Response to interpellation 2023/24:440 on measures against grade cheating
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 L considers it a serious systemic error that students receive higher grades than they deserve 1 2. 2 L argues that current laws must be followed and that the government has taken measures 2. 3 S believes that the problem is due to the profit interest of market schools and that the government is not doing enough to remove these drivers 3. 4 C wants to broaden the debate to also include the lower grades 4. 5 C considers that grade cheating cannot be accepted and wants to raise the issue of grade F in relation to E 5. 6 7 L argues that there is an investigation for a new grading system 6 7. 8 S argues that the government is not prepared to take measures here and now 8.
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)
has asked me if I and the government are prepared to take strong and immediate measures against grade cheating by tasking Skolinspektionen to specially audit the schools that deviate most significantly in their grading compared to the national tests. Åsa Westlund states that the consequences for schools that set grades too high should be withdrawn permits or compulsory management, and that this shall apply even if the school otherwise functions well because the grading is a central exercise of authority.
Skolinspektionen has an ongoing assignment to work towards a more equitable assessment and grading within the framework of its supervision and quality review, including, among other things, based on differences in grading statistics between different subjects and courses in relation to national statistics and large discrepancies between results on national tests and grades. Skolinspektionen shall submit its final report on its efforts within the assignment no later than April 15, 2024.
There are many reports showing that students' knowledge levels do not always correspond to the grades that have been assigned and that grading varies between and sometimes even within schools and educational providers. Grading is therefore not always equivalent, which the government views very seriously. The government has therefore appointed the Inquiry on Equivalent Grades and Merit Values (U 2023:02). The investigator shall submit proposals for a systemic change which means that results on national tests, graduation exams or similar shall be able to be used to increase the equivalence of grades or merit values. To address grade inflation at a systemic level, there must be a stronger connection between grades and national tests. The investigator shall report on its assignment in February 2025, and the government will follow the issue closely.
In addition, the Inquiry on Profit in Schools (U 2022:08) has received a supplementary directive where the investigator shall, among other things, investigate and propose how requirements for state compulsory management, including requirements for a change of management of an independent school, can be introduced. That inquiry shall also present its report in February 2025, and the government will closely follow this issue as well.
The question raised by Åsa Westlund is complicated, and the School Inspectorate can only act based on current laws and other regulations. The Government takes the issue of grade inflation very seriously and has taken action by appointing the aforementioned government inquiries.
Åsa Westlund (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
I have submitted this interpellation because this is a very serious problem. It affects students who, throughout their entire schooling, struggle to achieve justice and high grades in order to get into a basic education, while simultaneously knowing that they can be outcompeted by students from schools that award what is sometimes called "joy grades" but which I call "cheating grades," i.e., simply too high grades. This hits hardworking students who have a right to a place in their dream education hard, as they are knocked out in a rather brutal way by less meritorious students.
Actually, it would be enough that it is a problem for every individual to do something powerful about this here and now, but it is also a societal problem. The rector of the School of Business, Lars Strannegård, has been clear about it: "The grading in upper secondary school has led to a breach of trust that is hardly a small matter. It can be repaired, but it must happen quickly. Without trust in the social institutions, meritocracy is jeopardized and thus trust in democracy."
This is how serious it is. This is the exercise of public authority and the first contact that many young people have with Myndighetssverige, and then they experience this injustice.
Lars Strannegård has received a lot of attention, even from other educational institutions, for having spoken his mind. But this is not a new problem. The assignment to the School Inspectorate that the Minister refers to and which is to be reported later this spring was given by the previous Social Democratic-led government, and already last year we were able to see one of the results of this assignment. The review that could be reported then showed that none of the 18 school managements reviewed had found out whether the deviations that the respective school had compared to the national tests were justified. Some of the school managements did not even know that the deviations existed. At the same time, the media has revealed that teachers who have given high grades have received higher pay, that principals have stepped in and changed teachers' grades, and so on.
This should, of course, prompt action from the government here and now. But when I hear the Minister, I understand that the answer to my question about whether the government now intends to take powerful and immediate measures is no. Nothing will happen for several years. The schools that deviate significantly from the national tests in their grading can calmly continue to do so for several years to come without greater risk, and the students who today are in upper secondary school or in grade nine or eight must unfortunately expect that they can be affected by this grade cheating. That is today's announcement from the government. I think it is far too deficient. This is a serious problem, as the Minister for Education himself says. Then action must also be taken.
Today, the School Inspectorate does not even have this as a basis for review. When they review schools, they do not even look at deviations from the national tests. It is not one of the criteria that the School Inspectorate lists on its website.
Of course the government can do more, and I welcome such an announcement during today's debate.
Anders Ådahl (C)
Mr. Speaker! Åsa Westlund from the Social Democrats has raised an incredibly important issue today to Minister Edholm regarding grade inflation in Swedish schools.
We have seen, and we see, that "joy grades" or "fake grades" are incredibly common. I have personally sat in a meeting with the principal of the Stockholm School of Economics, Lars Strannegård, and said that I welcome their measure – they apparently need to resort to such a method as having a minimum level on the higher education entrance exam of 1.25 in order to be able to welcome their students into the Stockholm School of Economics. I welcome that announcement from him, but at the same time, I must say that it is a disgrace for the Swedish school system that it should have to be the case that we have a grading system that is actually not legally secure.
I want to raise another perspective here in the chamber. I want to broaden the debate so that it does not only encompass those at the top – those who receive grade improvements from perhaps B to A. I want to talk about how it looks in the lower regions – the students who have it hardest in school, who struggle and fight with themselves over whether they will get an F or possibly pass with an E. The grade F means, as is known, that one has failed. The grade E means that one has passed.
I have met teachers who, with great distress, have been forced to choose whether to give a student the deserved grade F and know that the student might end up in social exclusion or mental ill-health. Perhaps the gangs are waiting on the other side and saying: Welcome to us, come to us; society says that you are not approved, that you have failed, but with us you are approved. The teacher has to choose between giving the grade F or perhaps following their conscience in some way and ensuring the student's best interest and instead giving what in this context is the "joy grade" E.
The grading issue is therefore twofold. It concerns both the students who are quite well-prepared but who still receive inflated grades—perhaps an A instead of a B—and the students who perhaps receive an E instead of an F because the grading system does not function at that end either.
Therefore, I want to ask Minister Edholm if the government will also look at the grades in the lower regions - grade E for pass and grade F for fail - and at how we can reform this so that teachers can have a more reasonable situation in their grading and so that society does not knock out students and leave them with mental ill-health and perhaps even cast them out to the gangs. I thus want to broaden the debate to also include that question.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! I share the interpellant's and Anders Ådahl's view that it is enormously serious when students receive higher grades than they have actually earned. I believe we all see that as a major problem. It is a problem that has persisted for many years.
Åsa Westlund pointed out that it is unfair, and it naturally is for the students who struggle and attend a school that gives misleading grades. But it is also a societal problem in the sense that it seems as if we have better and higher knowledge in the Swedish school system than we actually do. Parallel to seeing these cheated grades, we also see how the knowledge levels, the actual knowledge levels, in Swedish schools are actually falling. Approximately 40 percent of students in grade 9 receive a higher grade in mathematics than they have performed on the national tests. This is a systemic error, and that is why we have commissioned this investigation.
We do, however, have the legislation we have today. Skolinspektionen now has a specific mandate to look into this. I think they should be allowed to work on that mandate, quite simply. We must follow the legislation that exists now. I can state that it is this government that has commissioned the grading investigation, not the previous government which saw these problems for eight years without addressing them.
We have the system that we have in Sweden, which I find incredibly frustrating at times, namely that one must appoint government inquiries when one wants legislative changes. But I am really looking forward to this inquiry, and I believe that some quite radical proposals will be presented on how we are to address the problem.
Anders Ådahl's interpellations regarding grade E versus grade F are also a large and important discussion, but it perhaps does not quite belong here right now. I do, however, consider it wrong for a Member of Parliament to spread the image that it is the student who has failed, because that is not the case. It is the student's knowledge in the subjects in which the student receives an F that is failed. That the Center Party thinks that students who actually do not have sufficient knowledge - which is what it is about - should attend national programs will not solve the problem.
Today, those students are allowed to attend introductory programs; they are given an additional year. I share the view that this is a failure. Many of these students should have received support much earlier. The latest PISA survey shows that approximately 25 percent of 14-year-olds actually cannot read. It is clear that it is difficult to attend a national program if one cannot read. Of course, those students should have received support much earlier.
We have also appointed an inquiry to review the content of the subject plans. I believe that even from this perspective, it will be important to have subject plans and curricula that are more focused on knowledge and a bit less on that one should analyze and so on. Then it will be easier for some students to achieve an E.
Åsa Westlund (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answers.
This is a problem that increases in tandem with the increasing competition in the school market. One can state that a goal-oriented grading system in combination with a competition school – where schools are to compete with one another – is doomed to fail. It is as if every school has a printing press in the basement. One can increase the attractiveness in a way that costs nothing by raising the grades in an incorrect manner.
This is something we have noticed for a long time. When it comes to grades, the previous Social Democratic government did not sit on its hands, as Lotta Edholm suggests, but we tightened the rules so that schools should take greater account of national tests. We do, however, see that it has no effect because the incentives for schools to earn money are so incredibly strong that they fiddle with the grades. The Minister has himself noted that independent schools are the worst when it comes to this. They are those that deviate the most and who fiddle the most, but all schools are affected in this system.
Then it is a bit interesting to look closer at the investigations that Lotta Edholm refers to. When it comes to the first one, regarding profit in schools, the grades are not mentioned at all. On the other hand, the entire investigation is a defense of keeping the pursuit of profit in schools. It is not even justified, but rather describes how large problems are created and what can be done to rectify some of the abuses. It does not dare to question the incentive structure itself, which actually leads to cheating.
It becomes even clearer in the investigation directive that the government has given to the grading investigation. It states as follows: "That a school has good results in the form of high grades attracts students and guardians. In a system where schools compete for students and where good throughput is important, also for economic reasons, incentives for grade inflation can be created." Yes, really, is my comment to this. I continue to quote: "Measures are therefore needed that counteract incentives to give higher grades than what is justified by the students' knowledge level." To get to the bottom of this, some counterarguments must therefore be created. Another way to handle it, however, is to remove the incentives and do something about them fundamentally, but the investigation is not allowed to do that either.
During the eight years that the Social Democrats held government power, we submitted countless proposals to the chamber which, among others, the government's party voted against and which were defeated by the chamber, and during the January cooperation we were also unable to do anything regarding the market school. It needs to be done, because with the market school we have, we will see continued grade cheating because the drive to earn money leads to it.
Everything the government does to address this is something that teachers, students, and taxpayers will have to pay the price for in the form of increased controls, a different focus on the teaching, and more bureaucracy for the teachers, just because the government wants to preserve the basic incentives, that is, the possibility for the school owners to make a profit.
Anders Ådahl (C)
Mr. Speaker! This debate, which has been initiated by Åsa Westlund, concerns grade inflation. Great focus is directed, quite naturally, towards the grades and that students can cheat their way to better grades than they actually deserve. This occurs at certain schools, which also have a reputation for being places people seek out if, for example, they want to go into the dental line because they can help one get good grades. This is, of course, a system that we absolutely cannot have.
I also want to raise in this chamber and in this debate the issues that exist at the other end of the grading system. It is not just about moving up from B to A, but it is also about the problems with the grade F in relation to the grade E.
I think the Minister waved away this issue somewhat flippantly and instead criticized the Center Party because we have proposed an urgent measure that would make a difference here and now for the students who are judged as failing by society. Yes, it is the knowledge that fails, but it is de facto the mental ill-health that follows in its wake that makes these students feel that they are not welcomed by society.
Therefore, I want to ask the Minister again what measures she intends to take so that the grading issue between the passing grade E and the failing grade F does not also contribute to grade inflation there, where teachers are forced to choose between raising to an unjust E and giving an F, which means that the student very well can be marginalized and instead end up in a gang environment.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! The current commission has been given a mandate, which is quite open, to fundamentally reform the Swedish grading system so that it better reflects the students' knowledge. This can, for example, be achieved through a stronger connection between the results of national tests and the possibility of awarding a higher grade. The commission has a large and broad mandate to propose the changes that are required, and I look forward to the commission's work.
What I mean when I say that the Social Democrats did nothing during eight years is that they failed to achieve anything that made any difference in this regard. Grade inflation exists in very many schools. I believe one makes it a bit too simple for oneself if one thinks that it only occurs in for-profit schools, because it occurs in municipal schools, in foundation-run schools, in association-run schools and, not least, in for-profit schools.
I believe that we must establish a completely new grading system that reflects knowledge, but it must first be investigated in the form of a government inquiry. It is not possible to do it in any faster way than what is currently happening.
When it comes to the grade F, I am concerned if we say that regardless of how little knowledge one has, all knowledge in school is passed. It should therefore not matter what knowledge one takes with them from primary school, but everything is passed. One should be able to attend the electricity program, for example, without being able to read, without being able to write, without being able to speak English and without being able to do math. I think this is a completely unreasonable thought.
There are many national programs, and I would say that the vast majority require that one can read when one attends them. We must ensure that the children and young people who have poor skills receive the help and support they need already in primary school. The truth is that when measures are implemented in upper primary school, it is often already too late. We must do it much earlier, because early interventions are important.
The truth is also that the risk of a student receiving a failing grade gives that student the right to help and support. Then one can say that all of this does not work well enough. I am the first to admit that, but to say that all knowledge is always approved when it actually is not, I believe would create a major problem for the students, if they enter upper secondary education for which they lack the knowledge to cope.
Åsa Westlund (S)
Mr. Speaker! This debate has been quite clear. The Minister is not prepared to do anything about the fundamental incentives that cause us to have grade cheating in Swedish schools or that it is at least that large. This, of course, affects all schools.
We have a competition culture that makes all schools have to compete for students, and this drives grade cheating. The government's reluctance to address the pursuit of profit in Swedish schools means that we will keep this competition situation and thus widespread grade cheating.
The debate has also shown that the government, despite saying that it is a serious problem, is not prepared to take any measures whatsoever here and now. This means that students who attend today's school, in upper secondary school and perhaps also in the later grades of primary school, will be affected by the problem.
I think this is irresponsible and shows a lack of decisiveness. Of course, a government can do more. There are rules today, but they are not being followed. This shows with all clarity the inspection that Skolinspektionen has carried out. Furthermore, we have media reports. It is then the government's task to ensure that the rules are followed.
We know that the School Inspectorate does not even have this as a basis for conducting an audit. They list on their website what makes them take an extra look at schools, and deviations from national tests and grading are not included there. The government should do something about this.
The government can direct the School Inspectorate. Within the Tidö Agreement, the government has an agreement with the Sverigedemokraterna regarding what the School Inspectorate shall do moving forward, for example, conducting more unannounced inspections. This is good, but why not ensure that grade cheating is scrutinized more strictly? It is actually something that the government can do. I see it as very dangerous for legal certainty, and fundamentally actually for democracy, that the government does not do this.
Statsrådet Lotta Edholm (L)
Mr. Speaker! I have tried to say during this debate that grade inflation is a major problem and that we have now commissioned an inquiry to establish a completely new grading system. The Social Democrats could have done this during any of the eight years they last governed. Instead, they have tried to patch up a system that actually does not work.
Now we will see to it that there is a new grading system. I really look forward to having a discussion with the Social Democrats when the proposal arrives regarding whether it is something that we in many parties can eventually get behind, because I believe it is important to reach a broad consensus on a new grading system.
The School Inspectorate already has a mandate today. It was the previous government that gave it, and it will soon be finalized. This is also something I look forward to.
Then I believe that this discussion itself is good. More and more people see that there is a major problem. It is not just the government, which is now actually taking action and has appointed a grading investigation. As said, it will be exciting to see what it concludes, and it will be exciting to see if we can reach an agreement on how we should act in this large and important issue.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.