Response to interpellation 2025/26:272 on equal support for children and young people with NPF
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns equal support for children and young people with NPF. L drives reforms for a strong knowledge school with curricula adapted to children's cognitive development 1 2. L proposes support teaching with standardized tests 1 and argues that the idea of inclusion has led to exclusion, why a new support system with student-oriented special teachers, order and discipline, and a mobile phone ban is needed 3. L emphasizes the importance of study rooms 4 and argues that the government is implementing major initiatives to address deficiencies 2. S argues that the support today is unequal and dependent on the municipality's finances 5. S wants the state to take greater responsibility 5 and argues that the measures are coming too late 6.
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! Mats Wiking has asked me how I intend to ensure that students with NPF receive the support they need in school to achieve the learning objectives and feel well. Mats Wiking has also asked me how I intend to improve the cooperation between the school, social services, and health and medical care so that children with NPF do not fall through the cracks.
According to the Education Act (2010:800), the different needs of children and students shall be taken into account in education (Chapter 1, Section 4). Students who, as a result of disabilities, have difficulty fulfilling the various grading criteria or criteria for assessment of knowledge that apply shall be given support aimed at counteracting the consequences of the disability as far as possible (Chapter 3, Section 2).
I and the government agree that more needs to be done so that all students can have a successful and good school career. Today's curricula have extensive requirements for abstract thinking, reflection, analysis, and independent work, which for many students means significant difficulties. Therefore, the government is driving several major reforms to rebuild a strong knowledge school with, among other things, curricula that are better adapted to children's cognitive development and special circumstances.
In the report Knowledge for all – new curricula with a focus on teaching and learning (SOU 2025:19), the Curriculum Inquiry proposes that curricula and syllabi for primary school and equivalent school forms should be better adapted to children's cognitive development and different cognitive prerequisites, which can create better conditions for students with NPF diagnoses. The inquiry also proposes an increased focus on basic knowledge and more teacher-led education. The Government decided on 18 December 2025 to give a mandate to the Swedish National Agency for Education to, based on the Curriculum Inquiry's report, develop proposals for new curricula, including syllabi (U2024/02427).
In the partial report Improved support in school (2025:44), the Commission on Improved Student Health proposes that support teaching shall be introduced together with, among other things, mandatory standardized tests that can contribute to us identifying early on students who need support measures, including support teaching. In November 2025, the government received the final report Improved Student Health (SOU 2025:113) from the same commission. In the final report, the commission submits, among other things, proposals aimed at facilitating cooperation between student health and the health and medical care as well as social services. The proposals are being prepared within the Government Offices.
Mats Wiking (S)
Madam Speaker! In today's school, almost every tenth student has a neuropsychiatric functional impairment, what we often call NPF. It is therefore not a small group. They are children in almost every classroom. Still, we know that the school is still not adapted for all students. It is extra concerning, because the Education Act is very clear.
Students who risk not meeting the knowledge requirements shall immediately receive extra adaptations. If that is not sufficient, the school shall investigate the need for special support, and the principal shall make decisions regarding that support. This can involve teaching in smaller groups, special pedagogical interventions, assistant support, or other adaptations.
Madam Speaker! The law also says something very important. A lack of resources is not a valid reason to refrain. The responsibility to ensure that the support is actually provided always lies with the principal, often the municipality.
I am making this calculation because we know that reality all too often looks different. For many children with NPF, it becomes a constant struggle instead of support. It is a struggle for the parents and a struggle for the child every day.
Madam Speaker! Many of these children have difficulty sitting still, difficulty sorting impressions, and difficulty focusing when it is messy and loud. It is not due to a lack of will, but that is how their brains function. Nevertheless, it is often precisely these children who have to bear the consequences when the school environment does not function.
It often starts with being sent out of the classroom. Then, perhaps one is temporarily excluded from the teaching or ends up in a special teaching group – not because it is best for the student, but because regular teaching is not adapted.
At the same time, we know that today's school places high demands on being able to sit still, work in groups, handle rapid shifts, and interpret abstract instructions.
Madam Speaker! For many students with NPF, clear structures, predictability, concrete instructions, and a calm study environment are required instead. When these are lacking, stress increases, and when stress takes over, there is very little energy left for the learning and the teaching itself.
The consequences unfortunately do not stop in the classroom. We see clearly that children and young people with NPF are overrepresented within psychiatry and within the social services' interventions. Many leave school without complete grades, and without education, it becomes much more difficult to obtain a job and an independent adult life.
Madam Speaker! This is an enormous failure both for the individual and for society. Certainly, one can calculate social costs in millions, but that is not where the focus should lie. The focus must lie on human value – on the right to succeed in school regardless of what one's circumstances are.
Therefore, I want to ask the Minister: Does the Minister consider that the government is doing enough today so that children and young people with NPF will receive the support they are entitled to in school? What does the government intend to do so that the requirements of the Education Act are followed even when it concerns students with NPF, in every classroom and in every municipality?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member Wiking, for this important question and for highlighting this!
The students who have concentration difficulties, for example students with NPF, are hit hard, probably harder than anyone else, by the fact that we have messy classrooms. It is therefore important that we are clear about which school rules apply. Everyone should know them, and we shall uphold the rules and do everything we can to ensure that there is a good study environment in all classrooms.
The background is the international studies which show that there are problems with a lack of study space. This causes students to feel worse, and the knowledge development becomes poorer. It is important that all students get the opportunity for a good study space, but this applies especially to those students who have the greatest need to be able to concentrate.
Today, the government made a decision on a referral to the Council on Legislation regarding improved conditions for safety and study environment in schools. Through the proposal, the responsibilities of the principal and the school owner regarding the work with safety and responsibility in our classrooms are clarified. Everyone who operates in the school – students, teachers, and other staff – must be able to feel safe and have a good working environment and study environment in the classroom and in the school. This benefits all students, not least those we are discussing today.
I agree with Mats Wiking that there are many students who do not receive the support they need and who leave primary school without complete grades. The government has therefore decided on a referral to the Council of Legislation with proposals for amendments to the Education Act aimed at improving support for students in school.
Proper support measures, aimed at improving support for students in school, are often implemented far too late. They must now be implemented in a timely manner. This can, for example, involve extra skills training, individually or in smaller teaching groups. Students with more extensive support needs have the right to special support. Students in need of special support do not always receive such support in a timely manner. Students' needs for special support shall be investigated by a teacher or mentor when it is observed that the student does not meet the requirements or needs extra help.
There should not be requirements that other support measures, such as extra adaptations, must be tested first, but rather we introduce standardized tests that will help to identify children much earlier. We need to ensure that we provide the support that is needed for all our children and students as early as possible so that no one is left behind.
Mats Wiking (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
The government and the minister often speak of their investment in the school as the largest in 30 years, as we heard in the interpellation response. At the same time, both the Swedish National Audit Office and Sveriges Lärare show that the support for students with neuropsychiatric disabilities is still unequal and largely dependent on the school's finances and what competence happens to be available on site.
For the children and families living with the consequences, it doesn't matter how large the investments appear in press releases. What counts is whether the support actually exists in the classroom, in student health services, and in everyday life. It is not enough for the government to state that the responsibility lies with the principals when we know that a lack of support has very concrete and serious consequences for children and young people with NPF.
School health services are still under-dimensioned, and special pedagogical competence is often lacking in the schools. When cooperation with BUP and social services fails, the responsibility in practice falls on the parents and sometimes, Madam Speaker, on the child itself.
We Social Democrats believe that school should be society's primary protective factor for children with NPF. But today, the system functions more like a lottery than a right. The help you receive depends on where you live, which school you happen to attend, and how strong your parents are able to be. Without clearer national governance, long-term funding, and follow-up, the government's policy risks cementing the differences that exist.
My question therefore ultimately concerns responsibility. Does the government consider equal support for students with NPF to be a right or still primarily a municipal responsibility?
Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats are convinced that the state must take greater responsibility to provide all students with equal opportunities in school and in life.
When a student with neuropsychiatric disabilities does not receive the right support in school, it has consequences far beyond the classroom. The student may have both the will and the ability but still fails when the teaching lacks structure, clarity, and adaptation. It leads to stress, anxiety, and lowered self-esteem for the individual. Instead of succeeding, the student risks being singled out as disruptive or unmotivated. The result is, as I said earlier, poorer knowledge development, incomplete grades, and in the worst cases, school dropout.
We must focus on the fact that it is not the student who is failing, but the support. Let us be clear: A school that is accessible for students with NPF is a school that works better for all students, not just those with NPF.
Madam Speaker! The organization Attention publishes reports continuously. In a report from 2025, a spiraling development and very serious figures are shown. Approximately 3,000 responses have been received from parents and children, and they show that 83 percent of students with NPF have mental or physical ill health linked to school. Nearly half have several days of absence per week. It is 41 percent who have had to wait for a year or longer for interventions or support. A third feel unsafe in school. Many suffer from anxiety, depression, or pain issues as a direct result of the school situation. For some students, it leads to self-harm and, in the worst cases, suicide attempts.
This is not a marginal problem; it is a systemic failure that affects thousands of children. My question to the Minister therefore remains: What role does the government believe it should play when students with NPF are being phased out of today's school? Is the government prepared to step forward and ensure that school becomes more equitable for students with NPF, regardless of where in the country one lives?
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thank you again, Member Wiking, for raising the issue!
I agree; there is a fundamental systemic error in the Swedish school system. It has resulted in students not receiving support in time, that every fourth 15-year-old cannot read properly, and that we see insecurity spiraling out of control. Teachers' working environment is affected, and threats and hate have become twice as common during the last ten years.
All this is the reason why we are now reforming the Swedish school from the ground up. We are reforming it through new curricula that shall focus on children's cognitive abilities and knowledge. We are reforming it through a completely new support system that I believe will be absolutely crucial to help all children reach the learning goals and so that no child feels that they fall behind – or, even worse, are placed at the back of a classroom with a pair of headphones and an iPad instead of learning to read for real.
We are also reforming it by ensuring that there are special education teachers who work close to the students. It will be crucial that students have access to adults who are trained and who can step in and help.
In addition to that, we also ensure that the Swedish school shall be characterized by order and discipline. We do this through a mobile phone ban in all of primary and secondary school, through clear expectation documents written between students, school, and teachers, and by showing that we do not tolerate threats and harassment without there being disciplinary measures if students were to engage in such.
But we also have the point that Member Wiking raises. It is very important that the whole society collectively joins in with full force and supports the students who need it, for example with a student health service that is worth the name – not a counselor who comes in for half an hour every other Thursday – and with school social teams that work together around a child and where the social services, the school, and the student health service can help each other.
Everything I am describing are the biggest reforms of Swedish school in over 30 years. Our why is very clear, namely that there has been a systemic error in Swedish school. We have had an inclusion thought that has led to exclusion. All children have been squeezed into a classroom with unreasonable possibilities for teachers to help the students who need help the most and to maintain order and discipline in their classrooms.
Mats Wiking (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
We have once again heard the government and the Minister for Education speak about major investments in schools, the largest in 30 years. It is good that schools are being prioritized. I appreciate the Liberals' entry there. Then we do not agree on which measures should be taken and what results they should achieve.
The measures are coming very late in the parliamentary period. We have waited for almost four years. A very large number of students with NPF and special needs have had it very tough during these years. Initiatives have been made for the school, but I agree with the interpellor in the previous debate: General state grants have not been provided in sufficient extent to maintain good quality in the municipalities. We see how many municipalities are forced to cut costs in both the school and the preschool.
Madam Speaker! For many students with NPF, these initiatives are still not noticeable in everyday life. Ask the municipalities! Ask the schools! Ask the students themselves and their parents! The picture is clear: the support is not sufficient. Regardless of whether one thinks that money is being injected, as the government thinks, or that not enough money is being injected, as we Social Democrats in opposition think, the schools have problems providing the right support for NPF students.
Sveriges Lärare is also clear about what is needed: smaller groups that create safety and peace of work, predictable routines, clear goals and concrete instructions.
That is why we Social Democrats believe that targeted resources are needed to develop and disseminate evidence-based methods so that more schools gain access to methods that work. In our budget, we had 200 targeted millions to develop and disseminate best practice within the NPF area. We also had large general state grants which would ensure that one did not have to cut back on the operations.
Madam Speaker! All children should be met by a school that sees their opportunities, not just their difficulties. When we know what is needed, we also have a collective responsibility to ensure that it becomes a reality.
Utbildnings- och integrationsministern Simona Mohamsson (L)
Madam Speaker! If it were possible to give away 15 seconds, I would gladly do so.
Today, the government has decided on several referrals to the Council on Legislation that will make a real difference in schools. They will be important so that no child is left behind. This includes, among other things, new curricula, early support measures, improved safety, and study environments.
The government is now implementing major initiatives to address the extensive deficiencies within the school area that have existed for far too long. The new curricula are an important step toward creating a strong knowledge school. Teaching shall be based on cognitive ability and ensure that students receive the basic knowledge that is crucial during the rest of their schooling and life, namely reading, writing, and arithmetic. This is particularly important at the younger ages.
The Government will also propose that new support teaching be introduced in the subjects Swedish, Swedish as a second language and mathematics from the autumn of 2028 in order to improve support in school.
I look forward to and hope that the consensus we have heard in this debate from Member Wiking and the Socialdemokraterna will also be visible when all of the government's proposals land on the Riksdag's table. These are major reforms for the Swedish school, and it would be good if there were a broad political width behind them. It will matter in every young person's and every teacher's everyday life.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.