Inger Enkvist: Regeringens skolreformer räcker inte

Inger Enqvist professor at Merita The government has changed the rules for schools School libraries need to be staffed and language requirements must be introduced for the staff What do you think of the new rules Yes I really do Both pros and cons There are good reforms there are also those that are both good and bad But then many reforms are missing that we should have made It is naturally good that the government makes a comprehensive overview when people generally speak about it About what they have accomplished and what they propose in politics It has taken a long time almost three years have passed There have been investigations and decisions but we have not seen any workshop yet It is naturally good to get this overview Screen-free kindergartens will be introduced All preschools should be screen-free Public schools also have elite high schools with national admissions And the grading system is being changed What do you think of these proposals or these rule changes First this issue of screen bans in kindergartens It is one of the proposals that I really support I think that's absolutely excellent It's not controversial it's the vast majority of people working in this area She is strongly in favor of this decision so it's very good It's good that they are changing the grading system I also think that's good The only thing is that it's strange to talk about the grading system Before one has properly changed the curriculum It is logical to first change the curriculum Then they change the teacher training and then they change the grading system So it's coming in the wrong order It's good that we take a look at the grading system As you said in the beginning here the requirements for Swedish language skills should be raised For employees in the preschool It is also good We are just waiting to see how it can be implemented It is not entirely clear how they will be able to carry this out because there is a shortage of staff in the preschool So it's not so easy to see how it will go Keeping the elite high schools and making this solution more permanent If they are really investing in truly talented students in high school how important is that It is better to do it than to do nothing at all But what I think is wrong is that they should reconsider the primary school The border will be reformed Now we will have the same primary school for all from 6 to 16 years old It means that many people have the capacity to do something more They move forward at a very slow pace through the upper secondary school It's better than nothing but it would better if one could start To raise the pace for those who want and can already in high school Then this opportunity would exist throughout the country as a normal thing There are now special programs so-called specialized education in certain cities and in certain subjects It's hard if you don't live there Maybe you should skip that opportunity There is one important thing that is not mentioned then To be interested in being able to take an advanced training It is important to not overexert yourself as the lower and middle grades lay the foundation for studies If you are used to studying and setting goals for yourself and reaching further then it is natural to take another step If you have the capacity and the desire But if you spend all your years in the lower and middle levels and waiting in the middle school for other students to want to sit still and listen and so on Then it's possible that when you are 16 years old and starting high school you no longer feel like making this effort You might also feel that you don't have a proper foundation in the subject So it's a half-hearted effort It's good that they are doing it but unfortunately I think they should have made a different reform This package also includes training for principals specifically and for teachers and it needs to be revised How do you see it I have the same answer here It's both good and bad It's good that they are doing something but it's completely insufficient In terms of what should be done It is tragicomical if you will It is clear that we need better education for these categories The teacher training has been reviewed and some tightening will take place but they are trivial If I mention one of them People who are to become preschool staff In the Swedish language they should no longer have an E but should have a D It's only the Swedish language and only for preschool staff Not all teachers would have it Not just C but also D They are either B or A They are role models They are supposed to teach others So the requirement that a person can speak the language they are going to teach should be higher So it's not wrong for the government to tighten things up It's just that the improvement is so insignificant compared to the needs we have in society It is also important to have principal training Therefore we need to recruit completely different people They need more opportunities to lead the school than they have today That way they have been given certain increased opportunities Instead of being able to suspend a student for a week you end up having to suspend them for two weeks If this is a criminal student who threatens everyone then maybe the proposal of a two-week suspension is insufficient It's not a bad proposal It's just that they are completely inadequate compared to the situation we are in As you say many schools especially in big cities are plagued by crime Gangs divide the schools among themselves Students make school choices based on peer groups How do you get out of this It would have been easier to prevent But now we are there It is of course extremely difficult But one thing one should start with It is to protect students who do not belong to any gang They should be protected Parents and students should know that sending the child to school ensures the student's physical safety Also mental safety That one is not subjected to any form of bullying That is not the case today Then one must move students who threaten other students and who now also threaten teachers as we know It must not occur Their rights are now protected more than other students' rights This must be handled in turn Everyone has been scared of this People don't like to believe that students threaten others But we know they do So we can take turns with it But it requires political will And it requires stronger decisions and those that this government has proposed so far The school system and schools in Sweden face completely different problems than they did 20 years ago The level of trust has declined We have a lot of crime At the same time we are a knowledge -dependent nation in Sweden We rely on high-tech exports and innovation What should be prioritized Do you see any area where the government is taking sufficient measures It's hard to say We are dependent on this We also have a history as an engineering nation It went so well for us at the beginning of the 1900s partly because we had at that time A very adequate engineering education Now it is more temporary who can obtain an education We know that some people get training on their own through the internet or in all sorts of ways It has gone surprisingly well for us in terms of digitalization the music and the gaming industry Companies have been started that are based on digitalization But it is not so much dependent on what was taught in school It has happened in parallel There are other things in society that have allowed this I think we need to re-examine the school in two ways First we need more order in the school Society does not function otherwise We need a sense of belonging in society We need to let those who want to and are able to make a greater effort do so It's unthinkable that equality would last until we are 16 years old so that everyone would sit in the same class and do the same thing That time is gone I think for both of these reasons At the same time we shouldn't have gangs and social fragmentation We need high capacity in several subjects Both things benefit from introducing a more rational school The Liberals and the government as a whole have been talking about this for a long time That there should be a more evidence-based education Scientifically grounded in pedagogy and what is taught Do you see it beginning to be implemented No unfortunately I mean that this is mostly talk for the galleries Or as one now says it's rhetoric It sounds really good to say it But there's not much of that in reality Then one would have to take a tour of the curriculum with teacher training There is no evidence that we have schools where gang criminals are allowed Reporting the tone or threatening teachers There is absolutely no evidence for that Evidence if we look at PISA and other data shows that school systems maintain order Those who have well-trained teachers do better But it's better for them not only in comparisons and knowledge but also economically And I would also add here socially it would be very good for Sweden No unfortunately it's good that they say it And that's a good direction But that's not what we see What is not addressed here is the size of the teaching groups How important is that for education It is a well-known dispute in education And that is why it depends on so many other factors If you have good organization and you have students who want to learn then you can have a much larger group and the results will be very good Men if you have very soft rules If you don't really have a need for effort If you don't have a final exam If you can still continue next year Then you need to have as small groups as possible That's why you must constantly convince or persuade the students So that they will work a little So that you achieve better study results You get better motivation and you use the money better If you introduce rules that say students must actually make an effort and behave well Then it must be a consequence if you don't do it But that's the consequence thinking where we are a bit afraid a bit ashamed a bit shy We will not let consequences leave any mark This rhetoric that you are saying exists today within the government How long would it take for this cultural change to seep through the school system I think it wouldn't take that many years There is a very well-known investigation by the consulting firm McKinsey that came out 15 years ago There they spoke of 6 years as a completely sufficient period to implement a change right in the atmosphere of a school system I will and direction And then they say that one needs to have a sense of crisis in the country One needs a person who will take charge of this change We need to measure the results so that we can say that we have made better progress in this area Show the public that you have truly improved It is also said that depending on the level the country is at one should do it in a slightly different way They give examples from four different levels School system at a very low level at an average level and at a higher level I have not seen any study that has refuted the results they report there I think 6 years is completely possible 4 years could also work For example in Sweden where we actually have a good school history I think four years would be enough to bring about a significant change It's when we have four-year government terms that you start on the first day One must use all four years available What is the most important missing piece in the government's current proposal It's probably still a school regulation or school order What one is allowed to do and not allowed to do as a student in school That's why there's so much that follows from it If we're talking about evidence I've worked a lot on a study from the US from New York As Thomas Sowell a renowned economist has shown even if you have a mediocre curriculum and a mediocre teacher training you can go incredibly far if you are a student from a family with a low cultural level If you just have order in the class and focus on learning His published book is called Chartered Schools and Their Enemies It shows a way that cannot be argued against How much further you can go with such simple things as having a school orientation at school To put it a bit crudely What does a school orientation at the school mean The teacher compares two groups of students who are identical in all respects To make sure that one group is focused on really learning something Oh well the students have to be there when they're supposed to be One must work one's tasks one must write and so on So even if you don't make any major theoretical reforms but really ensure that time is used well and that everyone works towards the results Students should learn more That way one can achieve extremely far But it's not just about entertainment it's also about being happy that the country is doing well This has a direct impact on students' behavior They do not end up in difficult situations afterward They receive a higher living income and even affect the country's GDP as more and more students do so The impact on social life in the form of families and the workforce If you liked this you are welcome to subscribe to our newspaper You will now receive the magazine delivered to your mailbox and unlimited web access for just 49 kronor the first month