as far as possible based on their own circumstances. This is also something the government is investing in, with a permanent status and expansion of the ongoing pilot project with nationally recruiting elite educations within both primary school and upper secondary school.

Mr. Speaker! It is very pleasing for me to see that many of us want to improve exactly this – to strengthen the opportunities for young people to succeed in life, regardless of ambitions. Many of us want to see theoretical programs as well as vocational programs with relevant content, where the competence need is taken into account while the individual student's dreams and ambitions are also given space.

We need to continue working so that no competence, no ability, no commitment, and no hope for the future goes to waste. We need to continue working so that Sweden will be a knowledge nation at the forefront, where recruitment to higher education continues to be strong while we highly value the ambition to choose a faster track to professional life through, for example, a vocational program.

Mr. Speaker! In conclusion, I would like to vote in favor of the committee's proposal.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Patrick Reslow (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Let me first and foremost move for the approval of reservation 1.

Today we are debating the Education Committee's report on upper secondary school. About fifty motions from the general motion period are being reviewed. From the Sweden Democrats, there are, among others, motions on the supply of upper secondary education, on apprenticeship training, on language introduction, and on study and career guidance. We also have two specific opinions in the matter, concerning adapted teaching for high-performing students and the design of vocational programs. These are both currently subjects of preparation in the Government Offices. For that reason, we have chosen not to follow up on these motions in the report.

The upper secondary school has a very central position in the education system. It functions as a gateway between two other entities. On one hand, it is to receive students from primary and lower secondary school, and on the other hand, it is to prepare the students for further studies or professional life.

It is a neighboring task one has. One is dependent on how the education functions in lower grades, but one is also met with demands from the higher educational institution. It is therefore important for the upper secondary school to safeguard precisely knowledge and education. There shall be high ambitions, high expectations, and high demands that shall apply in Swedish upper secondary school.

The paradigm shift that has now been announced in Swedish school policy - from "flumskola" to knowledge school - lays the foundation for a world-class upper secondary school with a focus on factual knowledge, quality-assured teaching materials, access to printed books, grades with a knowledge focus, early interventions in the form of mandatory homework help and holiday school at younger ages, focus on reading and reading comprehension, clearer rules of order, the establishment of "akutskolor" (emergency schools), and more.

All these upcoming reforms in primary school will lead to a strengthened upper secondary school with better conditions to succeed in its mission. It is welcome and much needed. It should have been done much earlier, but the interest has been greater in poster politics than in addressing the real problems in Swedish school. Upper secondary school has unfortunately had to suffer for this.

While the Tidö parties are working hard for more knowledge in Swedish schools, we can observe that the political debate from the left now concerns lowering the requirements for upper secondary education. Instead of making us more discerning and safeguarding the strengthening of knowledge and education, their recipe is to lower the requirements for eligibility. The grade boundary shall be removed. Compulsory upper secondary school shall be introduced. It is completely the wrong way to go. Who benefits from this? It is not the status of upper secondary school, and it is not the quality of upper secondary school!

I believe I have said earlier in this rostrum that a report from Skolverket was released last year which specifically pointed out the problem and what could happen if one lowered the knowledge requirements. Skolverket has studied students with equivalent grades from grade 9 to see what has the greatest significance for whether the student will graduate from upper secondary school or not. In the student group with the lowest primary school grades, averaging between E and F, 42 percent of the students in vocational programs graduated within three years. In upper secondary programs for higher education, 22 percent graduated in the same period. For the grade group between E and D, 74 percent of the students in vocational programs graduated within three years. In an upper secondary program for higher education, it was 49 percent of the students.

It clearly shows that the lower the credits the student has, the harder it becomes to cope and perform in upper secondary school. This means that if one were to abandon setting a minimum level, introduce a compulsory upper secondary school, and remove the Fgränsen, significantly more students will end up in difficulties and have problems with their upper secondary educations. It is completely wrong input in the debate. Upper secondary school would be eroded into becoming an extended primary school, and that is at least not what we Sverigedemokrater want to do.

At the same time as voices are amusingly raised to lower the eligibility requirements, the same political representatives on the left wing have grumbled about molding all students into the same shape and theorizing the vocational educations. It is said now that one does a disservice to students if they get an F and do not get into upper secondary school but are left out. So that is what it has sounded like over the last few weeks. At the same time, it is said that the vocational educations should be theorized and become preparatory for higher education with more theorizing of the subjects.

If one does not understand the difficulties and what lies in the balance, one has a problem. It is not the case that it becomes easier or that one can compromise on the content of the educations if one wants to make even the vocational programs university-preparatory. One cannot simply lower the requirements and say that it does not matter if the students have poor grades from primary school, because they must also be able to manage studying at university. That equation does not add up.

The Sweden Democrats were opposed to theorizing the vocational programs and to making it mandatory to obtain eligibility for higher education. We thought it was good that the possibility existed to choose for it, but not that it became much harder to choose against it. Not all students can study at a higher education institution. Not all students want to study at a higher education institution. It is that simple. The Social Democrats have never understood this, instead, it is only about that one should study at a higher education institution. And then one wonders why students do not apply to the vocational programs! It is not strange.

Within the framework of the Tidö Agreement, a discussion is currently underway regarding the establishment of a vocational school. Our entry into this discussion shall be to find a solution for those students who do not qualify for a national program and to prevent large dropouts from upper secondary school. Regardless of which line one takes, it is not good that so many students ultimately end up in the municipal follow-up responsibility and in long-term unemployment. Something must be done about that. A rethink must occur regarding the introductory programs, and something must be created as an alternative to today's programs – not least the introductory program language introduction. The results there are very meager.

From and including the autumn semester of 2025, Mr. Speaker, subject grades will be introduced in upper secondary school. It almost sounded like it was the Social Democrats' idea here earlier. That was not the case. We were many parties who proposed this much earlier. Furthermore, it is not that only the Social Democrats think this, but we were quite united in the committee that it was good. We Sverigedemokrater have tabled motions year after year to introduce subject grades, but they have been rejected by Social Democratic majorities. One should not pretend as if the idea comes from the Social Democratic leadership. That was absolutely not the case.

This is long-awaited, because it is very good with subject grades and good that it finally landed in that one should get some form of subject design of the upper secondary school. It was not completely clear from the beginning. It is long-awaited, but it is also a pity that it takes so long before it is implemented, i.e., until 2025. There are a number of students during the time who will be forced to go with the old curriculum system.

The Tidö parties will also review curricula for both primary school and upper secondary school. We will review the subject plans for upper secondary school and the grading criteria. The idea is to make it easy to understand. Grading criteria must be clear and concrete for both teachers, parents, and students. We can state that is not the case today. But that is not enough, we must also to a much greater extent emphasize that the responsibility for education does not only lie with the teachers but also with the individual student. We cannot have a system where one only places demands on the teachers to pass students over to get a certain grade, but the demands must also be placed on the individual student to do their homework and attend school.

The Sweden Democrats have for many years maintained that it is important to stimulate the thirst for knowledge among high-performing students. It is therefore good that we, within the framework of the Tidö Agreement, agree to not only make the specialized educations permanent but also to expand them. We also agree that students should more easily be able to read at a faster pace and at a higher level. We consider that the proposals we submitted in our committee motion on this area are addressed, and therefore we have not pushed more on them in the report.

The teachers and school leaders are the upper secondary school's greatest asset. The Tidö parties are now moving forward with refining the teacher's role, reducing the administrative burden, investing in support staff to provide relief, strengthening the teacher's authority in the classroom, as well as strengthening the principal's responsibility and powers. We also hope that the review of subject plans and grading criteria can lead to improvements in the teachers' working situation. These are issues that the Sverigedemokraterna have pushed for a long time, and we assume that they are now being realized.

Mr. Speaker! Sadly, we can also observe that gang-related violence has now reached the upper secondary schools. A few weeks ago, a school student was shot to death outside an upper secondary school in Eskilstuna. The school had to be evacuated. What we previously saw as acts of terror from other parts of the world have now come here. Deadly violence has become a hallmark of the new Sweden. It is a tragic development that has been preceded by political paralysis and escapism.

The Sweden Democrats' firm opinion is that there should be total zero tolerance towards crime in and around schools. We have long called for tough measures against students who pose a threat to other students or school staff. We are pleased that within the Tidö Agreement we have succeeded in getting through a number of proposals for reforms, such as mandatory reporting, emergency schools, and strengthened disciplinary rules, but we would like to go significantly further than that to ensure that only educational activities, and nothing else, take place within the school walls.

(Applause)

In this speech, Jörgen Grubb and Robert Stenkvist (both SD) concurred.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Aylin Fazelian (S)

Mr. Speaker! The Sweden Democrats' sorting school is recurring even in high school policy. In primary school, it manifests by them wanting to sort out students who deviate from their norm and place them in other schools. In high school, they want to kick out students even before they have started. The Sweden Democrats want to level-group students in conflict with what research says about how learning takes place.

When it comes to upper secondary school, Reslow thinks that some should not have the chance to study a complete upper secondary education. SD's two-year vocational programs are just a way to create a deeper class society. Instead of giving everyone the right to educate themselves in important subjects such as history, science, mathematics, and social studies while attending a vocational education, SD wants our young people to receive as little general education as possible. This is a locking-in effect. The demands of the labor market do not become any less; they only become greater.

I cannot fulfill this request because you have not provided the text of the speech to be translated. Please provide the Swedish text from the Riksdag, and I will translate it into English for you.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Patrick Reslow (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I strongly object to the wording of the question, because that is not the case. All students are equally worthy, and all should have the same opportunities to be able to read. But not everyone has the ability to read everything, and not everyone wants to read exactly everything.

A problem with the Social Democrats' school policy has been that they have wanted to mold everyone into the same shape. Everyone should study for university eligibility. That is the big dream. But we can state that not everyone wants to become an academic.

Should we not let students who attend vocational programs study theoretical subjects? Yes, if they want to. We have never said anything else. It is pure fabrication that we would support something such. We want those who want to study for university eligibility to be able to do so, but we do not want it to be mandatory. That is what lies behind our idea of the two-plus-one upper secondary school, as we call it, with two years on a vocational program and an additional year where those who wish to can study for university eligibility. But not everyone wants to and not everyone can. We must respect that.

The entire effect of the Social Democrats' policy is that one gets stuck in unemployment. That is what we see. Long-term unemployment is the effect of Social Democratic school policy and upper secondary school policy. Students are not lured to vocational programs because the Social Democrats have built up a vision that everyone should study at university. Then one does not seek out those programs. Instead, one seeks out national programs that are university-preparatory but that one cannot manage. One drops out or finishes with very poor grades and gets stuck in long-term unemployment.

The Sweden Democrats' alternative is never that children should get stuck in unemployment, but that they should have a good education. In that case, vocational programs are also important.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Aylin Fazelian (S)

Mr. Speaker! I thank Patrick Reslow for the answer.

The problem with the Sweden Democrats' policy and Patrick Reslow's reasoning is reality. Reality shows something else. When the higher education eligibility was removed from the vocational programs, the attractiveness of choosing vocational programs dipped. Our young people are smart. They choose educations that they understand lead to jobs and that the labor market demands.

We therefore need to facilitate the transition between primary school and upper secondary school. This is another important part of this. Today, 15 percent of students do not proceed to upper secondary school. Researchers therefore argue that the grade F is problematic and that the grading system, as it is designed today, leads to students being knocked out.

We appointed an inquiry to look into this, but the Sweden Democrats do not want to proceed with it. They do not even want to let the issue be investigated, even though researchers point out the problems with the design of the grading system and that it causes students to be judged based on their worst performance and not get a second chance.

Why do the Sweden Democrats want to lock students into dead ends?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Patrick Reslow (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Let me start with this that we would have no connection to reality. That is not the case.

Firstly, it is about the signals that were sent out by the Social Democrats during their long period in government. The signal was that if you do not study at university, you are worth nothing. If you do not study theoretical subjects in upper secondary school, you are also worth nothing. But that is not the case. There are students who are extremely skilled at crafts. Why not stimulate that? No, they were to study theoretical courses, even though they were tired of school and even though they might not be interested in theoretical subjects. But they were just to do it.

It was the Social Democrats' vision. One despises one's own old working class. That is the new Social Democrats' slogan.

Secondly, they controlled the supply. The motto in, above all, Social Democratic-led municipalities was that one should constantly satisfy the first choice. Then the theoretical programs swelled. That is not sustainable.

Now the Social Democrats are talking about dimensioning. Well, do something about the dimensioning then! If you get more competition for places in the academic programs, you will also get more students for the vocational programs. I am completely convinced of that. That is how it worked before when I went to school, and that could work in the future as well.

No, no sorting occurs by abolishing the grade F. It is not the grading system itself that is the problem, but rather the application of the grading system. We have unclear grading criteria. If you line up ten teachers who are to assess a student, you will get ten different assessments, because no one knows exactly where the fuzzy boundaries for the grades lie.

We must have clear grading criteria, so that everyone knows what they mean - students, parents and teachers. It must be clear and distinct. In primary school, they should be fact-based. Then one can include other aspects at the upper secondary level, but they must be more concrete than they are today.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! In recent months, many thoughts connected to the upper secondary school choice have been spinning in the heads of Sweden's ninth graders. Besides the fact that they themselves need to reflect and decide what they should choose, there are many around them who are curious and ask questions. It is parents, teachers, friends and relatives.

Many of us perhaps remember ourselves how it was when one finished ninth grade or at least when one graduated from high school, or else one has recently met someone of that age. The only thing one asks and the only thing they are allowed to talk about is what they are going to do in the autumn. That is what people are interested in.

It says something about how significant this is. It is the first time in life that one gets to make a choice and decide on a direction.

Mr. Speaker! One hope when the ninth graders now make their choices is that many will choose a vocational program that provides employment, perhaps even the day after graduation. Having a vocational education is not only good for the labor market, which is crying out for such labor, but it also gives the young people self-confidence when they are trained for a profession.

We know that Sweden faces a major skills shortage in many industries, not least in industry and crafts. Within these areas, many more jobs could be created. There is potential for more employment opportunities, but unfortunately, too few young people choose to take a vocational program in upper secondary school.

The matching between the labor market and the upper secondary education programs that students choose must improve. It is absolutely crucial for Sweden's competitiveness and business climate to remain strong in the future as well.

Many here have an important role to play, not least us politicians but also the study and career counselors at the upper secondary school. They must guide the young people so that they can enter the labor market. Sometimes the role of the study and career counselors seems to largely consist of giving the students guidance to reach their dream job, regardless of what circumstances one has or what the labor market's needs look like.

A balance is needed. The study counselors need to be clear about what the labor market looks like and which educations lead to a job. The labor market's needs simply need to play a larger role. We believe that it could lead the young people in the right direction.

Mr. Speaker! That the needs of the labor market should play a greater role is also important when it comes to which educations are offered at all. It needs to be steered to a greater extent by what needs exist in the labor market rather than what dream paths the students have.

Mr. Speaker! Information is also important. Many young people have no clear perception - it may even be incorrect - of what it means to work in a workshop or within the industry. Therefore, it is important that they get to do work experience and study visits and that representatives from different industries come to the school and give presentations.

It is also a matter of ensuring that the educations that provide employment are adapted so that students want to apply for them. There need to be educations with a focus on vocational skills, where students who are tired of school and otherwise cannot manage to complete upper secondary school can opt out of higher education eligibility. But there also need to be educations for many of those who can imagine going into a vocational program but want higher education eligibility. By also having vocational programs provide higher education eligibility, we can counteract the skills shortage and strengthen the business climate. That higher education eligibility becomes the norm also means that high expectations become the norm in the Swedish school. That is good. We need to adapt the educations to the labor market and adapt the educations to the fact that students are different.

Mr. Speaker! More students need to complete upper secondary school. If one completes upper secondary school, one has good prospects of managing later in life. Regardless of which program one chooses, the upper secondary years and the studies contribute to knowledge and education that the person benefits from for their own development. Furthermore, research is clear that completed studies are the strongest protection against exclusion through reduced risk of unemployment, long-term sick leave, and economic and social exclusion. Education is simply, in many ways, crucial for Sweden's future.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Niels Paarup-Petersen (C)

Mr. Speaker! The vocational programs investigation found a demand to take greater responsibility in the business sector for certain vocational educations of great importance for the labor market that risk being deprioritized within the education system. The investigation proposed the establishment of industry schools for small vocational areas. To guarantee the quality of the education, an industry school shall be recommended by an industry organization or have a broad cooperation on education with several employers within the industry. In order to be able to act as an education provider of an industry school, the operation shall be approved by Skolverket. The activity with industry schools began with a pilot project in the autumn of 2018 and shall continue for five years, that is, until 2023. The Christian Democrats' opinion is that the industry schools have the potential to promote the transition from school to profession in a good way for industries that otherwise suffer from recruitment problems.

This was a reading from the latest labor market motion that the Christian Democrats have introduced. Since then, the Christian Democrats have not introduced any new education motion or labor market motion. Instead, they have shut down the vocational schools. That is the reality.

Mathias Bengtsson gave an excellent speech. I believe we agree on an enormous amount when it comes to vocational education and the opportunities they provide. One should be able to find one's own paths and get better opportunities for jobs. But despite the member highlighting vocational education in the rostrum, the government has cut both vocational adult education and the universities of applied sciences and completely abolished the trade schools. I would like to hear from the member what the Christian Democrats want to do to change the direction that the government currently has, where they follow the Liberals' path toward reducing the importance of vocational-related education in the Swedish education system.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I thank the member for a very important question. How we can match education with the labor market is an incredibly important future issue for Sweden.

I want, first and foremost, to address the image of cuts in the education system. That one removes temporary pandemic grants when they expire is quite natural. It lies somewhat in the nature of the word "temporary" that they are not permanent.

On the other hand, the government is making an investment in the education system and is adding further funds now during the spring, when one usually does not make such large changes. This government has a focus on education and on ensuring that the labor market's needs are met. There is no talk about that matter.

I am very familiar with the trial with the vocational schools, not least because one of the schools, with a focus on bodywork and painting technology, is located in Falun in my home constituency. I am very well acquainted with their activities and how they have functioned during the years that the trial activity has been ongoing. Their view is that it has functioned very well at that school.

But having said that, it is not a completely simple question. It is a balancing act one must perform when it comes to the vocational schools. One must consider which parts should be financed by state grants, what can sustain itself, and what the industry can meet with. But one thing is certain, and that is that the educations we have in Sweden must be designed in cooperation with the industry in order for them also to lead to employment. That direction is perfectly clear. We need to look at this moving forward. We need to investigate what types of educations we should have. Cooperation with the industry similar to the vocational schools is nothing that I exclude.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Niels Paarup-Petersen (C)

Mr. Speaker! As said, I do not doubt at all Mathias Bengtsson's wish to have good vocational education. I question, however, whether reality agrees. There will be fewer new educations than in many years within the university colleges, and vocational adult education (yrkesvux) has been scaled back. The money that came now in the supplementary budget can only be used for short courses at the university colleges. The long-term educations, the money cannot be used for those. That is also a reality. One has totally changed what actually happens.

We know that the need for competent staff is enormous on the Swedish labor market. I do not believe that the sheet metal worker who cannot hire an employee because there are none to hire and who sees the vocational school being shut down is helped by the fact that there has been a pandemic that no longer exists. I do not believe it helps people who cannot get the vocational adult education places that are now gone that it is no longer a pandemic. Nor are those who need the vocational college places helped by the fact that it is no longer a pandemic. There are fewer places. That is the reality.

It is clear that it is a balancing act when it comes to how large contributions the state should give and what should be focused on. There may be educations that should not continue but be phased out, others that should be expanded, etcetera. We in Centerpartiet have ourselves for nine years put forward proposals to establish more new vocational schools, for example for train drivers, an occupational group that Liberalerna have spoken about recently - the newspapers have written about it. This will not happen, because the vocational schools no longer exist. That is the difference. Yes, it is a balancing act. But the government is no longer balancing. They have fallen off the rope and are lying on the floor. It is zero. They are dead.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I thank member Niels Paarup-Petersen for the contribution. The big problem is that there is a labor market in great need of labor and that there are too many people who could come into work but do not. The question that one must ask is: How do you get those people into work?

When it comes to upper secondary school, which is what we are debating now, a major problem is the students who do not receive upper secondary school eligibility and do not get into an upper secondary school. I believe we need to catch that group and ask ourselves what we can do for those who attend the IM program and linger year after year but never truly get into upper secondary school. How can we, together with the industry, find a path so that they too can enter the labor market and learn the necessary skills needed to work, get employment, and gain the sense of community that a job entails?

The attempt with the vocational schools turned out to have both positive and negative parts when it was evaluated. Some educations worked well, others less well. There are different explanations for that. But it is not certain that precisely that model in that form is the way forward. It is this that the government is looking at very carefully now – how can we create ways in? Not everyone needs to study for higher education eligibility. Not everyone may even need to have upper secondary school eligibility. But everyone who wants to enter the labor market shall be allowed to participate and contribute to meeting the labor market's needs. I look forward to debating that work further here in the chamber.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Daniel Riazat (V)

Mr. Speaker! The Left Party naturally stands behind all its reservations. But so that we do not, as I also mentioned earlier, have very long votes, I move for our part approval only to reservation 12.

Mr. Speaker! The Left Party has always been a strong advocate for a more equal and just school that gives all students equal opportunities to achieve their goals and develop to their full potential.

We believe it is important to ensure that all students in Sweden have access to high-quality education regardless of where they live, regardless of gender or gender identity, class, or what mother tongue they speak. We want to see a more equitable school where students have the same opportunities to study the subjects that interest them and receive the support they need to be able to succeed.

In order to be able to do this, a number of things must be done. The school's budget must be expanded, and teachers must be given greater power and space. Then we cannot escape the fact that an equal school can only be created without market logic and market management.

Like the majority of the population, the teachers, the principals, and the rest of the school staff, we want to abolish the market school and ensure that all tax money going to the school is used to improve the quality of education and strengthen equality. It should not be as it is today. We want to see greater state governance and funding of the upper secondary school to guarantee that all students receive the right to their equal education.

Vänsterpartiet considers it important to promote the vocational programs in upper secondary school. The vocational programs must begin to be seen as an equally important part of the school as the theoretical programs. They also need to receive more resources and support to become more relevant for the students.

Of course, it is not only what happens in school that affects the choices of high school programs. It is also about the fact that the conditions on the labor market need to be improved for those who have studied vocational programs. In some occupations, that is the case. But in a number of different LO occupations, the conditions are unfortunately too poor.

Mr. Speaker! The point that the Left Party and I have chosen to focus most on in this specific report is study and career guidance. We will have more reports where we discuss upper secondary school.

Career and vocational guidance is often something that privately owned market schools cut back on in the pursuit of surpluses intended to lead to increased value for the companies and later to increased opportunities for the sale of the school groups in whole or in parts.

During the school year 2021-2022, there were significantly more students per study and career counselor in private schools compared to municipal ones. That is how it has looked year after year. The market school functions that way. When greed is allowed to prevail, it is the school nurse, the school librarian, and in this case, the study and career counselor who disappear in favor of the owners who laugh all the way to their banks in Luxembourg. It is one of many reasons why Vänsterpartiet is pushing for a ban on limited companies conducting school activities. We believe that it should only be conducted in non-profit organizational forms.

Mr. Speaker! In Sweden, we have a labor market that in many areas is divided by gender. That is how it looks in large parts of the world, where women work in certain types of occupations and men in others.

This is evident, for example, through the female dominance in school and healthcare and the male dominance within the construction sector. But the fact is that this division starts already at younger ages and shows itself clearly also in the choice of upper secondary education. Significantly more girls choose to study in the social sciences program and the health and social care program, while the boys dominate in the technology, vehicle, and transport programs.

A group of researchers at the Department of Psychology at Lund University looked at it to find out why it looks the way it does. It is not a new phenomenon. Overall, the study showed that students opt out of programs that are traditionally dominated by one gender or the other for social reasons. This shows that there is much to be done when it comes to equality in the Swedish school system.

For Vänsterpartiet as a feminist party, it is important that all students get the opportunity to live up to their full potential, regardless of gender. Therefore, all students must be given the opportunity to make well-informed choices regarding upper secondary school. During their time in the Swedish school system, they should also be able to tackle the norms that we unfortunately all are shaped by.

Students need to be given time and opportunity to meet competent study and career counselors who can provide them with guidance to think in new ways. It is important to see the social benefit of study and career guidance, not just for the students themselves. We see that in the industries that have the greatest imbalance between the genders, there is also the greatest shortage of labor.

The obstacles in study and career guidance today have direct consequences for the possibility of recruiting new staff to the labor market. This has been noted by the Agency for Youth and Civil Society Affairs and also by the West Swedish Chamber of Commerce when they have commented on the issue.

Therefore, we in Vänsterpartiet believe that the government must review the possibility of introducing a key figure for study and career counselors at every school unit. That is also what the reservation that I moved for approval at the beginning of my speech is about.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Niels Paarup-Petersen (C)

Mr. Speaker! I want to begin by moving for approval of reservation 6. I hope it will be right now.

(FIRST DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is Branschskolor, Åsa Westlund and others, S, C, MP.)

Yes, nice! It is correct when the first deputy speaker says Åsa Westlund.

We are going to debate upper secondary school here. I must say that it has been fantastic today. For once, the debate has had a huge focus on the vocational programs. That is not usually the case in the chamber. It is very pleasant. It has been broad across the board. I am extremely grateful for that.

The practical training is important. It is just as important as the theoretical. Fredrik Malm and many others have said this here today, and I too can say it. We are in agreement on something, in any case, and that is good.

It is an enormous number of young people who choose theoretical programs that they then never get the opportunity to use because they fail along the way to reach the goals. It is three out of ten in Sweden's upper secondary schools who do not make it all the way through. It is a very sad figure.

One can observe that some should choose vocational programs. I have been informed that there is an increased influx to the vocational programs based on the applications that have been made. I do not remember if I received the figure for Sweden or for Malmö.

It is very positive. The study and career counselors are out with the students and speak very positively about the vocational programs. They remind the parents how important it is. The theoretical programs that provide eligibility for higher education may sound good, and that is important. But the most important thing is that their children get an opportunity to pursue an education that they can manage so that they actually get a job afterwards. In that regard, the vocational programs are fantastic. We have established that it is extremely important. We have seen it across the board, all the way from right to left. It is very important.

It is very sad that the government betrayed its election promise and reduced YH and vocational adult education, and the vocational schools were closed down. That is how it is. These are the consequences of the budgets presented in the autumn budget and the budget for changes in the welfare system. The total is cuts across the board.

It doesn't help much to stand and speak nicely in the rostrum if what you actually do is cut the money. It doesn't help much. There will be fewer courses at yrkesvux and fewer courses at YH. You cannot even use the money that has come now for the long courses. They will only be used for the short courses, and the vocational schools are gone.

I believe that Lotta Edholm has written that one wants to follow the development. But those educations no longer exist. It is extremely difficult to follow the development of a form of education that no longer exists. It is actually very difficult, Mr. Speaker.

Then the question is: What do we do? We want to re-establish the vocational schools. The government might want to do something. Representatives from the government parties have said: We will do something. One doesn't know what, but something! Something will be done at some point. That is nice, but it doesn't help much for the students who are standing there right now and would like to have a job in the future. They do not have the opportunities they would have had if the government had not cut back.

And this is done at the same time as we are in an extremely difficult economic situation and the entire Swedish business community is standing and screaming for competence. There is an enormous competence shortage in society, and we have many unemployed. Then I do not understand why the government's answer to this is to cut back on vocational training. It should be the opposite. It is very sad.

The actual figures are that one reduced YH by 74 million in the budget for the whole year, and then one has put in 70 new million. That results in a minus. Regarding yrkesvux, one practically removed 1.1 billion and put in 400 million. That is a substantial minus. When it comes to the vocational schools, one removed all of them. That is a large minus.

The vocational schools are educations that the Moderaterna and KD were for, and now you are closing them. Is it the Liberalerna who have convinced you that practical knowledge is not important? Generally, it has been the case with the Liberalerna that they have not really taken the issue seriously. They have not thought it has been important, but they have always focused on the theoretical and not on the practical. Now suddenly we have a government with M who are for and KD who are for, but with L the vocational schools disappear. Why? One might wonder.

We unfortunately have to state that the committee chairman Fredrik Malm has gone home, so it is a bit difficult to know. He apparently did not want to be part of the rest of the debate, so it must be as it is.

We can, however, note that the electricity companies say it is a catastrophe that the vocational schools are being removed. Those are their own words. The sheet metal industry says that they should be developed and spread. The Center Party agrees with this, and we have submitted proposals for this. It should be said that in theory it is still possible to vote on it next week. But instead, the vocational schools are being killed.

This has direct consequences for the Swedish electricity system, according to the electricity companies. We know what the electricity system and the problems look like right now, and direct negative consequences for the Swedish electricity system are therefore the only words we have heard from the industry. But we are shutting down the industry schools. Please, government – take action on this issue! I still believe that you can do it.

Mr. Speaker! There is a question there where I am also groping, and where the Center Party actually does not know how we should proceed either. It is about the fact that we have a huge number of students who do not pass primary school. We do have some proposals, absolutely. But when these students do not succeed, they move on to the individual programs or IV. There, they do not succeed either.

In the current situation, Sweden has no serious answer for what we should do with the students who do not pass primary school. We do not have that in our education system. We have no really good, serious answer in the current situation on how we should do with them. We have some proposals; we are looking at apprenticeships, and we are looking at all possible things. But in reality, we have an enormous challenge in the Swedish education system when it comes to succeeding with this.

We can stand here in the chamber and make mocking statements about F and all sorts of things. But what we really need to do here is to unite. We need to find long-term, serious solutions for the young people who today are failing in the Swedish education system, because there are enormously many of them. It is tens of thousands of students who do not manage the Swedish education system, and we know that the consequences are enormously negative.

When one looks at what the crime looks like, one notices that it very often is linked to school failures. Regardless of what view one has on society and regardless of what we focus on – whether it is about the individual's opportunities or whether it is about the terrible situation we have with crime in Swedish society right now – we really need to pull ourselves together.

I also hope here that the government wants to take the extended hand that has been extended time and again, not least from Centerpartiet, to actually make long-term agreements so that we can create a better school in Sweden.

Everyone listening to this – it is likely not many when the clock is nearly ten – and who has suggestions on how we can ensure that Sweden's youth manage school are welcome to submit them! For we need to become better, even the Center Party.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Camilla Hansén (MP)

Mr. Speaker! Now we shall see if we close the chamber after this speech or how alert everyone is!

Now we have debated education quite fundamentally - both basic questions about education in the previous debate and now upper secondary school. The choice of upper secondary school is an important choice in life. Some know exactly which dream job they are aiming for. Others are still looking for it, and some have absolutely no idea if one should even go to upper secondary school - let alone what they should do afterwards.

Someone wants to become a chef, someone else an electrician and a third a childcare worker. Someone wants to become a teacher, someone an engineer and a third wants to become a nurse. Others know nothing, but they might gamble on the aesthetics program, because culture and cultural practice still provide lifeblood to everything else. Or one might gamble on the vehicle program based on a leisure interest that might become a career choice. My heart beats a little extra for the vehicle program, because I had my first teaching job there.

I cannot emphasize enough that all these dreams for the future are needed. Each one, regardless of which upper secondary education one chooses, will be needed in the professions that their educations lead to. I am a bit saddened by the values that still exist somewhere regarding what is a fine education and what is not as fine an education. We need a complete society with a lot of competencies. It will harm us if we are unable to appreciate all the different occupational groups that keep this country running.

Gymnasieskolan is part of a much larger whole that the entire education system constitutes. It already begins in preschool. Career choices are not something that happens during the spring term in ninth grade, but it begins long, long earlier. The educational chain continues with upper secondary school, higher education, and various vocational trainings. One might return to school in different ways.

It is a long educational chain, which can continue throughout life. It can also be a bit crooked and a bit difficult to predict. That is why it is so important that young people are given the chance to choose education completely freely, and that the education also keeps the doors open to move forward in the educational chain.

I am going to speak a little about study and career guidance from a gender equality perspective. Young boys and girls choose different types of education. Previous speakers have spoken about the extreme inequality in certain occupational groups and how it is maintained. People, of course, think differently about themselves, and it is easier or harder to see oneself in different professions. There, of course, the expectations of society play a role.

Choosing and continuing to choose from the beginning in extremely unequal patterns, which are driven more by others' expectations than by one's own desire for learning and vocational training, can become a problem, especially since it can affect lifetime earnings. For example, preschool teachers, who are an extremely female-dominated professional group, lag behind in terms of wages. There is no industry today that can afford not to recruit from among both women and men and the entire population.

That is why it is important that there is a study counselor who can come in and show what different paths exist and what the consequences of one's choices will be in terms of career and salary development. It is important that one, regardless of whether one is a girl or a boy, or however one defines oneself, feels that the entire labor market is open to them.

I also want to say something about the vocational schools. We have somewhat different types of skills shortages in Sweden. We talk about having a teacher shortage, and then it is about large numbers. These are large professional groups. When we talk about needing more nurses, it is also very many people.

One of the vocational schools that is now unfortunately being discontinued is a training program for distribution electricians in Åsbro in Örebro län, in my constituency. They train 35 distribution electricians via vocational school and 100 in total. In the country, 130 are trained per year. By 2030, 3,000 were needed. They could triple the admissions to the vocational school for upper secondary school.

These are guys and girls who come from all over the country to do just the industry part of the training in Åsbro. It is Northern Europe's largest facility for practicing working with high-voltage electronics, climbing up these high poles, and doing everything that is needed within a complete electrical system.

As said, they could triple their intake. But the rules for the schools when they are to send students there are so complicated that they have some difficulty handling it. One school sends two students one year and two students the next. Others think that since they are going away to a boarding school anyway, it is fairer to send five from one upper secondary school so that they have their friends. Many perhaps have not lived away from home for such a long time.

However, one does not want to do this. The vocational schools were added during the pandemic, and we have had plenty of extra support for various measures during the pandemic. But here it is said: Oh, you didn't succeed. It doesn't matter whether it was a pandemic or not.

My concern is not the vocational schools that have not started up or for which things have not gone well. My concern is those for which things are going very well and which have the capacity to expand. Invest in them! Give them the chance, and continue working with that which perhaps did not work in other vocational areas!

We do not really know what the professional life of the future will require of us. Something that we know will be in demand is creativity and the ability to think outside the box - much of which is what one practices in the aesthetic subjects.

Sometimes some kind of image is created that aesthetic subjects are not needed in all educations, based on what I consider to be somewhat strange values: that not all people need to have many ways to express themselves. Therefore, we want aesthetic subjects to be included in all upper secondary programs, because it is needed. It is needed for personal development, and it is needed to train all the abilities required in a future working life.

With this, I move for approval of reservation 14 on study guidance and reservation 6 on vocational schools.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 26 April.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)