Response to interpellation 2022/23:158 on the Swedish National Agency for Education's regional quality work
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L claims that the government is making the largest investments in Swedish schools since the 1990s 1 2 and is investing almost 700 million on teaching materials, special education teachers, and is also increasing state grants to preschools 3. L emphasizes the importance of more qualified teachers and social teams. S criticizes L for the government cutting back on quality dialogues and prioritizing tax cuts for high-income earners over schools 4 5. S argues that the state should take greater responsibility for continuing education and peer learning 4 5. S believes that the government does not mention preschools in its investments 6 and that the municipalities themselves should decide on the issues 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! Åsa Westlund has asked me why the government has cut the quality dialogues by 61 million SEK in 2023 and 85 million SEK from 2024 onwards. Åsa Westlund has also asked me if I have taken any initiative for an analysis to review the effects of the cuts on the ongoing work with quality dialogues. Furthermore, Åsa Westlund has asked me what measures I intend to take to counteract the effects that the cuts risk having for Skolverket's regional presence.
The government's goal is to raise the knowledge results in the Swedish school, both generally and for those students who need extra support or who can progress faster. Education within the school system shall be equal within each school form and within the after-school centers, regardless of where in the country it is organized. The government therefore presented several extensive measures in the 2023 budget bill, including to increase the number of special education teachers, strengthen access to teaching materials, and introduce social teams. These are investments that cost a lot, but the government assesses that they can have a decisive effect in restoring the Swedish knowledge school and for safety and study environments. In order to be able to finance these investments, the government needs to make prioritizations.
The Swedish National Agency for Education has been tasked with establishing several new offices for a wider distribution and presence in the country and to facilitate the National Agency for Education's and the Special Education Agency's quality dialogues with the school administrators. Today, the National Agency for Education has offices not only in Solna outside Stockholm but also in Malmö, Härnösand and Luleå.
Skolverket and the National Agency for Special Needs Education, which are jointly responsible for the implementation of the quality dialogues with the school owners, maintain an ongoing dialogue with the Ministry of Education regarding how the work with the dialogues is progressing. The first quality dialogues were carried out during the autumn of 2022. I am following the work with great interest. Skolverket and the National Agency for Special Needs Education continue to work on the assignment.
Skolverket carries out extensive work with targeted interventions for school principals. This work is valuable and largely appreciated by the principals. The Government simultaneously makes the assessment that Skolverket's work with targeted interventions towards principals can be coordinated and streamlined.
I want to point out that the assignment to carry out quality dialogues and establish new regional offices has not changed at this point in time.
Åsa Westlund (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister!
I was at a school in Tyresö yesterday and spoke with a Swedish teacher who told me about their work with several teachers in the same classroom. I asked what she thought about specifically being several teachers in the same classroom. There are teachers who think it is quite difficult, but there are also teachers who think it is very rewarding. She really broke out into a smile and said: It is the best thing there is when I end up with someone who has experience and I get to learn good things.
That is what this debate is about. Teachers should be able to learn from other teachers to spread how to best teach in a classroom. It is actually the core of the school's and all school forms' activities; the dynamics between teachers and students or children must function. Sometimes I hear that we should talk far too little about it. That is why I asked this question. It is, as said, the very core of Utbildningssverige - the teaching must function.
Several investigations have pointed to a need for the state to take greater responsibility for the continuing education of teachers across the country, because the quality of teaching needs to become more equal and simply better. It is therefore not about some agency telling how it should be. It is about promoting collegial learning.
In the budget, the government writes that they are removing the money set aside for the so-called quality dialogues. I have asked why. I interpret the Minister's answer as that they had to prioritize it away, because they chose to put money on something else. I think it is a rather hollow argument.
We Social Democrats can afford both this and to give more money than the government to the school and above all to the municipalities, which can then provide the school with more resources. This government is spending 13 billion to lower the tax for those who earn the most. But the investment in increased quality in teaching of 61 million kronor had to be cut.
I would still like to know why the government chose that prioritization. I know that the Moderaterna have previously felt negatively about this and that in their motions they have said that they have wanted to remove it. But the Liberalerna have, as far as I know, not expressed that skepticism but have often spoken about that the state needs to take an increased responsibility for equality throughout the country.
My other questions in the interpellation concern whether the Minister has taken any initiatives to prevent cuts in the area and that the regional presence disappears. I interpret the answer as that the Minister has not done anything to preserve the work or to ensure that it can be developed.
My question is actually: Does the Minister intend to let the initiative go to ruin, or does the Minister want the initiative to actually be developed, so that all students in Sweden can meet better and more stimulated teachers?
Linus Sköld (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for the opportunity to debate the state's role in the school system. If one aggregates this debate, I think that is what it is about. It is about complementing the craze for external control and inspection that the Minister's party often turns to as a solution in every situation with a system that can build trust and be a support to the principals who perform the work of educating all the country's children.
For that reason, the Social Democratic government implemented the reform which the National Agency for Education announced on 24 February 2022 would have the effect that they would have offices in ten locations in Sweden. Peter Fredriksson, who is the Director-General, said at that time that they would get closer to the principals and together with them be able to create forums and collaborations regarding the issues that have the greatest significance for children and students reaching the goals.
The announcement regarding the ten locations was supplemented with which ones they would concern. It was Härnösand, Malmö and Luleå during 2022, Umeå, Gävle, Växjö and Örebro during 2023 and Göteborg and Linköping during 2024. And a regional office in Solna, in existing premises. It should be ten, in total.
So a little time passed. The Minister took office and struck a line through the 61 million kronor that financed this expansion. On December 20, that is the day before I was at the inauguration of the regional office in Luleå, Skolverket sent out a new press release. In it, it stated that Skolverket will not open any more offices during 2023.
The last office that was opened, on December 21, where I was present at the inauguration, was therefore the last in Skolverket's regionalization, provided that the allocated budget – the steering signal from the government – continues to apply. Now, a review of the assignment is to be conducted, Skolverket announces in its press release. The review is to be conducted based on, among other things, the dialogue that the agency has with the government regarding the changes that have been made to the financial conditions for the design of the assignment.
Norrbotten is my home county - despite the fact that I speak Scanian -, and that my neighboring municipality Luleå has received a Skolverkskontor is a big deal in a county that needs state presence in every way one can imagine. It is far from Norrbotten to the capital. We need the regional presence.
When the minister has now crossed out those 61 million kronor that financed the regional expansion, my question is whether the minister intends for the office in Luleå to close. That office was inaugurated on December 21, the same day the budget decision was made in the chamber. Is it the minister's intention that it should close now?
Rose-Marie Carlsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I intend to raise the issue at the principal level, because I have previously been a principal in the City of Malmö as the chairman of the preschool committee there. I had the opportunity and the honor to be present on November 25 when a regional office was opened in Malmö. As a principal, I welcomed this.
It is said that there should be dialogue, and that is also what is being called for. The Skolinspektionen inspects, but discussion always arises because it is an authority that comes. One never tells what is good. It is difficult to have a dialogue with Skolinspektionen.
The same applies to the independent preschools, which the municipality has supervision over. When I meet the independent operators, they call for dialogue, but as a municipal operator with supervisory responsibility, it is difficult to have dialogues. One can only give general advice and tips because it is then you yourself who must carry out the supervision and see how they manage their quality work.
My question is how the Minister will ensure and report that the dialogue with Skolverket takes place in accordance with the intention of the quality dialogues. They are to continue being dialogues, and they shall be held in more locations so that as many as possible can take part in them.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! This government is making the largest state investments in Swedish schools since the crisis in the early 1990s. It is about more money than ever before and, above all, more money than what eight years of Social Democratic government tenure managed to deliver.
The money will increase equality in Swedish schools. We will increase the number of special education teachers. We will ensure that it becomes easier to become a teacher if one has an academic education. We will invest in social teams. We will, not least, invest in textbooks for the children who today lack books. One of the biggest equality problems is, in fact, that many children do not have any books, and unfortunately, there are also enormous differences between how much the country's municipalities invest in teaching materials. One big problem is that the municipalities that have the most unqualified teachers also invest the least in teaching materials.
When one is a politician, one must prioritize. The Social Democrats are, of course, well aware that it is in that way. I just want to say here and now that the assignment to Skolverket remains fixed. They are working on the quality dialogues. The Government also has a dialogue with Skolverket regarding the potential reprioritizations that will be required.
Åsa Westlund (S)
Madam Speaker! Sometimes one wishes that there was a "true or false" board mounted here in the chamber. Now, it was stated from the side of the Minister that this government is making the largest investment in schools since the 1990s, when in fact they are cutting by almost 1 billion kronor in that expenditure area. Then we can discuss how much of this goes to what the Minister chooses to call "schools," but is it not less than what there was in 2022? Then the Minister also said that this was more than what the Social Democrats spent on Swedish schools during eight years of government. Excuse me, Madam Speaker, but that was completely absurd.
This government has prioritized, as all governments need to prioritize. This government chose to spend 13 billion kronor on lowering taxes for those who earn the most. Then there was no room for 61 million kronor for collegial learning, which develops teachers and leads to better teaching for students in all corners of Sweden. That is the prioritization.
We Social Democrats, therefore, do not make that prioritization. We believe that the state needs to take greater responsibility to increase equality and improve the quality of Swedish education - and we believe that it is the teachers who can do this by having a better exchange among themselves. That is why we began the initiative on quality dialogues and increased state presence throughout the country from the school authorities, which shall facilitate that teachers can learn more from one another. We think that is more important than lowering the tax by 13 billion kronor for those who earn the most.
We Social Democrats believe that schools need more resources. That is why we are doubling the general state grants that the government has included in the budget. We are giving twice as much to the country's municipalities and regions. Most of it will go to Swedish schools because it is the largest expenditure item for Sweden's municipalities – and it is needed, because this government has indeed submitted a budget that means Swedish schools face major cuts.
It would be pleasant to stand for that prioritization and tell the voters that one prioritizes lower taxes for high-income earners over Swedish school and over an increased state responsibility for the school.
Linus Sköld (S)
Madam Speaker! As it happened, I had the bill National professional program for principals, teachers and preschool teachers in my bag. In it, the government writes of its own accord that, in total, the staff in the various school forms have increased by nearly 38,000 full-time positions since the school year 2014/15. I think it is cheeky of the Minister for Education to claim that what she is putting into the budget this year is greater than the increase of 38,000 full-time positions that has occurred in these school forms over the last eight years.
I also heard no answer to my question. Is it the Minister's intention that the Skolverket office in Luleå should close? There are 14 municipal and a number of independent providers in Norrbotten. Since there will be no office in Umeå, one can also count the 15 municipal providers, and a number of independent providers, in the neighboring county. They would very much like to know whether the Skolverket office in Luleå will remain or not. Please answer the question, Minister!
Rose-Marie Carlsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I do not think I received an answer to my question either, but I will rephrase it at the end of my speech.
The assignment to Skolverket is also to develop guidelines for activities in the different school forms. If one compares school with preschool, there is very little regarding preschool. I welcome that more guidelines and general advice are to be developed. In many respects, this is missing in preschool, and this also applies to research, of which there is very little within the preschool world.
I have previously submitted a written question regarding quality dialogues, and we have also spoken about the quality dialogues here. The Minister says that one is investing in the school but makes other priorities. But I cannot read the word "preschool" in that at all. It is still there that the foundation for lifelong learning is laid.
The Minister said that no offices shall be closed but that redistributions can be made. Then I wonder what they are doing today that will not be done moving forward. And regarding the investments that the government is making in schools without mentioning preschool: When will we see corresponding new investments in preschool?
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! I truly welcome that the Social Democrats have come to their senses when it comes to increased state responsibility for the school. The truth is that it was a Social Democratic government that municipalized the school in the early 1990s. It is a reform that has largely failed, and that is why we stand here today and discuss the question of how the state can take a greater responsibility for the quality of Swedish schools. We naturally have slightly different opinions on how it should be done. Anything else would be strange.
In response to the questions that have been asked, I stated in the interpellation response that the mandate to Skolverket remains unchanged. The agency may make prioritizations within its area of responsibility. But in addition to that, there are major investments of nearly 700 million kronor for good learning materials for our students. It is an investment that remains year after year with more than half a billion kronor, and those are important funds.
We are also investing in special education teachers. There is a huge shortage of special education teachers in Swedish schools, and we must get more teachers who are specially trained and who can help the students who need extra support in school the most.
We are also increasing the state subsidies to preschool, which is incredibly important. It is in preschool that the foundation is laid for a good school education. I believe we all here in the chamber are aware of that.
I welcome, as I have said, that the Social Democrats finally think that a bit more state control of the Swedish school system is needed.
Åsa Westlund (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
I believe many are surprised that it is precisely the Liberals who are scrapping the increased state investment in better quality in teaching. Many voters who voted for the Liberals probably thought that they would prioritize the issue of the state taking a greater responsibility for equal education across the entire country above all else. Here, the government does the opposite.
Madam Speaker! I would like to summarize the debate. The Government says that it has deprioritized the investments in increasing the quality of teaching by improving the conditions for collegial learning among teachers. But it is said that Skolverket is nevertheless somehow supposed to be able to achieve this despite the money having disappeared. It is pure wishful thinking. More is required from the Swedish Government in leadership.
It is also said that one has not ensured that these cuts do not affect the operations in, for example, Luleå; one has not taken any such measures. Instead, the authority is left to work with fewer resources in the hope that it will bear the cut that the government is de facto making.
The government has tried to find an answer in that much else is being done for the school. It is true that much else is being done, and these are commendable initiatives that the Social Democrats also gladly see. We think, however, that the different principals and, above all, the municipalities themselves can decide on these matters better. We give them more resources in our budget to be able to do this.
The government, with the Liberals at the forefront, does not put the school first but instead chooses a tax cut of 13 billion for those who earn the most. The students did not even receive the 61 million that it is about.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! As I have said several times now, the assignment to carry out quality dialogues remains. We also have a dialogue with Skolverket regarding this. There are different ways to achieve equivalence. The quality dialogues are one such way, but there are also other ways. As I have mentioned previously, it is about more qualified teachers.
We have not discussed the professional program today - Linus Sköld mentioned it somewhat - which is a large and important part of increasing equality in Swedish schools so that all teachers and school leaders get the right to good professional development. Then, hopefully, they will also remain in the profession.
We need to ensure that we train more teachers and that more teachers might want to stay a bit longer in the profession than they had intended. We continue to invest in social teams and, not least, which I have highlighted, more and better textbooks for the students. They are lacking.
Swedish students have access to learning materials to a lesser extent than in comparable OECD countries. This creates major equality problems in our schools, because the municipalities choose to invest in learning materials to such different degrees. It is important for students that there is access to good learning materials, not least for those students who are taught by unqualified teachers.
I want to thank you for the debate. It has been rewarding. It is nevertheless encouraging that the Social Democrats see that we have equality problems in Swedish schools and that the state must do more.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.