This morning, the party leaders for the Sweden Democrats, the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals presented the Tidöavtalet - a joint agreement for how Sweden will be governed in the coming term. The agreement describes, among other things, that the government will consist of M, KD and L, with SD as a partner party outside the government.
The agreement contains several points that are of importance to universities and colleges and may affect Sweden's students, doctoral students and academia.
In this blog post, we comment on the proposals.
The collaboration project School
Seven "collaborative projects" are presented within the agreement. One of these collaborative projects is called Skola. The most important point within this project, from a student perspective, is a reform of teacher education:
Develop teacher training
In order to raise the status and attractiveness of the teaching profession, the admission requirements for teacher education are raised at the same time as the educational content is reformed with an increased focus on subject knowledge, cognitive science and practical methodology. The work to get more graduates to change tracks to become teachers in mid-life is being scaled up. The subject teacher training is concentrated at the highest-ranked universities in the respective field.
This can actually be described as several reforms, several of which have already been up for discussion during the last mandate period.
The proposal to raise the admission requirements for teacher education was already included in the January agreement. The previous government commissioned the University and Higher Education Council (UHR) to investigate the possibility of requiring at least grade C in certain subjects for eligibility for teacher training. UHR concluded that the proposal would make it difficult to fill the education places and that would lead to fewer teachers. SFS has also been critical of the proposal because it departs from the principle that the eligibility requirements are divided into basic eligibility (high school education or equivalent) and a special eligibility that consists of the subject courses that constitute the necessary prerequisites to be able to assimilate the education. With grade C as a requirement for certain educations, the admissions system becomes more complicated and it becomes difficult for high school students to understand what is required to be eligible for various university educations.
Even the proposal for an increased focus on subject knowledge, cognitive science and practical methodology has similarities with wording from the January agreement. In 2021, the outgoing government put forward a proposal for abbreviated supplementary pedagogical education (KPU), where, among other things, it was written that cognitive science should be included in the educational science core. The proposal to shorten the courses was heavily criticized for undermining the quality of the teacher's degree, which is probably one reason why it was never introduced. SFS was also critical of the detailed political control of the content of the courses. To a greater extent, it should be up to the universities, teachers and students to assess which perspectives and orientations should be in focus. This criticism is still relevant in the new government's proposal.
SFS is more positive about the proposal that more people should have the opportunity to switch to the teaching profession in mid-life. The supplementary pedagogical trainings are often appreciated and can be a good way to meet the need for more trained teachers. However, the reform needs to be managed responsibly. We hope that the government learns from the widespread criticism of shortening the KPUs and does not repeat the same mistakes. The government will also need to review the availability of teachers at the teacher training courses, where the dimensioning of the postgraduate training is an important piece of the puzzle.
Finally, SFS is questioning the proposal to concentrate teacher training courses at the "highest-ranked universities in the respective field". On the one hand, it is difficult to know what this means, because there is no regular ranking of universities or courses. The Office of the Chancellor of the University (UKÄ) does carry out evaluations, but at the end of each evaluation round, all education programs must have the same assessment, high quality. The institutions of higher learning that do not receive the best, high-quality assessment, are usually given a chance to correct any shortcomings and receive a new examination, if they do not choose to discontinue the courses themselves. But aside from this practical ambiguity, SFS is critical of the intention to politically control which teacher training courses are given where. The educational institutions must be able to meet the students' demand for education: if students today apply for a certain education and the educational institution can fill the places, then it is wrong to close it down. By reducing the number of universities offering teacher training, it will also be more difficult to recruit more students. In addition, it goes against the motto of education throughout the country, something that we do not believe that digital solutions alone can be the answer to.
All in all, we see a risk that the reform of teacher education presented in the Tidö agreement will lead to fewer student teachers and fewer qualified teachers. It is of course not good for the teacher shortage. We hope that the new government will be open to dialogue about how teacher training can be improved and the pitfalls avoided.
Collaborative project Migration and integration
The collaborative project on Migration and integration is extensive and requires further analysis of how it affects current and future students and graduates. Among other things, stricter conditions are specified for labor immigration, which SFS has previously stated has challenges. It is of particular importance that academics are taken into account in this proposal so that Swedish competitiveness and the supply of skills are not hindered.
A welcome suggestion is that the parties pay attention to the problems announced in the Aliens Act:
In order to strengthen Sweden's competitiveness as a research nation, special provisions for doctoral students and researchers regarding the possibility of a residence permit after a certain period of continuous employment are examined and, if necessary, constitutionally regulated.
In addition, work to deal with misuse of residence permits for studies must be carried out. The educational institutions, the Swedish Migration Agency, SFS and others have worked on the issue. We students cherish the opportunity to come to Sweden for studies, but it is important that those who apply intend to study and abuse does not occur. Furthermore, the survey must also analyze how the regulations for residence permits for studies differ in Sweden compared to other EU countries.
Collaborative project Growth and household economy
Within the collaborative project Growth and household economy, the parties present two points on further education for professionals:
- Improve the conditions for professionals to further their education at colleges and universities. Strengthen the universities' conversion mission.
- The adjustment support, which is a consequence of the parties' agreement, must be managed in such a way that it is used for training with a high demand on the labor market and thus counteracts skills shortages and strengthens the competitiveness of business.
Training for professionals has been on the back burner for a long time, but discussions really flared up at the end of last term. It has not least to do with the transition study support that the parties in the labor market negotiated and which the Riksdag decided on in June 2022 and which can be applied for studies from January 2023. The transition study support gives more professionals the opportunity to study, which is expected to lead to a higher search pressure to the university among these groups.,
Here it may be worth mentioning that the work on conversion is not new, and a lot has happened in recent years. The universities have long trained professionals to some extent, not least through a large range of independent courses. For example, there were In 2018 there were 37.000 lifelong learning students. Since 2021, the higher education institutions also have a clearer mission through the Higher Education Act to promote lifelong learning. Earlier this year, the higher education institutions were instructed to start shine through its educational offering for lifelong learning and change. However, increased funds for these have not been added, which means that the universities must meet the need for lifelong learning courses without a negative impact on the rest of the offer, which in practice can result in fewer courses for youth students.
SFS sees positively that more groups are given the opportunity to study. At the same time, it is important that the policy protects the autonomy of higher education institutions and the opportunity for students to freely seek education for various purposes, both to strengthen their position on the labor market, for education, personal development and other engagements in society. In the end, it must be curiosity and the thirst for knowledge that guides academic activity. Then the political control cannot be too extensive. We believe that the new government parties also realize that. We look forward to a continued dialogue with both politicians and educational institutions about how the transition task should be developed in a responsible manner during the mandate period.
Collaborative project Health and medical care
Another collaborative project is the Health Service. Several reforms are proposed which partly affect students as individuals and partly affect students who are studying. It is established that the working environment is a challenge which needs to be secured. The supply of skills is another crucial issue where it needs to become attractive to stay in the health care after completing the degree.
The parties promise a broad reform to improve student health in schools and upper secondary schools. In parallel with this, we hope that the government will support the universities' student health care, not least by extending the mission to develop a joint web portal for student healthcare which ends in 2023. The mission of the Student Health Service needs to become clearer for many students and the equivalence between different universities needs to increase.
Furthermore, it is stated that work to strengthen mental health and suicide prevention must be prioritized as part of public health work, not least for young people. A national strategy for mental health and suicide prevention must be drawn up, and a national research program in the field must also be established. Students suffer to a greater extent than others from mental illness and the proposal for further investigation, coordination and introduction of a national coordinator is welcome.
In conclusion, it is positive that the investigations should be carried out in close cooperation with, among other things, representatives of the professions and the academy, this includes the students. Increased funds for research into women's diseases and health are announced and should therefore be included in the next research proposal.
Collaborative project Climate and energy
Within the collaborative project Climate and energy, there are proposals for nuclear power, wind power, solar energy, but also energy efficiency. It is stated that the conditions for investments in nuclear power must be strengthened through special government credit guarantees. It is important to consider the supply of skills and to ensure that education required for the sector is expanded.
Furthermore, it is stated that Sweden's climate and environmental policy must be ambitious and that the joint climate and environmental policy must strive to find the most cost-effective measures. At the same time, they must not damage businesses and the countryside. The global perspective is emphasized and that Sweden's emissions must be seen in relation to those of the rest of the world. A research-based approach is emphasized and that policy should be based on facts.
Collaborative project Crime
The parties propose, as part of the cooperation project Crime, that the sociologist education should be reformed. 'Criminality among young people' is introduced as a compulsory educational component. This may mean, among other things, that another degree objective is introduced. In addition, there must be an opportunity to specialize in youth crime within the education. What this means is currently unclear to us. In conclusion, special research funds must be allocated to the area of social interventions against young people in crime, which should be found in the next research proposal.
Remaining questions
The parties have still not announced how the ministerial positions will be distributed. For the student movement, it is of course particularly interesting who will be the minister for higher education and research, issues which in the outgoing government have been handled by the minister of education. Here, it is possible that one minister will be given responsibility for all educational issues, from pre-school to postgraduate education, or that the responsibility will be divided between two or more ministers, as is the case today. One guess is that the Liberals will want to be responsible for the government's school policy. If several ministers are appointed in the field of education, it is not strictly necessary that they all have the same party affiliation.
Another question that SFS recently reminded the government-forming parties about the Social Democrats' proposal to raise the interest rate on student funds. The interest rate increase on existing and future student loans was launched as a way of part-funding the new transition student aid, but most have pointed out the unreasonableness of allowing former students to finance the education of future students. Several of those now forming the government have criticized the proposal. However, the issue is not addressed in the Tidö Agreement. Hopefully it will look different in three weeks when the parties will present the next budget proposal.
A third area that we lack relates to housing and students' housing costs. The student housing shortage is a serious social problem. The Tidö agreement contains no proposals on how housing construction can be kept up, something that is particularly worrying when the recession leads to many construction projects not being completed. For many students, high rents also mean that the student funds are not enough. The moderates have previously put forward proposals about extra student loans for students with high housing costs but this is not included before the formation of the government. It is not without reason that we wonder which of the parties have opposed the proposal.