Inger Enkvist: Reformerna går åt rätt håll – men löser inte skolans huvudproblem

The government has presented a parliamentary proposal outlining several changes it wishes to implement in the school system What do you think about these changes We've seen them announced before when the report was released The gist is essentially the same as what has been said throughout this inquiry We're in the midst of it one could say Several things are heading in the right direction You can't help but feel slightly disappointed by how overly cautious you are when presenting this Now we'll have a expectations document in schools so students can understand what is expected of them How much is expected of parents these days It might not be so bad but one could also expect students to behave in a certain way And yet parents helping out It would be more straightforward clearer There's still a bit of kindness in all this The expectations document arrived instead of a proposal from the Sweden Democrats Some people suggested replacing the behavioral grade with something else What do you think about that It's extremely difficult to know what a behavioral grade would actually mean I find it hard to believe that something as minor as a expectations document could be decisive It's not just those words but specific words that I particularly focus on The word is support It's constantly mentioned—support again and again And it's the school that must provide that support In this case the government has not changed its approach It's not as though the student bears the responsibility and parents are expected to assist the student But it's the school that bears the responsibility The school is the one that must support the student If we're to assist the student early on and so forth We've made a small step in the right direction but barely any progress at all This proposal also includes clearer and stricter disciplinary penalties It is now possible for example to refuse entry to violent students on school grounds Oh that makes it much easier to kick students out of the classroom How effective are these measures and how much more would have been needed Well it's not bad You can't say that We know from many other examples that rules are often introduced but then not upheld And if I take one we’d have school attendance requirements in Sweden But many students are frequently absent for long periods And there are parents who ignore it too So just having a rule doesn't mean it's followed And that's exactly where our problem lies We should have fewer rules but the ones we do have should be strictly followed So these proposals aren't wrong I'd like to see teachers feel confident enough to showcase them The principal supports the teacher who does this And if we now ban a student from attending school—who is going to make sure the student doesn’t enter the school anyway Should we have guards at the doors What's the plan So the idea isn't flawed But until all the details are known And especially before one knows what will happen if this doesn't take place This isn't really a reform though They are discussing with representatives from the teacher unions They see this as an opportunity for teachers Contact the police for help with disruptive students This will be a law that allows people to seek police assistance One aspect of this is the authority of the teacher which has gradually eroded over time Everyone wants greater respect for teachers and more order in classrooms How do we get there You have to start when children are young You can't wait until they're 14 You must begin in elementary school We also need to consider how we admit students to elementary school Previously there was something known as school readiness It's important that students are able to engage with the instruction and that expectations can be clearly set for them It's capable of handling such a wide variety of tasks What wasn't mentioned at any rate during the press briefing The idea is that students with various types of challenges should be integrated Social and behavioral learning challenges This creates a significant disruption in the classroom Often Not in every case but in many These are such excellent proposals being put forward Yet they don't address the major issues that truly matter This is a partial reform It's not bad It's not bad to try to remove phones from classrooms It can only be a good thing But they haven't mentioned iPads or computers yet What's the plan with those It's a good suggestion in the right direction but many significant issues remain unaddressed We don't know how it's going to turn out What we want is to move away from having far too many students in classrooms who require individualized support and that they should be rejected in smaller groups alongside What do you think about that That’s a good idea It's beneficial for the class beneficial for the teacher and beneficial for the students affected as well—if handled properly We've heard plenty of proposals before We want to see how it will actually be carried out in practice It's always good when the government removes what prevents people from organizing small groups We might as well give them the chance to contribute to improvements at the very least I don't believe this is a decisive reform by any means But he can steer the school a bit in the right direction That's my take When aiming to move toward smaller class sizes And if there are more or fewer students per teacher that could mean changes in class sizes What do you think about the costs associated with this Are there any parties willing to invest more money in schools than is being spent today Running numerous types of small groups is extremely expensive We'll have to wait and see what happens What isn't discussed is arranging the large groups in a way that allows for varied pacing within the group You could have large groups a class that moves a bit more slowly someone who walks at a moderate pace and another who goes a little faster It costs significantly less and students perform much better —both the struggling students and those who are more capable Everything is progressing better but it goes against the original idea that everyone should be mixed together This mixture slows down the learning rate That also causes a large part of the problems we're facing now where we can't maintain order We haven't addressed a significant number of truly serious problems in schools The government avoids them Probably because no one dares to do anything about them or it's too big a matter to address Under pressure the government also released figures on how students perceive their school experiences Very few replied that the studio had been there all along Some said it was often but most commonly it was occasionally What does this say about the climate in Swedish classrooms today That's exactly what we all already know First we as newspaper readers know that this is exactly what we've heard discussed This is what children come home from school and talk about But it's not surprising that we have the problems we do All students who have significant difficulty concentrating sitting still and the like should be included in every classroom Now we've created chaos in the classroom There's no need to point fingers and say whose fault it is It's just that the system is such that it's almost impossible to get real calm in the classroom It's a mistake in my view that the government makes here by taking small steps when you don't look at the big rules we should have paid attention to I am confident that the proposals now being presented will lead to something better But not like this so that we clearly state that this year something significant happened and the school changed The screen ban the mobile phone ban in schools will apply to all schools from the autumn term This means no phones allowed during school hours not even during breaks This is a victory for Jacob Forssmed and the Christian Democrats who have championed this issue for a long time What do you think this will result in I believe it's a step in the right direction I know there are certain things that can be done relating to teaching With a phone but I mean the negative consequences are much greater And above all it has to do with attention When students know that a classmate might send a message as they would like to see they make them anxious and cause them to I hope the lesson ends soon so I can look at this message You might also receive offensive messages throughout the day so it's definitely advantageous that we're heading in this direction We should never have let things get this far We should never have allowed phones to be present during classes So it's the same with computers and iPads too then But it would never have been allowed We could have waited on the matter There was never any evidence that their existence was beneficial We brought it in anyway Or rather we let it happen What would you like to see from the government in terms of school policy that you don't currently see I think we need different groups for you to focus on We do have these 25 to 30 percent who despite having graduated from ninth grade still have such weak reading skills They are essentially a kind of modern illiterate That must not happen Then you'll need classes where you can work intensively with those students Then you need first of all for it to be mandatory school attendance The teacher should be able to focus on these students Of course we should expect them to contribute a bit at home too otherwise they won't get far enough here We spend approximately 110 000 per student per year in primary school Often it can be much more demanding when you also need support The adult world invests heavily in students' education Then we must insist that they do their part in this To make something of it That's one thing I'd like to see I believe this idea of integrating students with serious issues needs reevaluation We should review that rule That's why it becomes extremely difficult if not all students in the class can follow a given instruction or rule Then suddenly the teacher would have different rules for different students in the class No that won't work You can't say that everyone except for her and him must follow this rule You can't just leave it like that so we need to review that rule And when we do you'll be able to achieve better results Oh you can also attract skilled teachers to dedicate themselves to this profession Now many people feel it's no longer quite meaningful to be a teacher If you're in a classroom where there's no order you won't get results Being a teacher isn't fun either It's not enjoyable at all