Response to interpellation 2022/23:53 on the future of 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 the vocational schools and the insufficient results in the pilot project. L admits that vocational educations are a "sad child" and that the pilot project has not yielded the expected results due to too few applicants 1 2 3. L argues that municipalities must cooperate better and that nationally recruited educations or expanded adult education can be solutions 2 4. L emphasizes that the pilot project will be concluded after the current academic year as it has not functioned well enough 1 3. L believes that the climate transition requires skilled workers 3. S argues that the vocational schools are an important diamond for the skills supply and that it is foolishly stingy to end the experiment 5. S suggests that the regulatory framework be improved and that the vocational schools be made permanent 6.
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! Caroline Helmersson Olsson has asked me if I intend to act so that the schools that have participated in the pilot project with vocational schools can continue to provide students with a qualified vocational education. She has also asked how I intend to act within my area of responsibility to secure the supply of skills in small and niche industries if the pilot project does not continue.
The purpose of the pilot project has been to strengthen the national supply of skills by improving access to vocational education that leads to certain shortage occupations. Vocational schools participating in the pilot project offer contract teaching in one or more vocational areas that other school principals find difficult to organize and which few students study for at the upper secondary level.
Skolverket's follow-up shows that the pilot project has, in total, covered approved educations within 18 different vocational areas. In several vocational areas, it has been a matter of very limited or no student participation at all. One explanation is that the model of sending a few students to a vocational school gives the principals extra administration and costs with requirements for coordination regarding the students' overall education. Several vocational schools have also seen it as costly to market the education to other principals, schools, and students.
The purpose of the pilot project is legitimate, but the project has not achieved the expected results. Funds have therefore not been allocated in the budget bill for 2023, which means that the project will be concluded after the current academic year. The Government assesses that other ways are needed to provide a wide range of vocational training within small vocational areas.
The Riksdag has decided on amendments to the Education Act on the grounds of the bill Dimensioning of upper secondary education for better skills supply (prop. 2021/22:159). This means, among other things, that the educational supply within upper secondary school and vocational adult education shall be dimensioned according to the labor market's needs. It also means that municipalities shall cooperate through agreements with at least two other municipalities regarding planning, dimensioning, and offering of upper secondary education. The regulation aims, among other things, to obtain a broader educational supply of vocational education for young people and adults. Cooperation can, among other things, concern education within small vocational areas.
The Government will continue to monitor the development of the supply of education within small vocational fields and, if necessary, take further measures.
Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister of Education, for the answer, even though I think it is a somewhat sad answer! I hope that the Minister can elaborate on it more positively in the debate.
The purpose of the experiment is, as the Minister said, to strengthen the national competence supply within small vocational areas where the principals do not have the capacity to offer the training. It is most often about the industries' competence centers, and in some cases, these are the only ones in the country that offer a certain training.
It is in itself good that one refers to the work already started with the regional planning and dimensioning, but it will not reach the vocational schools in this situation. This is not to be started until the time of the training in 2025.
Nothing makes me believe that regions, municipalities or independent employers will expand education in sheet metal work, bodywork and painting, distribution electronics or flooring for the autumn term 2023, when the attempt ends. It is too expensive with equipment, and there is a shortage of vocational teachers.
Municipalities and independent providers have been able to apply for state grants to send students to these vocational courses. I agree that this has not reached its full potential, even though it has increased from year to year. During the first three academic years, 271 students have taken these vocational courses and become employable.
Sweden needs more people who undergo vocational training, not fewer! The state subsidy that has been cut has been between 20 and 28 million over the years. Personally, I can think that this is a somewhat petty saving in a state budget that covers almost 95 billion.
The reasons why this has been underutilized are several, according to Skolverket's evaluation. One of them is the limitation that one is only allowed to send five students per principal. The most concrete example of how absurd it can become is Praktiska Sverige AB, which is a principal in all of Sweden. They have been able to send five students, which they have also done. They have thus used their quota, but they could certainly send more.
The vocational schools provide quality assurance for the apprenticeship training they offer. It is not easy for a branch to build up a school in five years and also obtain information about it. Those who have succeeded best are Plåt & Ventbyrån, which is owned by the entire industry together with Byggnads, and the municipal upper secondary school in Falun together with the transport industry.
I believe that the Minister for Education can see that this little diamond in the school system contributes to the national skills supply. I truly hope that the Minister does not intend to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Therefore, I wonder if the Minister intends to task Skolverket with investigating the possibility of incorporating the vocational school model into already existing educational concepts. If not, how does the Minister intend to act to develop this important activity?
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! The interpellor says that this is a somewhat sad answer. Fundamentally, I completely agree. Vocational programs are a sad case altogether in Swedish upper secondary school. Far too few students choose to take vocational programs. It is sad on a Swedish level, but it is a development that we also see in the rest of Europe. It is in that way, and we must do different things to meet this.
When it comes to this pilot project, no one would have been happier than I if what was desired had been achieved: that there should be very many students applying for these vocational educations. But that is not the case. That is also a kind of idea with a pilot project. It is about daring to test for a few years. Then you see if it was a good idea. No, maybe it wasn't. It does not work well enough. It did not turn out quite as one thought. Yes, but then we simply have to try to find other ways.
What is happening now is that the municipalities will be forced, so to speak, to cooperate better regarding educations in order to also make it more visible, I believe, for students that they might be able to apply for an education in a neighboring municipality a bit further away. That is also possible. I believe that what should be taken advantage of in this pilot project is the close cooperation with the industries. I believe that it is a key factor overall. It is nothing that prevents municipalities from doing it anyway. I believe that it is part of the solution to the problem – to try to achieve better cooperation with the industries.
One can also imagine more nationally recruiting upper secondary education programs. If a nationally recruiting education is established, students from all over the country can apply for that education. One can also receive grants to live at home. It could be a possible option.
But this attempt has not quite turned out in the way that had been hoped for from the beginning. Thus, it is not said that it was wrong to do it. I believe, in fact, in this type of trial activity. One tests and sees. And if it turns out well, one can change the legislation. In this case, there were simply too few applicants.
Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I appreciate that the Minister for Education is thinking creatively. I hope that we can find good solutions moving forward, but I am nevertheless concerned about the vocational schools in particular.
Stockholm is a beautiful city. If the Minister for Education and I go out into the chamber foyer and look out over Stockholm, we will see very many beautiful tin roofs, not least on the City Hall with its three crowns. It is skilled men and women professionals who put them there at one time or another. Perhaps some solar cells need to be put on them in the future. They may need to be repaired. Then we need skilled professionals.
It is quite remarkable that there is not a single welding training program in Stockholm. There was one in Kista, which was shut down. The Minister for Education will surely remember that.
Now the industry has actually tried to start a school here, because the need is great. But they cannot find a location where they can house a workshop. They have a solution in the works: that a private school company shall arrange an apprenticeship training and that the students shall then be sent to Plåt & Ventbyrån in Katrineholm for these vocational courses. That school has actually trained 155 skilled sheet metal workers so far during the attempt.
Does the Minister for Education think they have a solution that will hold here in Stockholm if the state grant for sending students ceases? I am concerned regarding this.
Since time is short in the debate, I shall in this speech stick to the sheet metal and ventilation industry, but there are also many other industries that have these competence supply problems. The sheet metal worker profession is a future industry. The industry itself says that they need to recruit approximately 2,000 within three years. Arbetsförmedlingen assesses that the shortage will be large.
Today, there are 18 upper secondary schools in the country that offer sheet metal training with vocational teachers and adequate equipment. An additional 40 schools in Sweden offer the training in cooperation with the trade school.
Gothenburg and Västra Götaland are those who I assess have come the furthest of all with planning, dimensioning, and cooperation and collaboration with the industries, as the Minister for Education says. In Gothenburg, they also have very many fine sheet metal roofs. Their forecast is that they need to train 490 sheet metal workers within three years. They do, in fact, have their own sheet metal worker training there, but they still cooperate with the vocational school for quality assurance of the professional skills.
Does the Minister see any other solution for the industries' rather acute competence shortage than vocational schools? The Minister for Education was somewhat on that, but can it go fast enough to do new things? Isn't there a very good thing about retaining our vocational schools and developing them?
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! I completely share Caroline Helmersson Olsson's worldview when it comes to this. It is a huge problem within both the construction sector and health and social care that far too few young people choose these vocational educations. I believe that a path to success must include the industries – I am completely convinced of that. There are different types of certifications and so on that provide a quality stamp which I believe is important for many students when they choose upper secondary school.
But ultimately, it is about how many students choose a particular education. The reason these educations have been phased out in different parts of the country, including in Stockholm, is quite simply that there are too few applicants. It naturally becomes a greater responsibility for the industry to ensure that there are vocational educations. I believe that the industries have quite large opportunities to help with this – to ensure that they become good educations.
Then, from the municipalities' side, one can also consider whether they can provide training within adult education (yrkesvux). A 15- or 16-year-old who chooses upper secondary school may feel like they are choosing something for their entire life. That is, of course, not the case. It is naturally possible to improve grades and change direction throughout one's life. But many may feel that it is a choice for the entire life. It could then be an opportunity for the municipalities to expand their adult education in this area, naturally with the support and help of the industries, because I believe that is a key factor for it to become high-quality teaching.
But then, again, it is this with the nationally recruiting educations. It is actually an opportunity to use that to get students from all over the country to apply for an education. Then one can achieve real excellence in that education. It is, just as the interpellator says, a major shortage of teachers within these educations.
Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I truly agree that adult education is a way forward.
Few young people choose this. That is why it is so clever with the vocational school. Then those young people who do choose this can take the train and arrive in Katrineholm in an hour and receive their vocational training there together with other young people in the country.
I do not believe that the supply of skills in small industries will be regarded as a regional or local responsibility. I do not believe that the dimensioning regulations will really work. I am happy to discuss national recruitment further with the Minister in the future.
My warm recommendation to the Minister is that after this debate she returns to the department and considers once more how she can take her responsibility for the national competence supply in narrow niches. In my assessment, the best, simplest, and fastest way would be to improve the regulatory framework, to give Skolverket a mandate to look at this as well, and to simply make the vocational schools permanent.
I just want to ask: Does the minister really see that the work with the regional planning is sufficient to reach the narrow niches? I hear that I sound repetitive, but I still want to ask once more.
I would also like to invite the Minister to a seminar that I am organizing here in the Riksdag on December 15, where some of the vocational schools will be participating.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Madam Speaker! Plåt & Ventbyrån in Katrineholm has existed for many years, long before this pilot project, and is considered to be one of the best schools in that area. That school will, of course, remain in any case.
What we are talking about, in response to the interpellation, is precisely about the pilot project. There, there have simply been far too few applicants for it to be reasonable to maintain it. I think such pilot projects are good. One reason why one has pilot projects and does not directly just enact a law and change something is that one actually should be able to test.
Now this did not turn out quite as well as the previous government had hoped, but I can say that if it had turned out well and there had been as many applicants as one thought when the operation was launched, no one would have been happier than I, naturally. Then we could have made the changes to the legislation that the interpellor is calling for. But now there are far too few applicants.
I look forward to the discussion ahead, because I truly believe we share the view that this is an enormously important future problem to address. The interpellor touched upon this regarding solar cells on roofs, and it is about our entire climate transition. Managing it requires skilled people in a number of different areas. It also concerns completely different activities, for example within health and social care.
All good ideas in this area, I believe, will be of good help.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.