Today, not all upper secondary education provides basic eligibility, but students need to actively choose courses so as not to be excluded from higher education at a later stage. I mean, as a fifteen-year-old, you should not have to keep track of what to do after graduation, it's challenging enough to keep up with everything else during your teens.
The issue of access to higher education as well as the upper secondary school's mission is frequently discussed and the attitude among the parliamentary parties changes depending on who is in power. Proposals to reintroduce the basic qualifications for upper secondary education are stated in the inquiry Access for beginners - a more open and simpler system for access to higher education from 2017. These proposals should be implemented so as not to force young people to choose a career future at an early age.
SFS believes that all upper secondary school programs should provide basic eligibility, otherwise young people's upper secondary school choices may exclude them from the university with consequences for the university's openness and representativeness.
Previous high school reforms
The provisions on basic eligibility introduced in 2010 entailed a requirement for a passing grade in a number of subjects, at the same time as the combined grade document from municipal adult education would no longer apply to basic eligibility. This meant that the requirements for basic eligibility were tightened compared. In connection with the introduction of the reformed upper secondary school in 2011, the requirements were further tightened. With this, the eligibility for higher education in the vocational programs disappeared, which meant that the students had to actively choose courses in order to be admitted to university and college. The basic qualifications constitute the broad connection between the upper secondary school and the university and must constitute a minimum common denominator for all higher education.
As of 1 January 2017, there is also a general right to take basic qualifications and one or more special qualifications within the municipal adult education. In its report, the Upper Secondary School Inquiry proposes that the courses that students in vocational programs must take in order to achieve the requirements for basic eligibility should be included in the program's basic structure in the future and be able to be opted out instead of being chosen as today. There is a responsibility here to give students the opportunity to study further than to force them to opt out of higher education at an early age.
It is not reasonable that in 2021 Sweden will not automatically be eligible for higher education, and for those who do not want to study further, there are no obstacles to not doing so. Individual freedom is not restricted by the proposals on everyone's right to basic competence. Nor is it socio-economically defensible to have a system where the individual who has left upper secondary school with a degree needs to complete the studies.
The proportion who apply for university preparatory and vocational programs, respectively
Of all first-time applicants for a national program for the academic year 2019/20, 63 per cent applied for a university preparatory program and 37 per cent for a vocational program according to The National Agency for Education. Before the high school reform Gy11 came into force, about 50 percent applied for a vocational program. In 2019, 28,8 percent of all high school students attended a vocational education and 58,6 percent read a college preparatory program. The fact that fewer people apply for vocational programs may be because they do not become eligible for post-secondary studies. It is of great importance to have a balance between the types of programs in upper secondary school. It is above all about the skills needs of society and business.
Image: Proportion who applied for national programs in the first place, academic years 2011/12 - 2019/20.
SFS considers that
- The upper secondary school reform Gy11 has had a negative impact on the individual and society, and wants to see the government move forward with the proposals in the inquiry.
- all high school programs must provide basic eligibility, but not all high school education needs to provide all area eligibility).
- everyone must have the same conditions and chances to compete for study places at the university, by, among other things, the upper secondary school and the university entrance examination being available to everyone free of charge.
- everyone who has the right skills must have access to higher education, regardless of which education system they have studied in and regardless of whether they have had the opportunity to study in higher education.
- it is the state's responsibility that the education chain is connected and that there is no gap between education at upper secondary level and higher education.
Linn Svärd, Vice Chairman of SFS