Response to interpellation 2023/24:154 on measures to save folk high school places
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns measures to save folk high school places. L assesses that the folk high school fulfills an important function and proposes a permanent increase of the state grant by 100 million kronor 1. L argues that the increase is an important priority as many schools are struggling financially 1 and that one must take responsibility due to inflation 2. L sees it as a strength that the government and S propose the same increase 3 4. S perceives that the folk high schools' situation is difficult due to the aftermath of the pandemic, high costs, and failing resources from the government 5 6. S argues that the government has not provided sufficient support to municipalities and regions 7. S argues that the government has not done what they claim to do and that inflation is eating up the proposed supplement 8. S argues that the government reduced the grants to folk education by over 500 million kronor the year before 8. S argues that the government lacks insight into the situation and should take clearer leadership 6. S criticizes that the government wants to redistribute grants between study associations and folk high schools 9. S is concerned that the government wants to bypass the freedom and voluntariness of folk education by moving administrative tasks from the Folkbildningsrådet to authorities 9 10. S considers that the government's measure is a preservation of value rather than an investment 10.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Jytte Guteland has asked me how I and the government intend to act so that this does not mean that more folk high schools are forced to shut down parts of or all of their activities. The question is posed, among other things, against the background that the interpellator believes that the government proposes reduced appropriations to the folk high schools in the budget bill.
Initially, I want to emphasize that the government considers that the folk high school fulfills an important function in the Swedish education system. Through the folk high school's broad range of courses, individuals can, for example, obtain basic eligibility for continued studies within university or university college or train for a profession. The folk high school's special pedagogy and methods of work contribute to strengthening the participants' self-confidence and give people new perspectives and better study results than they have achieved previously.
During the pandemic, temporary extra funds were allocated to the folk high schools. It had been previously announced that these funds would cease at the end of 2022. The Government judged in its priorities that the need for temporary reinforcements due to the pandemic no longer remained.
I want to be clear that the government is not proposing reduced appropriations for the folk high schools in the budget bill for 2024 (prop. 2023/24:1). Instead, the government proposes that the state grant to the folk high schools be strengthened. The strengthening is proposed to amount to 100 million kronor in 2024 and is expected to reach this level permanently.
The Government assesses that this general reinforcement is an important priority in a time when many folk high schools are struggling with finances and when the needs of each folk high school differ. I note and welcome that the Social Democrats also, in their shadow budget, like the Government, propose that the state grant to the folk high schools be reinforced by 100 million kronor in 2024.
In total, the government proposes in the budget bill for 2024 that approximately 2.4 billion kronor be distributed in state grants to folk high schools during the next year. This will enable very important educational activities at the country's folk high schools.
Jytte Guteland (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Education for the answer to the question regarding the tough situation that the folk high schools face in our country.
We Social Democrats perceive that the situation for the country's folk high schools is difficult right now. A lot has happened that leads to an economically pressured situation for the country's folk high schools. It concerns what the Minister for Education himself brings up, namely the impact of the pandemic, which was temporary, but it also concerns rising electricity prices and a generally high cost level. Added to this are failing resources from the government to municipalities and regions, which means that the folk high schools, in the situation that municipalities and regions face, can end up being squeezed.
It is also about the fact that the government invested less in the folk high schools for the current year than we in the opposition did. This was felt in the already strained economic situation that the folk high schools have.
We are several Social Democrats who have been out at folk high schools in our entire elongated country. I myself recently visited Ågesta folkhögskola and met participants in the various important courses that it conducts and provides. It was a powerful experience to talk with the participants about how important the folk high school is as a form of education and what enormous change in life the folk high school and participation in folk high school activities have meant for many of the participants.
There was the guy who told me that he had lost all faith in future educational opportunities and had stopped dreaming about managing to complete his schooling, but who at Ågesta folkhögskola found his self-confidence again and also the joy of learning more and participating in a form of education, and thereby began to dream about the future again.
There was the girl who told about times of substance abuse problems and a feeling of exclusion in school and with difficulties at home. She had absolutely not dreamed of completing her schooling, but at Ågesta folkhögskola she could feel hope for the future again and get the opportunity to acquire knowledge and feel joy for the future.
There was a younger woman from Ukraine who told that her studies in Sweden had gone well, but that she lacked the important knowledge in mathematics needed for her to be able to finish and work in healthcare as a nurse, which was her great dream in life.
All these participants at Ågesta folkhögskola felt this way: In the folkhögskola, I am strengthened and my knowledge is reinforced, and what the education system outside was unable to help me with, I have now received help and support for through the folkhögskola.
At the same time, the same folk high school told me that the harsh cost situation and the lack of investment from the government's side mean that it is difficult to stand up for the places for participants that one has today in the future. I have also heard colleagues in the Riksdag testify that it is the same thing at other folk high schools.
One looks quite gloomily at the future, and several folk high schools in the country have begun to phase out study places. In the first instance, one chooses extra resources and perhaps uses the opportunities one has at the folk high school, but moving forward, participation places will disappear. I wonder what the government is doing about this?
Magnus Manhammar (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you for this discussion.
I want to start by saying that I love folk high schools. It is something that I believe all of us members in this chamber could do if we just visited them. If you go to a folk high school somewhere in Sweden, you will experience fantastic things: people who are making their life's journey, people who perhaps have been met with closed doors but who are suddenly met with open doors and the opportunity to realize themselves and find a way to work or a way into Swedish society.
The folk high schools do incredibly great good, and the folk high school as a form of education is unique - unique for Sweden and unique in the world. It is a way for someone to enter a safe environment and to truly receive the support they need to be able to follow the vision they themselves have for their life, what they are passionate about or what they want to work with.
I have been out to a number of folk high schools over the last few months. I have then had fantastic meetings with young people who have not managed to finish school and who have now been sitting and calculating and suddenly think that math is the most fun thing there is. They feel that they have received support that they have never received before. I have met retirees there who would otherwise have been lonely and perhaps felt unwell. But they come to a community where they get to learn something new. I have met people of my age, or older for that matter, who are changing paths in life. They may have had companies but have now decided that they are going to work as leisure educators, social educators, or something else. There are myriads of fantastic educations at all possible levels that make our society richer.
But one is also met with a concern at the folk high schools – a concern for the future and a concern for whether the folk high schools will be able to maintain the good activities they have. The folk high schools have already had to make quite large cuts during the past year. And even with the support they receive from the government of 100 million kronor, there will unfortunately still be cuts at most folk high schools. There are a number of different reasons for this. One reason is inflation. Another is that there is no indexing of the support that the folk high schools receive for the participant weeks, as the same support for the participant weeks has remained unchanged for quite many years. This makes it, for example, difficult to increase wages, which is reasonable to do across the entire labor market for everyone who works. But because the folk high schools' support is not indexed, they cannot do so. This makes it difficult to run this form of education when one is constantly under financial pressure.
I want to ask the minister how he sees the future. This is something that we should not in any way argue about in politics. We should reach an agreement. What can we do? Is it perhaps possible in the long run to make increases? Can we talk about this between the opposition and the government? Is it possible to increase the support for the participation weeks? Can there be further support for the folk high schools in the future? This is an incredibly important activity that is a core, I would like to say, in the Swedish education system.
The government has unfortunately also not provided the support that is needed, if one compares it with the Social Democratic proposal, to municipalities and regions. The government's support is unfortunately not as large. This means that the government also does not provide the support that municipalities and regions would have needed so that they do not have to cut back on adult education. Municipalities and regions also provide support to it.
Another thing that I have heard many are concerned about concerns that the folk high schools and folk education activities should be free, voluntary, and free from state control. Here we also see a change from the government's side this year. The government is interfering in folk education in many ways. This concerns how the funding should be, but they are also interfering in folk education in a completely different way than they have done previously. How does the minister view this?
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Education that we are once again given the opportunity to debate popular education in this chamber and, not least, the conditions for the folk high schools.
The Minister wants to state in his answer that the government and the Social Democrats have the same ambitions regarding folk education. History shows something else. If we look at the budget decision for 2023, it meant significant cuts in the appropriations to folk education, primarily to the folk high schools, from the government. The Social Democrats included significantly larger amounts for the folk high schools in their shadow budget.
One can try to adjust the history by now adding 100 million kronor, which we also propose. But as my colleagues have very rightly pointed out, we have ongoing inflation, so the cost increases will likely eat up this entire supplement. The government itself has calculated a cost increase rate of 4 percent. If one takes the grant for folk high schools which is new and reduces it by 100 million and calculates with an inflation rate, a cost increase, of 4 percent, it corresponds to 94 million kronor. The actual reinforcement to the folk high schools that the government is providing is therefore 6 million kronor, after having cut over 500 million kronor the year before. To call this a prioritization of the folk high schools, I do not think is a correct designation.
This triple blow, with reduced opportunities for municipalities and regions to contribute funds to the folk high schools' activities, reduced direct support last year by large amounts, and furthermore large cost increases, has dramatic consequences.
Like Magnus Manhammar and Jytte Guteland, I have made several visits to folk high schools. They all testify to the same thing. This concerns, among other things, two classes at lilla Älvsby folkhögskola that cannot start this year. It concerns healthcare programs and general studies.
That Magnus Manhammar extends his hand when it comes to whether we can work together and reach an agreement on what the future should look like for the folk high schools is a great gesture. I hope that the minister takes this extended hand. I am a bit less conciliatory and think that the government is not doing what it claims to be doing. I think that is cheeky.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the interpellants for a very pleasant tone and a very constructive spirit in this very important matter.
Just as the interpellator and the co-debaters for forward play, the folk high schools play a very important role in the Swedish education system in slightly different ways, perhaps above all because they provide an opportunity for those who have not quite come to their rights in the Swedish school to, in a somewhat innovative and different way, gain a sense and motivation for education and, not least, the opportunity to study general courses, which allows them to obtain eligibility to then pursue further studies in some form of post-secondary education. The folk high schools thus play a very important role.
It is naturally also about the tailored education when it comes to the care needs that we see in the municipalities' elderly care. Many folk high schools conduct vocational education that truly meets the needs of the welfare system. The folk high schools therefore play a very important role in the Swedish education system.
It is therefore very pleasing to hear that there is such a broad consensus in the Riksdag regarding this. I truly welcome it and think it is a very pleasant tone in this debate.
A question has been asked regarding the governance. I share the view that it is a question of a conflict of objectives and a balancing act. In recent years, we have seen different types of targeted and temporary grants that have been given to this activity. The Riksdag has had a broad consensus regarding that we should direct a number of grants to the activities of the folk high schools. This stands partly in contrast to the free folk high schools which, for the most part, should decide this themselves. So there is a conflict of objectives there.
It is then a matter of us, as we have had a broad agreement on, guarding that the main part naturally shall be free but that we sometimes, when the social needs are very great, may wish to intervene with different types of targeted support.
Mr. Speaker! Right now, no targeted support is being provided; instead, it is general reinforcements that are taking place. It is a reinforcement of 100 million kronor next year. And it is a new permanent level. It is therefore not about any temporary money, as it was during the pandemic, but it is permanent money that will make it possible to build up an operation where the long-term conditions are known, in sharp contrast to when temporary grants were provided, which creates a great jerkiness in the operation and makes it difficult to plan and to achieve stability in the operation.
I welcome the fact that there is a very large political consensus regarding this, and I think it is a strength that we can demonstrate that we are in agreement. Both in the government's budget and in the Social Democrats' shadow budget, this ambition with an increase of 100 million kronor is included. I think that is a strength for democracy and a strength for all of Folkhögskolesverige.
Jytte Guteland (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Education once again for the answer.
We Social Democrats also are pleased that there is an understanding that the folk high schools do important work. That being said, we believe that the government lacks insight into the fact that the folk high schools are facing a very difficult situation.
As my colleague said, one actually experiences a triple blow. One has the changed cost situation, which means that many folk high schools are facing increased costs everywhere right now. There was also a large reduction in direct support during the current year, which became a huge burden for many folk high schools in the country to try to manage. To this is added reduced grants to municipalities and regions, which we are completely convinced will also land with the folk high schools moving forward.
We want to hear what the Minister for Education has planned here. We can talk about extended hands, but the important thing is that the government takes on a leadership. That is, after all, expected of it.
In the situation we have, with young people who lack faith in the future and many times feel that ordinary schooling does not work, the folk high school is there as an opportunity. Where society has failed previously, the folk high school is there – and it succeeds many times. The statistics speak their clear language: We see that a large proportion of those who attend a folk high school succeed in getting jobs, and a very large proportion proceed to higher education after the folk high school.
So, it succeeds in the mission that the school has not succeeded with previously, and therefore this form of education should be extra important in a time when Sweden has challenges in the education area. Sweden also has challenges with young people not feeling a sense of hope for the future, and there are challenges with crime. There, I believe that the folk high schools are an opportunity for Sweden and not something to cut back on.
Therefore, I want to ask the Minister for Education once again how he intends to ensure that the triple blow that the folk high schools are currently experiencing is countered and to provide some hope for the future to all those principals who are now struggling with their budgets. These principals want to do everything in their power so that the participants in the activities are not affected - that is truly the vision - but they cannot conjure up figures or go down on their knees. Right now, premises are being rented out, there is summer school, and extra resources are being cut. They ensure that regular teachers are able to work during summer weeks with summer school activities, for example. All of this is done to avoid that the participants are affected.
I want to see the same passion from the Minister for Education that I see from the principals out at the folk high schools in Sweden. What is the plan?
Magnus Manhammar (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for Education for the answer. I think it is very good that we are discussing this and that we are doing it in a constructive way.
On September 19 this year, the folk high schools across the country held a large demonstration as they are currently in a very difficult situation. It is a difficult economic situation, and there is much concern for the future. I participated myself in one of the demonstrations and met many young people and teachers there. There was a great deal of anxiety.
I know that the Minister for Education is out a lot, and I hope that he will get to meet all these people and see the picture they describe, because more needs to be done than what is being done right now - both from our side and from the government's side. We should collectively do something for the folk high schools.
Five of the folk high schools wrote a debate article on the same day as the demonstration, and I thought I would read out a short quote: "This year, the government removed the extra grants that the folk high schools received in 2022, amounting to over 400 million, and we still consider it both ill-considered and very regrettable. Now, the government wants to redistribute the grants between study associations and folk high schools through the budget process to finance the folk high schools' difficult financial situation, and that is such a bad way to act. We do not accept that study associations and folk high schools are pitted against each other in this way."
I think they are completely right in this – one should not set anyone, whether people or organizations, against anyone else in society. Here we instead have two types of folk education, which many times collaborate in a fantastic way – often when I am out at the folk high schools, there are also study associations there. They fulfill different functions, and they strengthen each other. Therefore, both are needed, and they need to go hand in hand. There needs to be good support in both parts.
As I said earlier, they also need to be free, and they need to be voluntary. I am concerned about the development that seems to be occurring right now. I perhaps don't even believe it is the Minister for Education's own will that folkbildning should no longer be free and voluntary, but it seems that the government wants to circumvent the voluntariness and the freedom for folkbildning. That makes me worried.
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! As is known, I share my colleague Magnus Manhammar's concern regarding the development and over the fact that the state is shifting the political positions in the management of folkbildningen.
Mats Persson speaks in the rostrum about targeted grants, and that may be one thing. But to abolish the self-governance model that has been the way for folkbildningen to govern itself is a completely different thing. To let the administrative tasks that have rested with the Folkbildningsrådet pass over to agencies that act directly on the government's mandate will move forward the political governance of folkbildningen and make it less free in its form and, above all, in its content.
I really think this is a worrying development, and just as Magnus Manhammar suspects, I do not think the Minister for Education would put forward these proposals if he were given the choice. I do, however, believe that the largest party in the government support is very clear that the Folkbildningsrådet should not remain.
To summarize: Large cost increases, large cuts in 2023 and cuts to municipalities and regions put the folk high schools in a very difficult economic situation. The government acts by securing the low level they established in 2023, and I do not think one should call that an investment or a prioritization. I think one should call it what it is, namely a securing of value.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the interpellants. Just as we all are aware, the folk high schools play a very important role.
We have a tough economic situation. Many Swedes are sitting at their kitchen tables wondering how they will balance their household budget, and many companies are wondering how they can balance their finances so that they can survive. In the same way, the folk high schools have a tough economic situation. We all have it, and we all need to make tough prioritizations. I have full respect for the fact that these are tough times; these are times of inflation in Sweden and around Europe, and it is a tough situation. Then it is about taking responsibility.
Mr. Speaker! The money that was allocated during the pandemic was temporary. Last time I checked, we have no pandemic internationally or in Sweden. I believe everyone realizes that temporary money for a mission – in this case during a pandemic, because there were special circumstances and one had additional costs because one could not conduct the operations in the way one used to – is precisely temporary. This was a temporary measure that applied during the pandemic, and now we have no pandemic. Thus, we go back to the normal, so to speak.
In that situation, it is important to show leadership; I completely share that view. That is why the government is making these tough prioritizations and chooses to prioritize the activities of the folk high schools in a clear way by allocating 100 million kronor next year, which is a permanent level that will remain over the coming years. I think it is a strength that we have a consensus on this in Swedish politics and that many political parties are joining that line.
Jytte Guteland (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you once again, Minister for Education, for making this debate possible! I believe it is important to shed light on the situation that continues to apply to the country's folk high schools.
Many of us have friends or relatives who participate in the activities of the folk high schools and who know what enormous joy it is to be able to turn what perhaps was not successful in previous schooling into success in the folk high school. We have many stories about this.
I myself had a very strong experience at my last meeting at a folk high school, specifically Ågesta folkhögskola, which I also just accounted for. Several participants could tell how previous school failures had been turned into success and faith in the future. They were young girls and boys but also some older people who had previously lost confidence both in their own abilities as well as in the future and society's interest in their own opportunity to participate. The folk high school had, through its special pedagogy and the belief that one must work with the whole, succeeded in turning the self-esteem of so many people. It was not just about any single individual, but almost every person there could tell about this.
In the time we live in, with the recession and the tough situation that many young people find themselves in regarding the future, the folk high school is an opportunity. It is sad to see that the government does not do more to change the economic situation that the folk high schools face. It is, after all, a triple blow right now, which I have detailed in this debate.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you for this excellent debate. I am, however, a bit surprised. Jytte Guteland said it is sad to see that so little is being done. The Government and the Social Democrats - in the shadow budget - have exactly the same level for how much money goes to the folk high schools.
I wish that we can handle this issue in broad political agreement and that we do not raise the tone. We do have the same view, and I think that is a strength. Broadly across the block boundaries – from the government's, the Liberals', and the Social Democrats' side – we see the need and the importance of the folk high schools. The government is also injecting 100 million kronor next year.
It is a strength that we are in agreement on this. I do not believe we gain anything by raising the tone between ourselves when we now think alike.
I thank you for a very good debate and hope that we can continue to maintain a good tone moving forward.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.