Response to interpellation 2022/23:406 on the vocational schools
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the future of vocational schools and skills supply. L argues that the government prioritizes skills supply but that the pilot project with vocational schools did not deliver as hoped 1. L argues that only a quarter of the funds were used and that the pilot was not sufficiently well-functioning to be made permanent 1 2 3. L emphasizes the importance of establishing more educations for small areas but argues that one must dare to draw conclusions when results are lacking 4. V considers the vocational schools to be valuable and that the government is misprioritizing by phasing them out 5 6. V argues that the state should take greater responsibility for the education system 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)
Mr. Speaker! Daniel Riazat has, against the background of the decommissioning of the pilot project with vocational schools, asked me what measures I intend to take so that young people will have access to the education that is disappearing and what measures within my area of responsibility I intend to take to secure the supply of skills within small vocational fields.
I want to begin by emphasizing that the government is keen on ensuring that employers in different industries find the personnel they need to meet their competence supply. We often meet representatives from different industries who convey the picture of great needs, particularly for vocational labor with upper secondary education. This is a problem that the government takes very seriously.
The pilot project with vocational schools was commendable, and issues regarding competence supply within small vocational areas are a priority for the government. But just this pilot project has not delivered to the extent we had hoped for.
For 2022, not even a quarter of the available funds were used. In about half of the vocational areas - including bakery, deli, mechanical engineering and design - there was never a single student during the trial. Several others had only a few students. It is disappointing news, but unfortunately, that is how reality looks.
Other measures are needed to strengthen the supply of skills within small vocational fields. Therefore, the government decided in July this year on additional directives for the Inquiry on more paths to working life. The investigator has been tasked, based on experiences from the pilot project with vocational schools, to propose how the need for education within small vocational fields can be met more purposefully within the upper secondary school. The inquiry shall report on its assignment on November 4, 2024.
I also want to remind of today's opportunities to organize nationally recruiting education within upper secondary school. A principal can, after application, be approved to organize nationally recruiting education if there is national demand and national interest in the education. In that case, students from the entire country can be admitted to the education as primary applicants, that is, on the same terms as the students of the organizing municipality.
A student also has the right to be received as a first-priority applicant for education in another municipality if the program or specialization is not available in the home municipality. In that case, the student can receive financial support for boarding, and the head of the school receives compensation from the home municipality in the same way as for a nationally recruited education.
I also want to mention that the Vocational Education Inquiry shall, among other things, take a position on whether opportunities for national recruitment should be introduced for certain integrated vocational programs within komvux. Through national recruitment, the number of students in less common programs can increase, which can contribute to better skills supply within shortage occupations. That inquiry shall present its proposals on February 15, 2024.
I and the government look forward to receiving both of the inquiries that I have mentioned and intend to continue working to strengthen the supply of skills within small professional areas.
Daniel Riazat (V)
Mr. Speaker! Soon the Chamber and the audience, whether they are in here or at home, will be able to be rid of me. This is my third and final debate for today. It was a rough start.
This is an important issue that I felt we need to discuss. The reason for this was a conversation I had with representatives from the business community, the trade union movement, and vocational schools, where they spoke about the growing concern now that the government has decided to phase out the vocational schools.
Skolverket has described the purpose of the pilot project with industry schools as a way to strengthen the national competence supply within selected shortage occupations by increasing the attractiveness and availability of vocational education within small vocational areas where the labor market demand has been greater than the availability of the right competence. Skolverket presented an evaluation in 2021 of the ongoing pilot, which started in 2018. It was noted that the number of industry school students in the pilot project had been significantly lower than the government had expected, but that the industry school education has resulted in an increased supply of vocational education for students in different locations across the country.
At the same time, Skolverket stated that the heads of schools judged that the vocational school educations are valuable and of good quality for the students concerned. In its report, Skolverket writes: "Skolverkets overall assessment is therefore that the pilot project, albeit to a limited extent, has contributed to strengthening the national competence supply within small vocational areas."
The energy companies, which also want to preserve the vocational schools, have highlighted the importance of access to personnel with the right competence when Sweden is to transition. The trade unions and the business community are, as stated, in agreement with each other.
Mr. Speaker! The climate transition work needs to be accelerated significantly so that we can reach the climate goals we have committed ourselves to. Vänsterpartiet believes that Sweden has exceptionally good conditions to carry out this transition and to become a world leader in a number of industrial areas if the right investments are made. It can become a new era for Swedish industry and a new era for increased employment in this country. If Sweden is to succeed with the climate transition, however, greater weight needs to be placed on precisely the competence needs. This applies in the climate transition phase itself, where we need to expand transport and energy infrastructure. It is also needed to energy-efficient the housing sector and to meet the competence needs when large parts of the industry transition to reduce their emissions.
The Climate Policy Council points out that there is already a major shortage of technicians, installers, and engineers today. Even in Fossilfritt Sverige's industry roadmaps for fossil-free competitiveness, this competence issue was highlighted. According to their estimates, for example, 30,000 new electrical installers will be needed in the coming years. Therefore, it is serious that the government has chosen to shut down vocational schools right now.
In light of this, I asked the Minister for Education Lotta Edholm: What measures does the government intend to take so that young people can access the education that is now disappearing? And the answer is thus that the government cares about this issue and that it is very important, but they do not want vocational schools. I do not quite understand that logic. All investments are needed right now to achieve a better supply of skills.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! For once, Daniel Riazat and I are in very much agreement. We agree on the importance of a well-functioning vocational education both for young people at the upper secondary level and for adults who may want a new education or want to change paths in life.
I was not the responsible minister when the trial with vocational schools was launched. But if I had been, I would certainly have been just as positive about it as the minister at the time was. It was a trial. On paper, it is a very good idea. But it did not reach all the way, to put it mildly. Far too few municipalities have applied for these grants, and far too few places have actually been established. The demand for places and government grants has also decreased during the years that the trial was ongoing. When I arrived at the Ministry of Education, no work whatsoever was being done to make the trial permanent; instead, all forces were pulling to have it concluded.
But when one conducts this type of trial, one should naturally draw conclusions from it and see what worked and what did not. The investigation that examines how we can achieve better and well-functioning vocational educations has therefore also received an additional directive to look at the experiences of this trial to see how these can be woven into, for example, a better functioning vocational high school.
When one conducts this type of trial, it is because one wants to gain experience and see what does not work and what does work. Then one draws conclusions from it. Alternatively, one makes it permanent if one thinks it was very well-functioning. But today we can see that in the last round, only about 25 percent of the state grants were applied for. That is a bit too little to make the trial permanent, I would think.
Daniel Riazat (V)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, the Minister for Education, for the clarified answer!
I have also read quite a bit regarding the differences between national admissions and vocational school educations, for example. There I can also recount what Svenskt Näringsliv says. They mean that the government and the Minister for Education do not seem to have understood the difference between national admissions and this type of education.
I agree with the Minister for Education that when a pilot project does not work over a long period, one should at least review it and perhaps change something in the structure so that it functions better.
If it absolutely does not work, it can of course be shut down. So I wish that the Liberals had reconsidered, for example, the friskola reform during the last 30 years. But that does not seem to be the case, because year after year there can be as many deficiencies as one likes without anything happening.
Vocational schools are very important for us to have a supply of skills for our future and current transition. And we are facing our time's defining issue, which is precisely the climate crisis. Then, all of a sudden, the government wants to pull the rug out from under the vocational schools.
I agree, for once, with the bourgeoisie's own organ Svenskt Näringsliv. This is not reasonable. This is not taking the issue of the shortage of skilled labor seriously. We need to have initiatives to get more employees out there in this transition work. We do not need fewer.
If 25 percent of the money has been applied for, the budget for the vocational schools can be temporarily reduced. One can ensure that visits are made to the schools to check what has worked and what has not worked. And then one corrects what has not worked.
When Skolverket says this, when the trade union movement is in complete agreement, and when the entire business community and the industry organizations are in complete agreement that this is wrong, and the government and the school minister nevertheless say that we must cut the legs out from under the vocational schools, then something is not right. What else are these funds supposed to go to? Is it to lower the tax for the richest in our society, which the government has budgeted for and which they have also implemented over the past year?
I mean that this is not reasonable. Competence supply is more important than tax cuts for billionaires. Once again, we see a misprioritization from this government, and we will not be part of it.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! As I believe I said, no one would have been happier than I if this attempt had been a success. And had it been a success, there would naturally have been a plan at the Ministry of Education when I became Minister for Education for this to continue. But there was no such planning, and instead, the attempt expired. That it did so was because it was simply not a good enough idea.
This is the very idea behind this type of attempt. One should test and see: Was it a good idea or not? And one of the places where it has worked very well is Plåt- & Ventbyrån in Katrineholm, which I have visited myself. It is a vocational school that has existed for about 30 years, i.e., long before this attempt, and which also functioned long before this attempt. They have succeeded in taking these funds and doing something sensible with them. But they already existed before.
It is now a matter of trying to draw experience from this. We cannot force young people to settle in different parts of the country to attend vocational schools if they do not want to, but we must try to find ways to create schools where many young people want to apply, which have good vocational training. It is naturally also not least about adults who perhaps have a profession that is not so in demand and who choose to further their education or retrain for something completely different.
This is what the government is currently doing in the large investigation on how we are to get more people into working life in Sweden. Then, the experiences from this attempt will exist as a basis. One can draw conclusions about what worked and what did not work.
I am, of course, also aware that there is a big difference between vocational schools and schools with national admissions, but it was a way to answer the question. What other opportunities are there than to extend this attempt, which actually did not quite live up to what we believed when it came to what it could provide in terms of places for the very, very small professions that it is about?
Daniel Riazat (V)
Mr. Speaker! I will try to keep it very brief. Thank you, the Minister for Education, for the additional comment!
I have one final question that the Minister for Education would like to answer in the concluding remarks: In what way is it argued that all actors - that is, trade unions, industry organizations, Svenskt Näringsliv and virtually everyone who has in some way been involved in this issue - are wrong? All of them are wrong, but the Swedish government - or rather the Liberals and the Minister for Education - are right. I do not quite understand that logic.
We have had schools that have succeeded and which the Minister for Education himself praises here from the rostrum - I agree with the praise. The Minister for Education says that they have existed since before. Absolutely, but this is an opportunity for the state to take greater responsibility so that vocational training exists all around the country.
We know that the majority of the country's municipalities face major cuts, partly due to this government's policy. What will be cut when the municipalities have to make reductions? It is among these types of initiatives that the state is withdrawing its grants for, and it will lead to fewer people being able to work in these shortage occupations, not more. Therefore, it is important that the state takes greater responsibility.
I thought that the Liberals once upon a time stood for the state taking a greater responsibility for the education system. Then I was told that it is only if one does not touch the independent school corporations. Then one wants more state responsibility. Now one finds out that it is about the independent schools but also that we can have a greater state responsibility as long as there are no vocational schools.
In what way is the state supposed to take greater responsibility for the supply of skills if not, among other things, through this? I mean that it is a completely wrong decision by the government.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! Yes, it is enormously important to achieve more and well-functioning educations also for small but very important areas. It is important that we dare to think anew and that we dare to have this type of pilot activity. But we must also dare to draw conclusions when it did not turn out as well as we had hoped.
When 75 percent of the tax funds are actually frozen because no one applies, it is time to consider: What was right in this? What was wrong in this? That is exactly how I think pilot projects should function. You draw conclusions, and then you try to create something new based on that. That is also what the large investigation into vocational training, more paths into professional life, is going to look at.
As I tried to say: I would have thought it would have been brilliant if these educations had had more applicants, if the municipalities had applied for these funds and so on. But that is not quite the case. In fact, very few places have been created in this area, and most of the money is not even used. Then one must dare to draw conclusions from that.
But the activities that have existed have been good, and as far as I understand, they will continue, for example in Katrineholm, because they existed already before the project was launched.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.