Response to interpellation 2025/26:231 on a safe environment in preschool
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns a safe environment in preschool and the size of the children's groups. L emphasizes the importance of equal education of good quality and that the size of the children's groups should be reasonable 1 2 3. L argues that the government has proposed the largest school budget in modern times 2 4 and has appointed an investigator to propose regulations on the size of the children's groups 1 2 4. L is working on a complete renovation of the friskola system to counter unserious actors and profits that are prioritized over children's safety 1 2. L believes that the school law already today requires appropriate composition and size of children's groups 3. V argues that the children's groups are too large 5. V claims that the government's state grants are not sufficient to reduce the groups 5. V demands a legislated maximum 5. V considers that the government's proposal for friskola reform consists of small changes that do not stop large profits 6 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)
Madam Speaker! Isabell Mixter has asked me if I intend to submit a proposal to the Riksdag involving a regulation of the size of children's groups and a cap on the number of children per employee within the preschool.
Isabell Mixter has also asked if I intend to take any measures before the upcoming election to try to resolve the issue of too large groups of children within preschools.
Furthermore, the member has asked me if I intend to take any measures before the upcoming election to counter the risk that profit is prioritized over children's safety in preschools.
I want to emphasize the importance of all preschools providing an equivalent education of good quality, where children feel safe and are stimulated in their language development in Swedish. Reviews, however, show large quality differences in preschool activities, both between and within the activities of different main employers.
That all preschools in the entire country offer an activity of good quality is an important issue for me and for the government. This includes a reasonable level of the size of the children's groups.
The Government has, in the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), proposed that the state grant for quality-enhancing measures in preschool be increased by 500 million kronor. This means that the grant amounts to almost 3.1 billion kronor. Skolverket distributes the state grant. It can, among other things, be used to strive for child groups to have a size that corresponds with Skolverket's guideline for child group size in preschool.
The Government has also tasked a special investigator to, among other things, propose a regulation that ensures that children's groups in all preschools have an appropriate size (dir. 2024:113). The assignment shall be reported by June 11, 2026, at the latest. The Government looks forward to receiving the proposals.
Regarding the issue of profits in independent preschools, the government and I have been clear from day one that unserious actors acting inappropriately shall not be permitted within the school system. It must be ensured that those who own and operate companies within the preschool and school sector have a long-term and serious commitment to providing high-quality education so that all children and students receive the education they are entitled to.
That is why we are now working on a complete renovation of the Swedish independent school system. The investigation into profits in schools has, in the sub-report Stricter conditions for the independent school sector (SOU 2025:37), submitted a number of proposals in the area, including a ban on value transfers in several different cases.
The Government has allocated 38.5 million kronor in the budget bill for 2026 so that the proposals can be implemented. The proposals have been referred and are now being processed in the Government Offices.
I want to conclude by saying that I am convinced that the government's efforts will, taken together, contribute to better conditions for all preschools to provide an equal education of good quality.
Isabell Mixter (V)
Madam Speaker! Preschool should be a safe place where children can develop. Parents should be able to feel security that the children are doing well at preschool. The staff should be able to feel pride in their work. Unfortunately, that is not how it looks today.
The children's groups in the preschools are far too large. Sveriges Lärare has investigated how many children's groups are larger than Skolverket's guidelines and concluded that more than half of the groups are larger than that. There is also a direct correlation between the size of the children's groups and how the teachers perceive their opportunity to do a good job. Staff in the preschool are becoming burnt out; the sick leave rates are among the highest in the labor market. I mean that this is an acute problem. We cannot have a sector where we let people burn themselves out at work.
It is not only the staff who suffer. It also concerns the children, who have this as their working environment.
TV4 reported during the autumn about how violence is increasing in preschool. At that time, Mohamsson spoke to TV4 and said that the government should, of course, address the size of the children's groups. Or was it perhaps the Liberals who spoke? Sometimes it is a bit difficult to know.
Mohamsson said in his response here that the government has taken measures to reduce the size of children's groups in preschool. What Mohamsson did not say is that the government is pursuing a policy of cuts towards the municipalities. The general state grants that the municipalities use for school, preschool, and elderly care are not even close to being sufficient to maintain the same level as was had before this government took office.
Now that the birth rate is decreasing, the children's groups could be reduced. But instead, the municipalities are forced to cut back on preschool again. The state grant that the government speaks so warmly about is therefore far from sufficient for the children's groups to be reduced. Instead, staff are being laid off all over Sweden. Eskilstuna is laying off 56 people and Bollnäs 30 people in preschool, and Karlskrona is laying off 200 people in preschool, school, and elderly care. The list can be long. In many municipalities, they are forced to close preschool units to make the municipalities' finances balance. The government's state grant, as said, does not go very far.
Legislation needs to be enacted regarding maximum capacities in preschools to get the children's groups to decrease. Norway has done this with good results, and Vänsterpartiet argues that this is required. There should be a maximum of three children per adult for ages up to three years and a maximum of five children per adult for children aged four to five years. Sweden should do this, but it places requirements on the state to participate in financing it.
At the same time as the municipalities are forced to make large cuts, the private preschool companies continue to extract enormous profits. Tellusgruppen has mismanaged things quite severely. For example, breakfast was locked away at one preschool so that the children received no food. A parent then had to go and fetch breakfast for the children. We have seen many instances of preschools where it is obvious that profits are being prioritized over the children's safety.
Why does the government not do more to stop the profits of the independent school companies and put the children's safety at the center?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Since I am an education politician, I shall put some facts on the table. The Government has proposed that 4.3 billion kronor shall be added to the school in 2026. The state's contribution to the school in 2026 will thus be the largest in 20 years, and this applies to both running and fixed costs. It is the largest budget for the school in modern times. I think we should be correct in the debate, and therefore I correct the figure on how much the state adds to the school.
I agree with the member that preschool plays an important role in children's development and that it contributes to creating equal opportunities before the start of school. It is important that all children in the entire country have access to a high-quality preschool. According to the Education Act, the school administrators shall ensure that the children's groups have a reasonable composition and size and that the children are also otherwise offered a good environment.
It is an important matter for the government that all preschools across the country offer high-quality activities and that the heads of institutions take this seriously. This includes, among other things, having a reasonable size for the children's groups. For this very reason, the government has tasked a special investigator to look at what measures, including regulations, need to be taken to ensure that all preschools have children's groups of an appropriate size.
When preschool functions at its best, it gives all children who participate in it, regardless of background, a good foundation to stand on before starting school. Preschool also plays a role in children's language development, especially for those children who do not have Swedish as their mother tongue. Regardless of where in the country one lives and regardless of which preschool one attends and who is the head of the organization, the activity shall be of good quality, and we shall ensure that the heads of the organizations have the conditions to be able to offer this equality.
The member addresses the issue of the friskolor, and I am prepared to agree with the member that there is an inherent flaw in today's friskole system. For that very reason, the government will submit proposals to the Riksdag which will entail a complete renovation of the friskole system. I would welcome it if the member and Vänsterpartiet stood behind these proposals, but regardless of this, we know that we have a majority in the Swedish Riksdag for the proposals that will entail a real change of today's friskole system.
Isabell Mixter (V)
Madam Speaker! One can manipulate the figures as much as one wants and say that an investment is very large, but the reality is that teachers and other staff in these operations say that these are the worst cuts in 30 years. The Minister can stand in the Speaker's chair in the Riksdag and say that the government is investing in preschool and school, but as said, that is not the reality the staff faces.
Mohamsson speaks about the government's complete renovation of the independent school system, but I would rather say that it is a bit of putty on the edges. Even after the government has presented its propositions, the independent schools will still be able to continue extracting taxpayers' money in large profits – money that should have gone to children's safety so that we get rid of absurdities such as seven children needing to share a banana. That is how it looks in the limited company schools. For example, a child fell out of a window at one of Tellusgruppens preschools because there was not enough staff to keep track of the children. All of this has been allowed to continue for far too long. Over ten years ago, Tellusgruppens preschools, then Hälsans preschool with Lotta Edholm on the board, gave the children crispbread and water for breakfast. The government continues to protect this system.
The government says that those who are under investigation by the School Inspectorate may lose their grants. But the rest will be able to continue extracting profits as large as they do today. The government is not putting a stop to the market school with its proposals. Instead, it is about small changes, probably to save the market school's bad reputation. The Swedish people see, in fact, that this is not what is best for the children or for the teachers.
We need to create a different preschool where we put the children's well-being at the center, not the profits for the shareholders.
It is always interesting to debate with liberals, because they say one thing and then do another. Mohamsson has said in the media that they want to see a legislated ceiling in preschool, but the policy the government pursues goes in the completely opposite direction. The government's economic policy forces the municipalities to save, which leads to preschool staff being laid off. The preschool staff are stressed to the breaking point and become sick leave, and the children's groups continue to be far too large.
During the inflation crisis, the government squeezed the population by explaining that everyone must take responsibility in the crisis and therefore have less money in their wallets. At the same time, it went perfectly well for the government to lower taxes for the highest earners. The largest investments in the government's budgets have been tax cuts – money that could have been used to increase the quality in preschool. The government's choice is clear: those who already have a lot of money shall get more while the children's groups in preschool continue to be large. I think it would be proper if the government were honest about its choice.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Madam Speaker! It is no numerical trickery to say that we have presented the largest school budget in modern times. No other government has made such large investments as we are now making in the school. In addition, we have the largest reform agenda in over 30 years. It is about getting order and structure in the classrooms, restoring status to the teachers, and ensuring that knowledge characterizes Swedish schools. We are talking about a major cultural change in classrooms and schools.
Madam Speaker! I do not know if I am truly getting through. The member's question concerns the regulation of the size of the children's groups.
Just as I said initially, the government has commissioned an inquiry which, among other things, has been tasked to investigate and propose how Sweden's preschools should be given the conditions to offer an education of equal quality and good standard. This concerns, among other things, the regulation of the size of the children's groups and the staffing density. I believe that it is exactly what the member is requesting. The inquiry shall also consider and propose other measures besides regulation to ensure that all children's groups have an appropriate size. The inquiry will be submitted to me on June 11.
I look forward to receiving it so that we can continue our work. I believe we are in agreement there. This is already being done by the government today. We have appointed an inquiry. The inquiry will come with proposals that shall focus on both how the issue could potentially be regulated and what else could be done to support our municipalities but also push them in the right direction.
Isabell Mixter (V)
Madam Speaker! It is not only I who say that the government's school budget is a numerical trick. Serious journalists who have scrutinized your budget also say so. They may express themselves in different words, but they describe it in the same way.
Now Mohamsson answers that one is positive towards regulating the size of the children's groups. I suppose I have to take that answer as it actually being so, even though I am a bit concerned. It might just be talk and not so much truth behind it.
Mohamsson has tried to give himself quite a few epithets. It is Skolsson, Knäckgängensson and Möjlighetsson. But I think perhaps Pratsson is the epithet that is most appropriate.
They say that they are going to reduce the size of the children's groups. They say that they are going to clean up the friskole system. But absolutely nothing changes. It is talk and talk again. Simona Mohamsson is Sweden's talk minister.
The investigation into the size of the children's groups shall be presented when the government can no longer submit any more legislative proposals. It will not amount to anything.
The investigation that has been presented regarding profits in schools will not put a stop to the large profits that the independent school companies are taking out.
Hagvidson, the preschool where seven children have to share a banana will be able to continue making profits of over 60 million per year. Tellusgruppen, which opens nanny services for tax money, will be able to continue doing so with the government's policy.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Madam Speaker! I say it again: Preschool plays an important role in children's development. It is an important priority for us in the government.
According to the Education Act, school administrators must already today ensure that the children's groups have an appropriate composition and size and that children are also otherwise offered a good environment. This is already a part of the Education Act.
The question of size is a pressing issue for the entire government. Preschools across the country shall offer an activity of good quality. This includes having reasonable levels for the size of the children's groups.
The government has therefore, with that ambition and that determination, and because it is an important issue, appointed an investigator to look into exactly that. What measures are needed, including regulations? What else needs to be taken so that we can ensure that all preschools have child groups of an appropriate size?
This is already being done today. We will receive the investigation on June 11. I look forward to continuing to work on this.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.