Response to interpellation 2025/26:139 on the right of students in adapted schools to adequate education
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 right of students in adapted schools to an adequate education. S considers that the qualification level in adapted schools is record low and that the government lacks a clear ambition to increase it 1 2. S considers that the government is not prepared to give students the right conditions to reach as far as they can 2. S wants the government to investigate the shortage of qualified teachers, introduce educational requirements for student assistants, and review the curricula 3. L argues that the best-educated teachers should teach the students most in need 4. L considers that the government is implementing reforms to raise the status of the teaching profession, reduce administrative burden, and improve the working environment 5 6 7 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Mats Wiking has asked me what I intend to do about the problem that the number of students in the adapted school is increasing, but only 15 percent of the teachers who teach are qualified.
The number of enrolled students in adapted primary school has increased by approximately 73 percent during the period 2015 to 2024, from just over 9,700 students to approximately 17,200 students. During the same period, the number of employees increased from approximately 2,500 to approximately 4,000 converted to full-time equivalent positions.
Even though the competence has decreased during the period, the principals have succeeded in carrying out the substantial increase in the workforce with a mainly maintained proportion of staff with pedagogical education and a maintained level of staff with special pedagogical education.
The government allocated 200 million kronor annually during 2023–2025 for continuing education for special education teachers. The increase is made permanent from 2026 onwards and is merged with other funds to ensure the long-term sustainability of the qualification-granting continuing education. Since March 2023, there has also been a government grant to school administrators so that they can, among other things, hire more special education teachers. The grant also applies to adapted primary school and adapted upper secondary school.
In addition to this, the government decided in July 2023 to commission a special investigator to propose measures to develop teacher and preschool teacher education in order to increase the quality of the educations and the status and attractiveness of the professions. The investigation presented its report Subject Knowledge and Teacher Skill – a reformed teacher education, SOU 2024:81, in November 2024, and the proposals are currently being prepared within the Government Offices.
The government has also decided on a special investigator who shall propose measures to reform the education programs in the special pedagogy field. The purpose is for the education programs to better reflect the schools' needs and for more people to be able to work directly with the students. The investigation shall report its findings in June 2026.
In order to attract more people to the profession, the conditions need to be improved. The Government therefore tasked a special investigator to conduct a review of preschool teachers' and teachers' administrative tasks and submit proposals to reduce the administrative burden. The investigator was also to propose how preschool teachers' and teachers' time for planning, teaching, and follow-up should be regulated. The purpose was to free up time that preschool teachers and teachers can spend on planning and conducting teaching. The investigation presented the report Time for the teaching assignment – measures for good teaching and the attractiveness of teaching professions, SOU 2025:26, in March this year, and the proposals are currently being prepared within the Government Offices.
The Government has in its budget bill announced that approximately 1.3 billion kronor are allocated for 2027 and approximately 2.6 billion kronor from 2028 onwards for the regulation of teachers' teaching time.
Overall, the government has made several interventions to improve the qualification situation regarding special education teachers in the school system.
Mats Wiking (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
When Riksförbundet FUB in 2023 asked over 400 parents of children in adapted school, it was only just over a fifth who were so satisfied with the schooling that they would recommend it to others.
It is a deeply worrying message, and it is a clear sign that something is not functioning as it should in the school form where students perhaps have the greatest need for safety, continuity, and teaching competence.
Mr. Speaker! In the same report, FUB presents several concrete proposals. They particularly emphasize the need for the government to immediately investigate how the shortage of qualified teachers in adapted school shall be resolved. FUB describes this as one of the most decisive measures for students with intellectual disabilities to receive an equivalent education compared to both primary school and upper secondary school.
Mr. Speaker! FUB also conducted a school survey in 2023 which shows that around 1,500 students every year leave adapted school. Over 30 percent risk ending up in extensive exclusion, without work and without continued studies. This is no small matter. For every student who leaves the system without any opportunity for the future, both society and the individual become poorer.
Mr. Speaker! At the same time, the teacher qualification in adapted school is down to a record low of 15 percent. 15 percent – that can be compared with 73 percent in primary school, which in itself is also too low!
The Swedish National Agency for Education also raised the alarm in 2023. The then Director General, Peter Fredriksson, said that the extremely low proportion of qualified teachers in adapted school must be taken seriously. He pointed out that it is precisely these students who need the most competent teachers. FUB shares that view and argues that the government must act immediately.
Mr. Speaker! On June 2, 2023, the special school was renamed to adapted primary school and adapted upper secondary school. That in itself is important, but a name change is not enough if one does not simultaneously make major changes. If this were to mark a new direction, we should now also see real changes; we should see more qualified teachers, higher quality, and a system that can withstand the future.
The Minister for Education refers in his answer to the fact that the school owners have not reduced the proportion of qualified teachers and that the government invests 200 million kronor annually in training more special education teachers. It is obviously good that the issue is being highlighted, but it is far from enough when the situation is as serious as it is.
Mr. Speaker! We Social Democrats lack a clear increase in ambition from the government. How can one be satisfied when only 15 percent of the teachers in adapted school are qualified? Does the Minister not believe that this extremely low proportion of qualified teachers contributes to more students being dropped out and that more adults with disabilities risk ending up in lifelong exclusion without both education and work?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Member Wiking for the question and for his clarity regarding the fact that we need to ensure that everyone gets a fair start in life.
Our ambition is clear. The best-educated teachers shall teach the most needy students. The adapted primary school and the adapted upper secondary school need more well-educated and experienced special education teachers. To be eligible to teach in adapted primary school and adapted upper secondary school, a special education teacher qualification with a focus on intellectual disabilities is required in addition to the standard teacher education.
During the mandate period, the government has implemented a number of measures to make the teaching profession more attractive so that more are drawn to the teaching profession and to increase the number of special education teachers in the school system. In this way, the government has created good conditions to increase the number of special education teachers in the school system.
To become a special education teacher, one first requires a teacher education and subsequently further education to become a special education teacher. One can choose between five different specializations. To address the problem of too few special education teachers, several different measures are needed, and I believe the member and I share the view that measures are needed to both get more people to choose to become teachers and to make it possible for teachers to undergo further education to become special education teachers.
The government has made such efforts. Already in the budget bill for 2023, there were proposals aimed at increasing the attractiveness of the teaching profession so that more people would seek out the profession. The government then allocated 50 million kronor for an initiative on further education for preschool teachers and teachers. In the same budget bill, there were also measures to increase the number of special education teachers. The allocated funds had two purposes. Partly, the government allocated 235.5 million kronor to the school administrators so that they could hire more special education teachers, and partly, the government allocated the aforementioned 200 million annually for the training of more special education teachers.
So, it is about a range of measures so that more people will apply for the education and more will dare and want to stay. This is crucial for us to get more qualified people and for more employers to get staff who can take these life-saving jobs so that all children get a fair start.
Mats Wiking (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
Certainly, things have happened. But when it comes to the proportion of educated staff, it has remained stagnant since this government took over in 2022. People with intellectual disabilities are often forgotten in school policy, and we rarely debate this group in the chamber. Therefore, it is very important that the state and the government are clear that they want to tighten the requirements so that the staff who teach in adapted school have the competence that is required.
The quality also varies very much between the municipalities. Adapted school is often located in its own premises far from regular primary and secondary school, and it is difficult to establish a cooperation. This goes directly against the intention of equality and participation in the school system.
FUB's report from 2023 is clear that students' development is based on them having teachers with pedagogical competence and good knowledge of the students' prerequisites, which the minister also touched upon. Despite this, teaching in adapted school is often conducted by support staff without education on intellectual disabilities and without an understanding of the school form's mandate. There is nothing wrong with the student assistants, but if the intention is that they should be limited within regular primary and secondary school, the teaching within adapted school must not depend on student assistants.
Mr. Speaker! Sweden was once a pioneer in the education of students with intellectual disabilities, but today researchers say that we have fallen behind. FUB also writes that there is a lack of ambition and that Sweden repeatedly receives criticism for not living up to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. These are serious signals.
We Social Democrats therefore consider that the government must act. The most important point is the demand from FUB to immediately investigate how the shortage of qualified teachers shall be resolved in both adapted primary school and adapted upper secondary school. When only 15 percent of the teachers are qualified in a school form with such great needs, it is not enough to take small steps forward.
Mr. Speaker! We Social Democrats also share FUB's view that educational requirements should be introduced for student assistants. They do important work, but it is not possible to compensate for extremely few qualified teachers with untrained staff.
In addition, the government needs to review the timetables. They must become more flexible and better adapted so that schools can organize a teaching that meets the students' needs and makes it possible for more students to study subjects from both curricula. It is absolutely crucial so that more people receive the right support and the right challenges.
Mr. Speaker! If we are serious about equal education, adapted school must also be given the conditions it needs. It is about the children's future, and it must not be shaped by low ambitions.
Against this background, I pose my question to the Minister for Education: How does the government intend to take into account FUB's requirements to improve the teaching for students in adapted school and to ensure that they have a future even when they leave the school system?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Member Wiking for his commitment to children's education and future.
School is, as has been said, a priority for the government, and during the mandate period, the government has made further efforts to increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession and reform the school system. These two things go hand in hand. It is not least about getting more people to choose the teaching profession, stay in the teaching profession, or return to the teaching profession.
The measures include, among other things, an inquiry to reduce administration and regulate preschool teachers' and teachers' teaching time, an inquiry on improved student health, an inquiry on strengthening safety and studies in school, an inquiry on a new curriculum with a focus on teaching and learning, and an inquiry on teacher education. The proposals from all these inquiries are currently being prepared in the Government Offices, and I will gladly return and debate the bills when they are tabled in the Riksdag. I look forward to a broad consensus when it comes to making reforms that are important for increasing the status of the teaching profession and improving teachers' working environment and safety, which would also mean a significant improvement of all students' study environment and opportunities in school.
The government's efforts are about getting more people to become special education teachers, ensuring that principals make it possible for more people to undergo continuing education, and that more people dare and want to stay in the profession that is Sweden's most important: giving the next generation the opportunity to dream.
I look forward to the proposals coming to the Riksdag's table and that we find a broad consensus so that we can make Swedish school a world-class school.
Mats Wiking (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the debate and the discussion!
It is positive that we are taking up the group of students in adapted schools and putting it on the agenda, but I can state that the authorization is far too low. The ambition from the government is positive in the sense that they want to do something about the problem, but it is going too slowly. We have a large group of students who risk being pushed out of the system because the government is not taking the actions that should be taken and ensuring that teacher training is accelerated so that staff can be trained and it can function properly in the school.
We can observe that the qualifications of staff in adapted school are unfortunately substandard. As I said, it is 15 percent of the staff who are educated and have the right competence to teach students in adapted school. That is too poor.
We can also observe that a large part of the teaching was managed by untrained teaching assistants, who do a good job but who do not have adequate education to be able to perform at the level required. Based on the consequences of the deficiencies in the entire system for teaching, we can also observe that approximately 30 percent of the students do not proceed from adapted education to studies or work, but instead end up with a low level of self-sufficiency and do not enter gainful employment.
We can also observe that the government is not prepared to fully provide students in adapted school with the right conditions to reach as far as they can. My final questions to the minister are: Is the minister really satisfied with the conditions provided to students in adapted school? Can one not be a little self-critical?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I believe the ambition has been very clear from me here today: The best-educated teachers shall teach the most needy students.
I also think I have been very clear that it requires a lot of self-awareness to make the biggest reforms for Swedish schools in over 30 years. That is what we are achieving today in Sweden. I would like to see the same self-awareness from the Social Democrats, who governed the Ministry of Education for eight years before the Liberals took over.
Our ambition is clear: There is no more important profession in Sweden than being a teacher, and more special education teachers are needed. During this parliamentary term, the government has implemented measures both to make the teaching profession more attractive and thus attract more people into the teaching profession – Sweden's most important profession – and to increase the number of special education teachers in our school system by having more people undergo further education.
It will continue to be our ambition to ensure that we have teachers who every day put the students first and who every day give all students the opportunities they need to succeed in their lives. School is the government's highest priority.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.