Adult education

Fredrik Malm (L)

Madam Speaker! We now have to discuss the Committee on Education's report 9 for this parliamentary session, and it concerns adult education.

Madam Speaker! Adult education is important for our country. It is important for both the individual and society as a whole. Adult education means that many people get a second chance, can study for a qualification they did not have before, or can obtain a certificate of completion. Adult education in Sweden also means that it is never too late, even if one completely lacks primary education.

Adult education is also important in order to be able to meet the labor market's needs for trained labor. For me as a liberal, the most important thing is that those who lack a job can get a job. If education is needed for this, and many need it, there must be high-quality education available.

There are a number of challenges in Sweden today. We have an aging population, and it will place great demands on more people working and that we succeed in breaking the dependency on benefits. More can work longer. Otherwise, we will not be able to finance the common welfare that we are so proud of, and then we will be forced instead to either have large tax increases or to lower the ambitions for welfare, elderly care, and so on. Something like that is really not something that I, my party, or any other party wants. In any case, it is a matter of not lowering the ambition; some are more enthusiastic about raising the tax.

Madam Speaker! Every fifth inhabitant in Sweden has a background other than Swedish. Many also have difficulty entering the labor market, which often is linked to not having learned Swedish well enough or not having been able to receive education in their home country. There are also more people who need to adapt, change jobs, or change paths in life. Even here, adult education plays an important role.

The professional requirements are higher today than they have been previously. At the same time, there are many who want to study a vocational education, or rather could do so, but who do not perceive it as sufficiently attractive.

Then there is another group of people who are far from the labor market who would like to study a vocational education but lack the capacity to complete the education. There are a number of challenges regarding matching, education, and a number of demographic factors that make questions about adult education increasingly important.

Another problem we have seen over a longer period is a lack of quality in adult education. This does not apply to all courses, of course. There are plenty of courses within SFI, within vocational adult education and municipal adult education that maintain good quality, but we also see deficiencies.

In my constituency, Stockholm city, an adult education program was highlighted last year where the operator hardly conducted any education. Had it been about primary school, it would probably have been easier to detect those types of problems and quality deficiencies, but that is partly due to the procurement form. Education at, for example, the primary school level is not procured in that way.

It is too complicated, Madam Speaker, and it takes too long to close an education that does not maintain a certain quality. It is simply too easy to do a poor job. But what many municipalities also do not want to talk about is that one often chooses what is cheapest, not necessarily what is best for the target group. Here, solutions must be found so that municipalities do not have to invest money in things that do not yield results. It is months and years that are wasted if the quality is low.

Madam Speaker! It is also important that there are many different actors: own management, private actors, universities of applied sciences, folk high schools, and so on. Not least, it is important in order to reach all target groups. The chance of success in komvux is much greater if there is a diversity of providers. Not everyone can offer that it is possible to study while working. It can also be about the fact that the teaching is not conducted in the same way everywhere or that there are actors who have greater experience of working with newly arrived people.

Madam Speaker! The economic situation has changed the conditions in the labor market. There is an increased demand for vocational training for adults. The government parties - my own party Liberalerna, Moderaterna and Kristdemokraterna - and Sverigedemokraterna in the government base have therefore reached an agreement in the autumn budget that means that 400 million kronor are added to regional vocational adult education. Almost a quarter of a billion is also added for student support, and an additional 70 million kronor are added to the university college. This means a corresponding 7,400 more full-year places within regional vocational adult education, and it corresponds to almost 1,000 places within the university college, which we debated in the chamber last week.

The need for people with a vocational education at the upper secondary level will continue to be very great. There is a shortage of trained people in many professions, for example, assistant nurses, cooks, industrial technicians, electricians, and professional drivers. At the same time, the number of applicants to the municipalities' vocational educations has increased significantly in recent years. In order for the supply within regional vocational adult education to be broad and correspond to the needs that exist in different parts of the country, the educations are planned in consultation with, among others, Arbetsförmedlingen and representatives for employers. The largest vocational orientation, in terms of the number of participants, is health and social care. Vocational orientation towards children and leisure as well as industrial technical orientation have also grown large in recent years.

We can note that the interest in vocational adult education is particularly great among those born abroad. Within the workforce in Sweden, aged 20-64, approximately 25 percent of the population are born abroad or have a foreign background, but within regional vocational adult education, it is approximately every second person who has a foreign background. This makes the activity important even for integration in Sweden.

Madam Speaker! Knowledge is power. In the Liberals, we believe in knowledge, and we believe in education. We do it because we know that every human being carries an inherent potential. That is why we prioritize the education system all the way from preschool to the research seminar.

I vote in favor of the proposal in the report.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! The vocational schools are not addressed in this report, but they could just as well have been included. The Act on vocational schools concerns the upper secondary school for youth and vocational adult education.

Headmen have sent students to schools because they have not been able to provide the courses themselves, and they have received a grant to do so. Fredrik Malm knows exactly how it works. Among important vocational skills are power distribution electricians, floor layers, sheet metal workers, as well as bodywork and painting. In just those industries, training has been successful.

During last week's debate, Fredrik Malm was asked a question four times. The member used many beautiful words, it was said, but he did not use the words to answer the question. Therefore, he shall be given a chance again.

Why is the government closing the trade schools? From the beginning, they were a liberal idea. Is there any other plan for how the skills shortage in small vocational areas is to be solved?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Malm (L)

Madam Speaker! I do not believe I received the same question four times. However, I received significantly more than four questions in each individual reply. Therefore, there is always quite a lot to answer.

Madam Speaker! What we see is a labor market situation in Sweden that is increasing the pressure on vocational training in general. More people need to transition. We risk getting stuck in high unemployment if we do not achieve a larger transition. For a long time in Sweden, we have also trained too few people within practical vocational training, both at the upper secondary level and at the post-secondary level.

A very large amount of that competence is brought in from the outside with secondment directives and other things that the Social Democrats have always been against. They have not cared much about educating people in practical vocational skills in Sweden, and then they have been very irritated when people from Poland and Lithuania come and do those jobs instead.

Overall, we have a shortage of this competence in Sweden. In that case, we have to look at the sector as a whole. The vocational schools were a pilot project. But overall, we have today within regional vocational adult education over 70,000 places. We added over 7,000 places in our supplementary budget and an additional thousands of places in the budget bill in the autumn for the current year. Furthermore, we have the university college, and we have a number of other opportunities for vocational education.

Overall, I would say that the need is still very great and will grow further. There will be a continued pressure to gear up and scale up, I would say. But I believe that the measures the government is now taking, taken as a whole, should cover the need to a considerable extent - even though we will need to do a bit more ahead.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! The vocational schools are part of the whole, and the vocational schools are smart in that sense that they gather the competence that needs to be taught in one place. It is not possible to have sheet metal training all over Sweden. It is not possible to have bodywork and painting training all over Sweden. This is smart.

Once again: Why are you closing the vocational schools? They need to be developed. And in what way will the government ensure that the students who have started their education in the vocational school can continue and complete it? The law ceases to apply on June 1.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Fredrik Malm (L)

Madam Speaker! We must see this as a whole. The Social Democrats are incredibly focused on a rather small part, which was furthermore a pilot project. I am trying to see the whole in the issues regarding both the upper secondary and post-secondary vocational education, the role of the university colleges, and the role of regional vocational adult education. I have not mentioned the transition study support here. We debated that earlier. It is also a very important part of this.

I am quite convinced that if we manage to push down inflation, get a bit more momentum in jobs in Sweden moving forward, and manage to continue investing in education, both in breadth and in depth, we will have greater opportunities to ensure that we have the type of vocational competence that our country needs. It is not only our companies but often also private individuals who demand vocational competence in different ways when they need it.

We are going to take this forward, so it will go as well as possible.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! There is a shortage of staff in all essential sectors. Above all, it is vocationally trained people who are missing: nursing assistants, train drivers, floor layers, power distribution electricians, sheet metal workers – I'll stop there, but the list is long.

Those who work in these sectors today should have respect, because it is about jobs that sustain society. If they are not performed, Sweden will stall in its development and perhaps even move backwards. But it will not be enough to promise respect if more people are to work there in the future. It requires better opportunities to educate oneself, more training places, and a system that enables education and transition.

The Social Democratic-led government ensured that the vocational programs in upper secondary school became more attractive for young people to apply for by also preparing them for further studies if the student does not choose to opt out of this. We have also ensured that the educations are better dimensioned based on the labor market's needs. These are important changes, but they will not be enough.

The competence supply will not be solved solely through the youth gymnasium. To solve this societal problem, adult education is needed. Therefore, the debate we are having today is very important.

Madam Speaker! The Sweden Democrats and their government must be able to take in the whole picture and see the societal problems in their entirety, and one must acquire a plan. I know that there is an agreement, but is there a plan?

It may be that we need more detention centers and prisons, but the government does not seem to have a thought about who is going to work there. The prisons can certainly be easily filled with inmates, but how are they going to be filled with correctional officers?

The government says that they want to build nuclear power. Yes, but who is going to hang up the lines to and from the nuclear power plants?

The government has no plan. It is clear and plain.

Madam Speaker! When it comes to the university college, we have during our time in government doubled the number of places and introduced shorter courses. It has been a significant expansion that has been carried out with maintained quality, which is important. Of those who graduate from the university college, 91 percent have a job within a year.

Yrkeshögskolan needs to continue to both grow and develop. Therefore, we commissioned an investigation to review how the education can continue to grow and remain effective even in the future.

In our budget motion, we Social Democrats maintained the investments in YH because they were needed, not least considering the need to transition the labor market.

It is also a recession. It is smart to educate during a recession. That analysis was not made by the Sweden Democrats and the government. They cut back. But now they have changed their minds and are pushing back 70 million kronor. That is good, but do not call it an investment! I do not believe that Fredrik Malm did it. Continue not doing it, because it is not honest!

Furthermore, these funds are not new - 50 million comes from a cut in the skills boost for the climate transition.

The government states that the money can be used to expand existing places or to expand short courses. I actually believe that the authority will be able to manage that. This is a fairly direct system. It will be manageable despite short prerequisites. But the expansion of the university college must continue, and for it to be able to do so, money must be added to the budget that arrives this autumn.

Madam Speaker! During our time, we tripled the funding for vocational adult education. Vocational training for adults is crucial not only for the climate transition but also for integration in Sweden. More adults need to study at vocational adult education for a shortage occupation in the welfare sector or in the business sector. The labor market's needs should be weighed in more clearly when the primary providers decide which educations should be offered.

These educations need to be more long-term funded, and the authorities need more predictability when they are to plan and dimension the educations they are to offer. The educations also need to become more efficient with higher quality and better adapted for the needs that exist in the labor market but also for individuals.

We made large investments in adult education. We also commissioned an inquiry into how this can be improved and made more long-term. The inquiry's report will be released next year, and I hope that the government will handle it with care.

When the right-wing government presented its autumn budget, many were very surprised when they cut adult education so significantly, by over 1 billion, despite the recession and the skills shortage in both the welfare sector and among companies.

Now the Sweden Democrats and the government have had second thoughts and are pushing back 400 million. Even though it is not even half of what was cut in the autumn, they have the nerve to call this investments. Don't do that! It is well and for itself good that one returns funds. But it is not enough, and above all, it is too late. One actually cannot treat municipalities, principals, and educational providers in this way.

At least three municipalities must join together and apply for the spots. They must have the industry with them, and they must arrange premises, teachers, and not least internship placements. Should Skolverket announce these spots in June, when the budget has been finalized? Which municipalities have dared to invest when they were first informed of 1 billion less and then it is said "no by the way, we changed our minds" and 400 million is put back? You cannot take away the cake and then put back half when the rest of us have already had coffee.

Unfortunately, there will be more press clippings than places of this, I think. It is deplorable.

Madam Speaker! I am a bit repetitive regarding the vocational schools – I must speak about them once more. The question is not included in this report but is relevant because it also concerns adult vocational education.

The law gives principals the right to enter into agreements with a vocational school for the school to provide certain vocational courses on a contract basis. During the trial, principals have received grants to send students to courses within small vocational areas. The government now says that the trial has not been successful and is letting both the law and the grant go to the grave. I mean that this is absurd and that the vocational schools need to remain and be developed. The government is ensuring that the vocational schools are stifled in their infancy.

I have asked and asked what the government's plan is to fix this skills shortage, but I do not get any answer. There is whispering and mumbling, and for me, this is one of the proofs that there is no plan.

The government starts by cutting and then gets cold feet and puts it back. But education is not just about money, it is also about that people should get real opportunities to get these places where students can go, in reality. Sweden can do better!

In the report, there are many questions that I have not had time to address. We, of course, stand behind all our proposals, but for the sake of time, I move for approval of only reservation 1.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Oliver Rosengren (M)

Madam Speaker! During the Socialdemokraternas time in government, on average, approximately 70 percent of the state grant allocated to yrkesvux was utilized. It turned out, therefore, despite this expansion that you are now beating yourselves up over, that the proportion that was utilized still remained at only just over two-thirds. Nevertheless, no measures were taken, and it continued that way for many years.

My questions are: How could this be the outcome under the Social Democratic government? And how did it happen that you, despite this low outcome, did not introduce the proposals on, for example, expanded compulsory education that were put forward by the then opposition and the current government parties?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Oliver Rosengren, for the question! It makes me happy that Oliver Rosengren has seen the problems that exist regarding the financing of vocational adult education. It is too short-sighted. One-year cycles do not work - you must have longer cycles in a municipality to be able to plan this. You tender out exactly as much money as exists. Clusters of municipalities submit what they believe they will do.

There is a problem, and that was why we commissioned the investigation I spoke about. It will be finished next year, and I have good hope that Oliver Rosengren and his government will then take good care of this and do something about it so that municipalities and educational providers get slightly more long-term planning conditions.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Oliver Rosengren (M)

Madam Speaker! For a period of eight years, I was responsible for vocational adult education and other adult education in a municipality, and therefore I know that the organizers' ability and flexibility, given how the state subsidy system is structured, is very good. It is clear that in many ways one can wish for increased long-term perspective, but that is not where the basic problem lies.

The main problem is that many places are offered but the places are not applied for because many people who have been unemployed for a long time due to a lack of education still do not apply for education and train for the jobs that exist. So my question to the Socialdemokrater remains: How is it possible that for such a long time, the requirements for the unemployed to train for work were not raised?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Oliver, for the question! We live in the same reality, but we may interpret it in slightly different ways.

Demands can absolutely be placed on the unemployed. There must absolutely be a duty to undergo education, and it already exists. I know that Oliver Rosengren wants to expand it to apply to all unemployed people - it does not do so today. We can absolutely continue to discuss this, but we must also provide opportunities and support regarding economic conditions so that they can actually attend that education.

There is absolutely much more that can be done, and I think we can continue to discuss that when the government comes forward with the proposals.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Oliver Rosengren (M)

Madam Speaker! Between Sweden's 460,000 unemployed and 220,000 new vacant jobs stand labor market measures, SFI teaching, vocational training, higher education, high school graduation, and great personal effort.

The Social Democrats have for many years preferred to cause high unemployment, difficult matching problems, and growth barriers for Swedish companies rather than set the requirements on unemployed people without education to educate themselves for work that is needed to solve the problem.

Crucial to pushing back against exclusion is that more people are equipped with education. For those who lack basic knowledge or come to Sweden with a shorter time remaining in working age, labor market training and similar fast-tracks can work well. For people with a working life ahead of them, regular education within, for example, adult education offers the most stable establishment on the labor market.

Madam Speaker! Sweden shall reach full employment and demand that everyone without work strives to secure their own livelihood. It is then also an obligation for us in here to ensure that the measures intended to support and lead to jobs are functioning, accessible, and effective.

I was responsible for the labor market, social services, and adult education as committee chair and municipal councilor during two terms in Växjö Municipality. We doubled the number of places in vocational adult education and applied open admission in areas where the labor market demanded labor. At the same time, the proportion who got jobs after completing their education increased.

Yrkesvux is an underutilized labor market measure in many municipalities. The responsibility for this is two-fold. The municipalities need to open up adult education, but it is this chamber's job to give them the legal conditions for an offensive local labor line. The education obligation therefore needs to be expanded.

In this year's budget, we decided to add 5,000 more vocational adult education places than what was planned by the previous Social Democratic government. Since we have simultaneously begun the work of restoring the work principle, the places must also be filled. That almost every third place stood empty during the Social Democrats' time is a trend we are going to reverse.

Now that the concern over the recession is growing, the government proposes, in addition to this, that we should invest an additional 700 million kronor in almost 7,500 new places within yrkesvux, in SFI for Ukrainians, and in 1,000 places within the vocational college.

Svenska för invandrare lacks requirements for progression today, often for both participants and providers. It gives us horror stories of people who linger around year after year without being able to handle everyday errands in Swedish. The Government and the Sweden Democrats agree on setting requirements that immigrants must exert as much effort as is required, not just to attend SFI but also to learn Swedish.

Madam Speaker! The work for everyone in Sweden to be able to speak Swedish faces many obstacles. Three examples are segregated residential areas where one can get by completely without speaking Swedish, profit-seekers among SFI organizers who do not fulfill their mission, and criminal gangs, where breaking the rules is part of the gangster ideal. We will not give up in the fight against any of these obstacles.

The opposition's disagreement becomes very clear in the reservations. The Social Democrats are concerned that independent organizers will be procured. An important difference from the youth high school that there may be reason to remind oneself of is that even if the municipalities procure, they are still the primary providers. This provides extensive and far-reaching control possibilities regarding requirements and quality.

On the other hand, we have the Center Party, which would probably like to outsource everything and furthermore proposes that an SFI-fund should be introduced in accordance with the investigation conducted during the previous government. I intended to say a few words about that investigation, SOU 2022:17.

This investigation is perhaps one of the clearest examples of how the Centerpartiet was deceived by the January Agreement. In the January Agreement, one could read about the introduction of an Sfi-payment "based on achieved language results." The investigation's results, however, amounted to only a small performance bonus corresponding to 1 percent of the total costs for Sfi. Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner, SKR, has undermined this. In their referral response, they state that "the compensation in the proposal constitutes only a very marginal part of the total cost for Sfi." They further write: "The proposal simultaneously entails increased costs in the form of, for example, administration and premises." On top of this, they write that the incentives that have been requested will not be achieved.

Madam Speaker! If the Centre Party had been the liberal watchdog it has claimed to be, one should have hit the roof over this. A 1 percent bonus on the margin is hardly the SFI money "based on achieved language results" that was requested in the January agreement. Had anyone tried to do that to me in a contractual situation, I would have hit the roof. It is such a flagrant breach of contract that it is astonishing. But what does the Centre Party do? Yes, the Centre Party embraces the proposal, and in its reservation—in opposition—it demands that it must be implemented nonetheless. Completely incomprehensible!

Madam Speaker! Over the past year, I have visited approximately 200 - 204 to be exact - companies and welfare operations. They have contributed many different experiences, stories, and challenges. However, many problems are common. Regardless of whether it is a farm, a preschool, or a manufacturing industry, the supply of skills is a difficult challenge. In many cases, the difficulty of finding the right skills risks becoming a growth barrier. Companies today are making grand efforts with their own training and the introduction of people who are hired more for having the right attitude than for having the right education.

Swedish prosperity depends on hard work, ingenious inventions, and secure welfare. If we fail to have the drivers to work, the competence for the companies, and the staffing for the welfare, it threatens not only Sweden's identity but also our future. Therefore, the government's priorities in the government bill to strengthen the work line with clear requirements and accurate support, for example the adult education we are discussing today, must be implemented.

Madam Speaker! I vote in favor of the committee's proposal.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Patrick Reslow (SD)

Madam Speaker! Let me first move to approve reservation 18.

At this point in the debate, a good deal of things have already been said. I can only underline much of what has been put forward here earlier, both by Fredrik Malm and by Oliver Rosengren. It is important that we have a strong adult education and that it maintains high quality and prepares people for future occupations or studies.

Sweden is a bit special in this regard. We have a very well-developed adult education, and we should be very proud of that. There must be opportunities to change one's decisions, to retrain, and to study for qualifications at both basic level and upper secondary level. We must also have a system that can get people into shortage occupations, because that is a prerequisite for the welfare. We should be proud of that tradition.

What we should be less proud of is that adult education has sometimes been used as a negative labor market policy instrument, that is to say, that people have been put in without any thought of what should come out. It has been a form of storage place rather than a fortress for knowledge and education, which is what the education system is otherwise supposed to be. Instead of safeguarding quality and knowledge, it has been some kind of instrument for storing people in order to remove them from the unemployment statistics. It has not been good.

There lies a great responsibility on not least the Social Democrats, who have not always had any real idea about what effects adult education should have and so on. We have heard examples of this here today as well.

The Sweden Democrats advocate for state ownership in all other contexts. We believe that adult education should also have state ownership. We would see an advantage in this. Already today, a large part is financed with state grants. It also means that the state has an influence over what happens.

But the system is quite fragmented. It is the municipalities that procure and operate the activities. This also means that the regulatory frameworks look different. This sometimes makes it difficult for companies when they are going to recruit. It would have been much better if there had been a single main authority for this type of education.

This is not a question that we push very hard or separately from other demands for state ownership. But we believe that the entire school system would benefit from the state regaining ownership outright. It would facilitate things, not least for all those who are to recruit people to different industries.

We have also for a very long time had critical views on the SFI teaching. It was said here before that it is lacking in requirements. Yes, it is truly lacking in requirements. There is, therefore, no requirement for progression in the development of knowledge. One can go and linger around in the SFI courses for as long as one likes. There is no upper limit.

When Skolverket made an observation a few years ago, it was noted that one could see very heterogeneous groups that had very homogeneous instruction. They had different educational backgrounds and different levels of proficiency in the Swedish language, but it was still the same type of instruction that was given. The effect of this was that some students had to sit and repeat things instead of moving forward in the instruction. This has been clear for many years, but still, nothing is being done about it, because the will is not really there.

Now, together with the other parties in Tidögänget, we have said that this must be changed. We place great emphasis on that we shall have a knowledge-focused adult education. We will also do everything to ensure that the right competence is provided to the industries that need it.

The same also applies when it comes to tightening the requirements for SFI teaching: We must focus on students learning the Swedish language. Those who attend SFI teaching shall have requirements on them to learn the Swedish language. There shall also be requirements on precisely progression.

Another point of view that has emerged concerns an upper time limit. We in the Sverigedemokraterna want a short upper time limit. We believe that one should manage to complete the SFI training in a very short time. We have said that in the normal case it should be two years. Then, in some cases, there may be reasons to perhaps extend it by three years. But the longer the time that passes, the fewer incentives there are to learn the language. And this is not reasonable. One should be able to manage in society and at one's workplace and the like with the Swedish language. There, we believe that previous governments have done far too little.

Madam Speaker! Adult education should also strengthen competence regarding shortage occupations in the market. We have heard some examples of this. Regarding this report, we are presenting some proposals in our motion in areas where we need to strengthen competence. We propose that there should be targeted investments in adult education. This applies, for example, to the mining industry. It applies to the steel industry. It applies to the agricultural industry. It also applies to the forestry industry and the railway sector.

They are important parts of the Swedish social construction, and if we cannot get personnel with the right competence to these professional groups, it will in the long run hit Swedish welfare.

(Applause)

In this speech, Robert Stenkvist (SD) concurred.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! In Sweden, lifelong learning is prioritized. Here, it is and shall be possible to return to studies to build upon one's competence at komvux, folk high schools, or learning centers whenever needed. Some of us have changed careers or will surely change careers several times during life, either because we want to ourselves or because we need to change career paths for some reason.

Regardless of whether one is highly educated or lowly educated, no one of working age should end up in a dead end when it comes to the possibility of improving their situation and realizing their life dreams through education and hard work. In this regard, adult education constitutes a fantastic opportunity.

But adult education also has a very important task in forming the basis for national and regional skills supply. It is important that doors are opened for people in the Swedish labor market and that obstacles are removed so that they can retrain for a shortage occupation.

Madam Speaker! There can be many reasons why one needs to educate themselves as an adult. It is not uncommon for a student who struggles with reading to, after a number of years, become motivated to take hold of their studies and supplement their grades to obtain eligibility for higher education or to pursue a vocational education.

It can also apply to a newcomer who needs to be integrated into Swedish society in order to become self-sufficient. The person may have a profession with them but needs to supplement it with what is specific to Sweden in order to be able to practice the profession in our country. Or one might even want to acquire a new profession that provides better job opportunities. In that case, it is important, Madam Speaker, that SFI functions well, because the Swedish language is the key into society.

There are far too many children in Sweden today who have never seen their parents go to work and who have never seen their parents come home after having experienced a day of work community with colleagues. The adult role models that those children needed to have in the family are many times replaced by criminals who recruit children and young people into youth gangs and organized crime.

Then it is not only a shadow society and parallel societies of exclusion that grow, but actually also an ethnically and culturally segregated Sweden. It speaks for itself that it is dangerous and wrong if people who come to our country already from the outset experience themselves as being doomed to fail and get stuck in these parallel societies.

From a political perspective, we must do everything we can to avoid this. In a society where large groups of people do not speak the same language, trust, security, and the sense of belonging will naturally decrease. Not least, a lack of language skills makes it very difficult to participate in education and to obtain a job when one has come to our country. Language is an incredibly important factor for community and integration. Adult education in the form of SFI is therefore a very important piece of the puzzle when it comes to more people becoming a part of Swedish society and for Sweden as a country to manage the great integration challenge that we face.

Language is the key to a society where everyone is given the opportunity to develop to their full potential, where no one is held back and where no one shall be left behind.

Madam Speaker! That newcomers are able to enter employment is extremely important. It is important for families to receive the income that a job entails. It is important for children to see their parents go to work. And not least, it is of course important for the individual's self-esteem to enter employment as soon as possible, become self-sufficient, and avoid being dependent on benefits.

Many testify that it is precisely studies in Swedish in combination with vocational training that significantly increase the opportunities for jobs and establishment for newcomers. The best way to learn the Swedish language is to use it, and then in a natural environment. Therefore, it is important that as many as possible get the chance to learn vocational Swedish at work and combine SFI and yrkesvux.

One reason why one cannot always show such good results when it comes to the SFI courses can actually be that the education is primarily organized so that the person first learns only Swedish for a number of years and after that begins a regular education. This makes the goal of a job a bit more distant and the motivation risks falling.

It could create a better context and motivation for students to learn Swedish if the goal of the education becomes vocational knowledge and if there is a clear path to self-sufficiency. Therefore, it is important that there is great flexibility when it comes to specializations. Being able to combine SFI with internship, other education, or gainful employment would be a way to increase the flexibility.

Just as with all other education, it is important that there are good chances of employment when the education is completed. It is important that the educations meet the needs that exist. Instead of letting requirements for knowledge in Swedish stand in the way of participation in educations, there may perhaps even be reasons at times to be more flexible when it comes to certain vocational educations and to accept people even with lacking language skills. Then, knowledge in Swedish can be acquired in parallel with work. It is simply flexibility and people in work that we need.

With this, I vote in favor of the committee's proposal in the report.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! I must make one more attempt. I promise it will be the last. It concerns the small part of the large competence supply issue – the vocational schools. I get stuck there. For me, this is so incredibly incomprehensible. Money is put back when it concerns the other forms of education. Why could one not have put 10 million more into the vocational schools and extended the trial? I truly do not understand it.

I know that Mathias Bengtsson has visited his very fine vocational school for bodywork and painting in Lugnet in Falun and knows what investments have been made there. The law falls on June 1. In view of that, I want to ask Mathias Bengtsson: How are the students who have one year left to be able to complete their education in Falun? It is a municipal school. It is not sufficient to answer that it is the main employers' responsibility. Does the member judge that it will even be legal for other municipalities to send students to Falun?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Caroline Helmersson Olsson, for the question! The fundamental question is actually how we can get students of high school age into work as effectively as possible. That is the important question, and work is ongoing within the government to develop the most effective methods possible.

The vocational school was a pilot project that is not continuing now. It is quite natural for pilot projects to run for a certain period. Then one evaluates whether they should continue or not. The vocational school pilot was successful in some individual locations. But as a whole, it is difficult to see the great success. There may be different reasons for that. But just because the pilot is not continuing does not mean that it was completely meaningless or that it was a bad idea. On the contrary, there are many good things that can be taken away from this vocational school pilot when one is to continue developing the upper secondary educations.

Just because the state subsidy ceases, I do not see any reason why a type of similar model cannot continue to exist so that the schools can, of course, remain. The balancing act is rather about what should be financed with state subsidies, what can be self-sustaining, which parts the industry can take responsibility for, and so on. The important thing is that these educations are shaped in cooperation with the industry.

As mentioned, there is ongoing work in the government regarding how corresponding or similar educations, or educations that in some way aim to meet the same needs, can look in the future. We are looking into that more closely, and it is in no way a forgotten issue. On the contrary, it is a prioritized issue that this government intends to return to.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)

Madam Speaker! Mathias Bengtsson does not need to convince me. I believe he needs to convince the industries that have made enormous investments in these vocational schools, as they have centralized their materials and tools to one location in order to be able to send students there.

You can certainly continue to investigate, reflect, and plan, because it is needed. But this law ceases to apply on June 1. It is going to be difficult. Or does Mathias Bengtsson assess that one can continue to send students to other municipal upper secondary schools? We are also talking about adult education because this also applies to adult education, and there is a real need to develop branch schools there. They actually need to be developed and maintained. But the law ceases to apply on June 1. And when has the government intended to be clear on how this is going to be? That is what I wonder, and what many industries wonder. And what especially the students who have completed year 2 and who now perhaps cannot continue to year 3 wonder.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! This government will, as said, return to exactly how the investigation will look moving forward. But I also note that if the previous government had been all in to let these vocational schools continue, or to let this attempt continue, one could have clearly signaled earlier in the summer or during the autumn that the attempt would continue. But no such initiatives came. It is easier to have a high tone in opposition than to take responsibility when one sits in the government oneself.

It is precisely because there is a great need for labor in the labor market and we have a fairly high unemployment that this government has major challenges to tackle that the Social Democrats left behind after eight years. When Stefan Löfven took office, it was talked about that Sweden would have the EU's lowest unemployment in 2020. This job promise became almost a practical fiasco. Sweden went in the exact opposite direction instead and ended up in free fall on this list.

It is this challenge that we have before us: How can as many as possible of those of working age who do not have a job match the large demand for labor that exists on the labor market? Then it is about adult education, supplementary education and not least, as we are touching upon, upper secondary education that matches the labor market. This is an area that this government looks forward to continuing to work with.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Daniel Riazat (V)

Madam Speaker! In his speech, Mathias Bengtsson mentioned that we must ensure that adult education and SFI are made available to many more. We must ensure that more people learn Swedish when they are to live here. Everyone can agree on that, even if one does not need to agree with the very dark picture that Mathias Bengtsson now gave, which has also changed as a result of your cooperation with the Sverigedemokraterna.

But it also becomes a bit of a double standard, and that is what my question concerns. When the Christian Democrats in Ekot on Sveriges Radio were asked if they thought Ukrainians coming to Sweden should have the right to study SFI, they said no. And when the Christian Democrats were asked if people otherwise seeking asylum in Sweden or who are refugees should be allowed to study SFI from day one, they said no.

I simply wonder: How does it add up that the Christian Democrats are against those Ukrainians who have come here through the mass flight directive being allowed to study Swedish, and that they are against people who have come here on other asylum and refugee grounds not being allowed to learn Swedish from day one, but that one then, damn it, is going to set requirements that people must be able to speak Swedish after a short period? How do these things add up?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! This government is therefore allocating funds to, among other things, SFI teaching for Ukrainians so that those covered by the mass exodus directive can learn Swedish. The language is, as I mentioned, a key to society and a key into the community. Then one must be able to expect that persons who are to stay in Sweden, who are to live in Sweden and who are to become a part of Swedish society also learn the language. Then we must have SFI teaching that delivers, that maintains high quality and that actually also teaches the language so that one does not, so to speak, just sit out the hours but that the teaching also generates the knowledge that one needs to enter the community and into society and not least to enter the labor market.

I think it is a self-evident matter to expect that people want to learn the language and also to give them the opportunity to do so.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Daniel Riazat (V)

Madam Speaker! I thank Mathias Bengtsson for the answer, but I must nevertheless admit that I am confused.

The Christian Democrats say no to Ukrainians being allowed to study SFI because they have come here in accordance with the mass flight directive. The Christian Democrats say no to other refugees or people with asylum status being allowed to study SFI from day one. The Christian Democrats are part of a cooperation led by the Sweden Democrats where they carry out cuts of billions in grants to the municipalities. This will lead to enormous and catastrophic consequences for, among other things, adult education.

But then Mathias Bengtsson stands here and says that we should set requirements on people. We absolutely shall do that. See then also to it that your policy follows these requirements and that the money that accompanies them also follows these requirements.

Personally, I feel it becomes very strange to say to those who have come from Ukraine or from other countries, who have fled from war and various types of horrific situations: You are not allowed to learn Swedish. Sfi shall not exist for you who come here in accordance with the mass flight directive. The Christian Democrats do not think that you should be allowed that. But you must be able to speak Swedish, because it is a requirement that we have so that we can ensure that the Sweden Democrats and their voters are satisfied with us in this cooperation.

How do these things fit together, Mathias Bengtsson? Can you answer that instead of providing the non-answer that you gave in the previous exchange?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mathias Bengtsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! Daniel Riazat does not need to worry. There is a difference between the policies of the Left Party and the Christian Democrats. The policy that has been conducted in Sweden for eight years and which the Left Party has supported and cooperated on in various ways, where far too many people have not been given the chance to learn the Swedish language, have not been given the chance to enter society, have not been given the chance to become a part of the community that exists in Sweden and have not been given the chance to get a job and get the education required to enter the labor market, we are now changing. Now we have a government that understands the importance of the Swedish language and that understands the importance of setting requirements and giving people the chance. It is a policy for social cohesion and for breaking exclusion.

(Applause)

(cont. § 16)

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