Today, not all upper secondary education programs provide basic eligibility, but students need to actively choose courses so as not to be excluded from higher education at a later stage. I mean that as a fifteen-year-old, you shouldn't have to keep track of what you're going to do after graduation, it's challenging enough to keep up with everything else during your teenage years.
The issue of access to higher education as well as the mission of upper secondary schools is frequently discussed and the attitude among the parliamentary parties changes depending on who is in power. Proposals to reintroduce the basic eligibility 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 future career at an early age.
SFS believes that all upper secondary school programs should provide basic eligibility, otherwise young people's upper secondary school choices could exclude them from higher education, with consequences for the university's openness and representativeness.
Previous high school reforms
The regulations on basic eligibility that were introduced in 2010 required a passing grade in a number of subjects, while a comprehensive grade document from municipal adult education would no longer apply to basic eligibility. This meant that the requirements for basic eligibility were tightened compared to the previous year. In connection with the introduction of the reformed upper secondary school in 2011, the requirements were tightened further. With this, the university entrance qualification for vocational programs disappeared, which meant that students had to actively choose courses in order to be admitted to university and college. The basic eligibility constitutes the broad connection between upper secondary school and college and is intended to constitute a lowest common denominator for all higher education.
From 1 January 2017, there is also a general right to study basic qualifications and one or more special qualifications within municipal adult education. The Upper Secondary Education Commission proposes in its report that the courses that students on vocational programmes must study to achieve the requirements for basic qualifications should be included in the basic structure of the programme in future and can be opted out of instead of being opted in as is the case today. Here there is a responsibility to give students the opportunity to study further rather than forcing them to opt out of higher education at an early age.
It is not reasonable that in the Sweden of 2021, people should not automatically have access to 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 for everyone's right to basic access. Nor is it economically justifiable to have a system where individuals who have left high school with a degree need to complete their studies.
The proportion applying to university preparatory and vocational programs
Of all first-time applicants to a national program for the 2019/20 academic year, 63 percent applied to a university preparatory program and 37 percent to a vocational program according to The National Agency for Education. Before the upper secondary school reform Gy11 came into force, around 50 percent applied to a vocational program. In 2019, 28,8 percent of all upper secondary school students took a vocational education and 58,6 percent studied a university preparatory program. The fact that fewer people apply to vocational programs may be because they are not eligible for post-secondary studies. It is of great importance to have a balance between the types of programs at upper secondary school. This is primarily about the skills needs of society and the business community.
Image: Percentage who applied to national programs in the first place, academic years 2011/12 – 2019/20.
SFS believes that
- The upper secondary school reform Gy11 has had a negative impact on the individual and society, and therefore wants to see the government move forward with the proposals in the inquiry.
- all upper secondary education programmes must provide basic qualifications, but not all upper secondary education programmes need to provide all area qualifications).
- Everyone should have the same conditions and chances to compete for study places in higher education, by making upper secondary school and the university entrance exam available to everyone without fees, among other things.
- Everyone who has the right skills should 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 to ensure 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