Response to interpellation 2025/26:141 on threats and violence in schools and after-school centers
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns threats and violence in schools and after-school centers. L argues that all violations are unacceptable 1 and that the government has taken measures for safety 1. L advocates that teachers should be able to send students out, use consequence plans, as well as enable relocation or suspension 1. L emphasizes adult presence, staff reinforcements, student health 1 as well as clear rules and boundaries 2. L believes that the government is implementing the largest reforms in over 30 years 3 and that adults must have clear responsibility 4. S argues that the violence is due to savings, large groups of children, and a lack of trained educators 5. S advocates for more trained teachers and staff 6. S believes that the government lacks a national strategy 6 and criticizes the focus on tougher measures 6. S argues that children should have influence 6 7, that safety is created through small classes 6 7 and that money for school companies should stay in the school 8 7. S emphasizes that resources for special educators are crucial 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.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Member Wiking, for many ambitious questions about the school! As I said, I always appreciate when we can debate the school and when I see that more people put the school first.
Mats Wiking has asked me if I intend to take any measures to reduce threats and violence in schools and after-school centers, in light of testimonies from Sveriges Lärare regarding increasing threats and violence between students.
First and foremost, I want to emphasize that all forms of harassment, threats, and violence in school and after-school centers are unacceptable. That students feel safe is crucial for them to feel well and succeed in school. This is a priority issue for the government, and therefore we have taken several measures to create a safer school environment for all students. Not least, it is about giving teachers and principals better conditions to act in cases of harassment, threats, and bullying.
The investigation on strengthened safety and study environment in schools presented in January 2025 reported the report Better conditions for safety and study environment in schools (SOU 2025:8). The investigation proposes, among other things, that teachers in certain cases shall be allowed to remove a student from the classroom without first having urged the student to change their behavior, and that stay-backs and removals shall no longer need to be documented in writing by the person who took the measure.
It is also proposed that it should be mandatory for schools to develop and use a so-called consequence plan describing what happens if a student breaks the school's rules. Furthermore, it is proposed that all schools shall also work with expectation documents which shall, among other things, contain information for students and guardians on how the school works with rules and consequences. It is also proposed that it should be possible to use the disciplinary measures of relocation within or outside the school unit and suspension for a longer period than today.
The new rules are planned to come into effect before the autumn semester of 2026. In the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), the Government proposes that approximately 120 million kronor be allocated for 2026 and estimates that approximately 118 million kronor will be allocated annually from 2027.
A good adult presence in school contributes to a safer environment. Therefore, initiatives are being made so that more schools will have the opportunity to, among other things, employ more staff. The state grant for staff reinforcements gives the principals the opportunity to employ, for example, special teachers, special teachers in special teaching groups, and student health personnel.
From and including 2026, the state grant for teacher assistants will also be included in the total state grant. In the budget for 2025, the grant amounted to approximately 1.7 billion kronor, of which 250 million were allocated specifically to staff for teacher relief with relevant education for tasks that primarily contribute to increased safety and study environment.
School health is also an important arena in the preventive and health-promoting work towards children and young people. The Government therefore proposes that 200 million kronor be allocated during 2026 for staffing reinforcements within school health and estimates allocating 200 million kronor annually during 2027 and 2028.
There are schools that have major disciplinary problems, and there often lack practical possibilities to temporarily move students outside of their own school when needed. Emergency schools can provide an opportunity for principals to manage disciplinary problems and safeguard safety and studies in the school. By temporarily relocating a student, an acute situation can be managed while investigating which long-term solutions need to be implemented. The state grant for personnel costs in emergency schools gives more principals the conditions to establish emergency schools.
The school and the after-school center must be a safe place. Threats and violence must never be accepted, and no child should have to be worried or afraid of what they will encounter in school when they leave home in the morning.
Mats Wiking (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister!
The report School as a Battlefield, produced by Sveriges Lärare, clearly shows that threats, violations, and physical conflicts between students now occur every week in schools across the country. The most vulnerable are the after-school centers (fritidshem), an activity that for many years has had to bear the consequences of budget cuts and a lack of trained teachers. Eight out of ten teachers in the survey say that they have experienced threats and violence at the after-school centers.
The after-school centers are often the children's first and last encounter with school every day and are completely crucial for children's development, safety, and social interaction. At the after-school centers, unfortunately, violence has become commonplace while resources are decreasing and the groups are becoming larger and larger. When threats and violence spread, not only is the staff's health at risk, but also the children's right to a safe environment, which the Education Act so clearly establishes.
Mr. Speaker! According to the report, six out of ten teachers who have witnessed violence experience that the cuts in schools contribute to an increase in threats and violence. The picture here is clear: the groups have become larger, both in school and at the after-school center. When the groups become larger, the staff become exhausted and quit. Continuity and safety disappear. The Work Environment Authority has also clearly stated that many schools and after-school centers fail in their systematic work environment management.
Mr. Speaker! For us Social Democrats, the conclusion is clear: Threats and violence in after-school centers and in schools have not arisen by themselves. It is the result of years of savings, larger child groups, and an everyday life where far too many untrained educators are forced to bear an all too great responsibility.
We can see that the after-school centers rarely receive extra resources for children with special needs. A child who has an assistant in school rarely gets that at the after-school center, even though the groups at the after-school center are record-large.
Mr. Speaker! I would like to ask the Minister the following question: How does the Minister view the tasks that have emerged in Sveriges Lärares report on the sharp increase in threats and violence in after-school centers and in schools?
Louise Thunström (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thanks to Mats Wiking for this important interpellation! Thanks to the Minister for the answer!
During the weekend, I also read the report *Skolan som slagfält* (The School as a Battlefield) from Sveriges Lärare. It was a deeply disturbing read. Violence and threats in schools are both increasing in scope and becoming more severe in character. At the after-school centers, where many younger children spend a large part of their day – often even more time than in school – and which, with the right conditions, could have an outstanding role in preventive work, more than eight out of ten teachers report that they have witnessed threats or violence between children and that the situation has also worsened significantly during recent years.
In a report from Rädda Barnen based on conversations with young hbtqi people, a very worrying picture emerges where the children describe the school as one of the places where the risk of harassment is greatest. This week, Dagens Nyheter reported that RFSL refrains from coming out to schools and providing information because it has become far too threatening in many places.
School is, furthermore, the second most common place where violence in young people's relationships occurs.
Mr. Speaker! It is indeed a dark and serious picture from Sweden's schools and after-school centers, but it is actually hardly surprising. It is a development that in many ways reflects the society we live in.
We live in a country where inequality has been allowed to increase, where the language has hardened, and where both racism and hatred against hbtqi people have become increasingly clear. Furthermore, we have an uneasy world around us, war in our vicinity, gang crime with shootings and explosions, high unemployment and overcrowding. We have a cost-of-living crisis where many families have found it increasingly tough. Most recently, this morning, there was a report on TV where the Red Cross warned of major welfare deficiencies and a sharp increase in vulnerability.
All of this lands with our children and young people, who cannot accommodate it and are feeling increasingly worse and more stressed. It is not really so strange that it looks the way it does in our schools. I suffer with the children, both those who are subjected to it and those who subject others. I believe everyone here does.
Mr. Speaker! The report clearly shows how violence is linked to the school's conditions. Staffing is crucial. Where there is a lack of qualified teachers, student assistants, counselors, and special educators, the risk of insecurity increases. That is unambiguous.
The physical school environment also plays a role. In schools where teachers have assessed the premises as very poor, a significantly higher incidence of violence is reported than in schools with functioning environments.
The overall impression is that we have a school system under high pressure. It is a development that we naturally cannot accept and which requires well-considered, long-term measures. But such measures must be based on research and proven experience, not on quick outbursts and symbolic politics. For that very reason, I am often concerned when the government repeatedly puts forward proposals centered around punishment, tougher measures, and ideas that students should simply behave without the structural problems being properly addressed.
It is against that background that I want to ask the Minister for Education: What research and what proven experience is the government relying on when, for example, it wants to abolish the provisions in the Education Act regarding student influence and instead introduce various methods of punishment?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the questions here.
I want to start by being very clear about who has the primary responsibility both for funding and for running schools: It is the municipalities that have the primary responsibility for funding and running schools.
Education in the Swedish school system shall be equivalent within each school form and within each after-school center, regardless of where in the country the activities are conducted. This means that all children and students shall have access to activities of high quality so that they can reach the established goals for the education. It should not matter where one lives or where the school is located.
To strengthen the principals' conditions to increase safety and study in schools, relieve teachers and better meet students' needs for support, the government has decided on a collective state grant for staff reinforcements. We are making historical investments in schools, both in reforms and in money. The grant for staff reinforcements gives the principals the opportunity to hire staff within student health, special education teachers, and staff for teacher relief. In the budget for 2025, this grant amounts to approximately 1.7 billion kronor, of which 250 million are allocated specifically for teacher relief.
When it comes to the question of the relationship between teachers and school staff and students, and how we are to create a relationship of trust in the school, that very relationship is a crucial part of the work on safety. It must be clear who decides in the school. It is upside down if we pretend and lead children to believe that it is someone other than the teachers and the adults in the school who decide and who set the boundaries. The school is not the Wild West. It is therefore important that teachers and other staff have the conditions to intervene and also do intervene in disruptive situations, not least in order to build a relationship of trust with all students. That one intervenes if a student, for example, threatens, hits, and violates other students shows that the staff takes all students' safety seriously.
If the adult world does not establish clear rules and boundaries, it can instead lead to students losing trust that the school is for everyone and that the staff takes their adult responsibility. A clarification of the responsibilities of principals and teachers, as well as that school staff have the powers they need to be able to create a safe school, is therefore consistent with a relationship of trust between teachers and students but, above all, a primary mission for the school if it is to provide safety to all students.
Mats Wiking (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
The government often speaks about safety in schools, but despite recurring alarms about threats and violence, not least at our after-school centers, we see no measures that actually reverse the development. Nothing has happened during the nearly four years that the government has been in power when it comes to this.
People who work with our children should never have to feel worry for their own safety, and students should encounter safety, not insecurity, during their school day.
Until now, the government has settled for investigations and promises. There is a lack of a national strategy to strengthen the working environment and provide schools and after-school centers with more adults, more competence, and better tools. Closing your eyes to the problem does not make the everyday lives of the children and staff safer. Now, clear leadership is required.
Mr. Speaker! We Social Democrats clearly see that threats and violence increase where adult presence is weak. Therefore, we are investing in more trained teachers and more staff in the after-school centers. Smaller groups and more time for each student create safety and study opportunities both in the classroom and at the after-school centers.
We also see, in contrast to the government representatives, that things are happening out in the municipalities. Cuts are being made. In a survey, approximately 60 percent of the surveyed principals say that there are cuts in the municipalities. The government often says that this is the municipalities' own responsibility. We have, however, had a habit, at least when the Social Democrats have been in power, of ensuring compensation with state grants so that one does not lose out as the economy grows in society.
It is very important that the municipalities receive general government grants that cover the deficits they have. Even though the municipalities should invest themselves, as the minister says, a small municipality cannot manage on its own without general government grants that can compensate for the deficit one has.
There will also not be more special educators, as the government claims, but fewer. School health services are being pressured, even though just earlier interventions can often break negative spirals, conflicts, and aggressive behaviors.
Mr. Speaker! As my colleague also pointed out, the government primarily presents tougher measures – closures and deportations – as solutions to insecurity. But the research is clear: It is relationships, present adults, and a stable everyday life that build security.
We can agree that clear routines and rules are needed. But that only works in a safe and respectful environment. Large classes and large groups during breaks also make it significantly more difficult.
We believe that clear rules are needed. The adults should, of course, have a decisive influence, as it is their workplace. But it is also the children's workplace, and therefore it is very important to design rules at the school together with the students.
That is why we have developed this with student councils and student democracy. There are very many children who can take responsibility if you give them responsibility. Building safety, order, and study environment in school is very much, we Social Democrats believe, about giving the children the opportunity to participate and influence as well.
The decisive factor regarding how things look in schools today is, however, the cuts that have occurred in the municipalities. They have resulted in large classes and large groups, and that we cannot give children with special needs the instruction they need and require.
Mr. Speaker! I want to conclude by asking the Minister for Education: What concrete measures does the government intend to take to strengthen safety and the working environment in schools and at after-school centers? Does the government intend to provide resources to reduce group sizes and increase staffing levels in after-school centers? I am speaking of general resources that can enable all municipalities to manage the cuts that are otherwise waiting around the corner.
Louise Thunström (S)
Mr. Speaker! The school also has an important democratic mission, and democracy is something one needs to practice. It was against that background that my question regarding student influence was posed to the Minister.
The Swedish school should be seen as the absolute most important institution we have in our country, not as a market or as a shop. The school is nothing that customers buy or refrain from buying. It is a collective responsibility for our country, not a cash register for venture capitalists.
Against that background, it is extra serious that the report I previously mentioned describes how school leaders sometimes refrain from acting for fear that the problems will damage the school's reputation. That is completely unacceptable. The school should protect the children, not protect a brand.
As I said earlier, school should be the most important institution we have in our country, the one that should create conditions for the individual but also for the preservation of the community and our country's development. It is about what we want to convey and give to future generations.
We Social Democrats are adding 3.7 billion more to Swedish schools in our shadow budget for next year. Throughout the entire parliamentary term, we have allocated more money to the municipalities and welfare than the government and the Sweden Democrats have. It is obvious that that prioritization has been correct.
But the money we put into the school must also stay in the school. Between 2022 and 2024, 19 billion in profits disappeared to nine school companies. It is just absurd! It is a completely insane system. This money could have gone to more teachers and to smaller classes.
The Swedish school system needs to be fundamentally restructured. I agree that the state actually needs to take greater responsibility, but also ensure that the 19 billion that have disappeared in profits to school corporations stay in the school! Ban corporations from running schools! It is the school that needs to be reformed and restructured, not our children.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! Safety is a priority. Therefore, the government has taken several measures to create a safer school environment for all students.
School is a priority. That is why we are presenting the largest school budget in modern times. That is why we are making the largest reforms in over 30 years – because we need to make major changes to tackle both the safety crisis and the literacy crisis in Swedish schools.
What I am beginning to wonder about, Mr. Speaker, as I listen to this debate is how the Social Democrats will vote regarding our proposals on strengthened study environments.
How will the Social Democrats vote when we present proposals that teachers in certain cases should be allowed to remove students from the classroom without first urging the students to change their behavior?
How will the Social Democrats vote when we submit proposals that detention and deportations no longer need to be documented in writing by the person taking the action?
How will the Social Democrats vote when the government presents proposals for strengthened school discipline, where it could become mandatory for schools to develop and use a so-called consequence plan describing what happens when a student breaks the school's rules?
How will the Social Democrats vote when we propose that all schools shall work out a statement of expectations which shall, among other things, contain information for students and guardians on how the school works with rules and consequences?
How will the Social Democrats vote when we submit proposals on study rooms where it shall be possible to use disciplinary measures such as relocation within or outside the school unit and suspension for a longer period than today?
Will the Social Democrats vote for these proposals on study rooms because it is crucial to prioritize that all children have a really good schooling that is free from harassment, violence, and hate? Or will the Social Democrats, when these proposals are finally on the table, vote against? Will you instead continue to want the Wild West? That is my question to the Social Democrats.
Mats Wiking (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister!
We Social Democrats stand for there being safety in school as well as clear routines and rules – absolutely! But what we point out is that it is also very important that the students are involved in designing the work rules and how it should look in the school. We believe that influence is very important.
Children are not mean from birth. They are shaped by the activities and the family they grow up in. If the school has large groups, the preschool has large groups and we do not ensure that we have competent staff, it also becomes a worse operation. It affects the children.
We primarily need to create small groups, small classes and opportunities to provide support to children in need of special support.
The Minister spoke about student health, a competent group that shall work with children with special needs. We are talking about special education teachers and special pedagogues, who shall also do that work. But then resources are needed so that there are enough special education teachers and special pedagoges together with a student health service. Then the basic conditions for a safe school are created. Furthermore, there shall be small classes and small groups.
To publicly shame and punish students should truly be a matter of an emergency. Then it is more about ensuring that the school environment and the leisure environment are such that one can feel safe, that the staff feel they can take care of the children. Then they get the safety and the study environment that is needed for the children's best interests.
We have slightly different views on how this looks. One cannot say that there has been a record investment in schools given that there are no state grants to the municipalities, as we said earlier. The government does not answer this, but instead says that the government is making a record investment in the budget. But just as I said earlier, 60 percent of Sweden's school leaders say that savings are being made at their schools, and that is nothing the government can turn a blind eye to. Or can they?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Mr. Speaker! If I heard correctly, I did not receive a really clear answer on what the Social Democrats will do when we are to submit proposals regarding study rooms to the Riksdag.
It may be a bit difficult for the Social Democrats to see that a paradigm shift is needed in Swedish schools. We cannot continue to have a school where it is not clear who is in charge, Mr. Speaker. We cannot have a school where it does not appear that it is the adults who are responsible for ensuring that it is clear which rules one needs to adhere to.
It becomes harder to solve the math problem on the board when it is simultaneously chaotic. It is harder for children and young people to feel that they will be safe in school if they go there with a lump in their stomach, because we in the adult world have not been clear about what applies. For me, it is crucial that the Swedish school should be characterized by safety, that it should be clear who decides, and that teachers should never have to hesitate about whether they should intervene or not. The government's priority is that safety must always be in focus.
I look forward to seeing how the Social Democrats will handle the major proposals we will place on the Riksdag's table regarding safety. I sincerely hope that we can reach a broad consensus on how Swedish schools should be safe for everyone.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.