2025
A ten-year primary school
The bill contains proposals for amendments to the Education Act aimed at a stronger knowledge school that entail the following:
- Primary school will be expanded to ten years by ending the preschool class as a school type and replacing it with a new first year in primary school.
- The adapted primary school, special school and Sami school will also be expanded with a new first year, so that the adapted primary school will be ten years, the special school eleven years and the Sami school seven years.
- The new first year means that the primary school will be extended by one year in primary school, the adapted primary school, special school and Sami school and that the guaranteed teaching time will be increased by 534 hours per school type.
- The regulations that apply to the different school types in general will also apply to the new first year, although the education for the students should be adapted to their age.
- Such information about a child shall be submitted as is necessary to facilitate the child's transition, prior to or in connection with the child's transition from preschool or from educational care to compulsory school, adapted compulsory school, special school or Sami school.
- Necessary consequential amendments are made to the Education Act as well as to several other acts.
The amendments to the Education Act are proposed to enter into force on 1 July 2026 and are applied for the first time in relation to education and other activities conducted after 30 June 2028. Other amendments to the law are proposed to enter into force on 1 July 2028.
Grading reform
From 1 July 2025, course grades will be replaced by subject grades in upper secondary school, upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities, municipal adult education at upper secondary level and municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities. The new subject plans will be designed as coherent subjects with levels instead of courses. A subject can have one or more levels. Students will have more time to delve into a subject before the final grade is set. Teachers will have better opportunities to conduct teaching in the long term and from a holistic perspective. Subject grades will better reflect what the person who received a grade actually knows at the end of their studies in the subject. The new rules on subject grades mean that a passing grade at a higher level in a subject replaces the grades that the student has received at lower levels in the same subject. New examination objectives, program objectives and program structures will also come into effect.
Proposal for a mobile phone ban throughout the school day
Swedish students are more distracted by digital tools than the OECD average, and one in four students cannot read or count properly. In addition, there is clear research support that mobile phones can negatively affect students' concentration and learning opportunities. Therefore, an investigator was assigned in the fall of 2024 to help the Ministry of Education develop proposals for how rules for a mobile phone ban during the entire school day can be designed.
The investigator proposes, among other things:
- A national mobile phone ban during school hours in compulsory school types and leisure-time centers
- That it should be mandatory to collect students' mobile phones throughout the school day.
The investigator has also found that a mobile phone ban can, among other things, have major positive effects on both safety and study peace at school, that it reduces the risk of harassment on social media during the school day, and that it can help increase physical activity during the school day.
The investigator proposes that the legal amendments should enter into force on July 1, 2026. The proposals will now be further prepared in the Government Offices.
2024
Improved student health
Today's student health is not enough. Relevant support efforts are often introduced far too late and access to today's student health is often deficient and varies greatly between schools. Therefore, the government is now appointing a new investigation that will be tasked with developing proposals that will strengthen student health and the school's support efforts.
A special investigator is set to analyze and propose how student health can be strengthened in order to better meet the students' needs. The regulations on support measures in schools must also be reviewed. It must, among other things, become easier to place students in smaller and flexible teaching groups.
The assignment will be reported by March 7, 2025 at the latest.
The investigator shall, among other things,
- analyze and take a position on what the mission and purpose of student health should be,
- suggest how student health's medical, psychological and psychosocial interventions can be strengthened,
- analyze and take a position on the appropriateness of the design of student health's current leadership and management,
- analyze and decide on alternative principals,
- propose a student health guarantee with the goal of achieving appropriate deadlines for receiving support and help from student health,
- analyze and propose how cooperation between student health, the school in general, health care and social services can be improved,
- propose how the work with support and special support can be improved and made more efficient, and
- submit the necessary legislative proposals.
For more information (in Swedish) and even more
A national study on anti-Semitism in the school system
Anti-Semitism is a growing problem in society which, among other things, affects children and young people. The Government commissions the Swedish National Agency for Education to carry out a national study on anti-Semitism in the school system in order to identify which problems and needs exist.
The Government commissions the Swedish National Agency for Education to carry out a national study on anti-Semitism with the aim of investigating children's, pupils' and staff's experiences of contemporary anti-Semitic expressions, incidents and attitudes in the school system. The assignment also includes that the authority must describe how the school system works to counter anti-Semitism. The Swedish National Agency for Education must also provide examples of initiatives that contribute or have contributed to countering anti-Semitism in the school system. The assignment is to be partially reported no later than December 2, 2024, and a final report will be submitted no later than December 1, 2025.
For more information (in Swedish)
The Swedish National Agency for Education is tasked with surveying student absence
Student absenteeism is a big problem in schools today. At the same time, knowledge of the extent of absence is insufficient. The Government therefore commissions the Swedish National Agency for Education to survey student absenteeism.
In November, the Government set up an inquiry which will come up with proposals for permanently improved safety and study tranquility at school. The inquiry's mandate includes submitting proposals for a national absence register. The government is already giving the National Board of Education the task of surveying student absences in the compulsory school forms.
The assignment will be reported to the Ministry of Education by 20 December 2024 at the latest.
For more information (in Swedish)
2023
School social teams to reduce long-term absence from school
Pupils with a high absence from school may find it difficult to meet the goals in education and thus run a greater risk of ending up in exclusion. In order to improve safety and study tranquility at school and to increase students' attendance at school, the government invests in school social teams.
School social teams are a way for the school and social services to work together to strengthen the conditions for students to achieve the goals of education, create a calm and safe school environment and to increase student attendance at school. The government is introducing a new state grant to school principals for personnel costs in school social teams. The government also gives a joint task to the National Board of Education and the National Board of Health and Welfare to support school principals and social services when it comes to setting up and organizing their school social teams. The assignment also includes evaluating the effects of the investment.
For more information (in Swedish)
The government appoints an investigation to stop grade inflation
Today, there are major problems with unequal grading in Swedish schools. The government is therefore setting up an investigation to look at how the grading system can be changed so that grading becomes more equal and legally secure.
The investigation must analyze and propose changes to the grading system and the merit evaluation system. The investigator will, among other things
• analyze the pros and cons of the system for grading and merit evaluation in the Swedish school system in relation to other countries' systems
• submit a main proposal, as well as an alternative proposal for a system change which means that results on national exams, degree exams, or the like, can be used to increase the equivalence of grades or merit values
• submit proposals on how grade inflation and lack of equivalence in grading can be countered even in subjects that do not have national exams.
The assignment will be reported no later than February 21, 2025.
For more information (in Swedish)
Proposal to move from municipal to state ownership
On December 22, 2020, the government decided on a committee directive on the conditions for state leadership of the school (dir. 2020:140). According to the directives, a special investigator must produce a decision-making basis that can create the conditions for state leadership for all forms of schooling except preschool and municipal adult education (komvux).
The government later assessed that there might also be other alternatives than the state becoming the owner of the schools, which strengthen the state's responsibility for the school system. The investigator was therefore made free to also present other alternatives than a state ownership.
The investigator presentated the following two options in November 2022.
Option 1 – a complete nationalization with state ownership of the schools
In this first alternative, the state has both system responsibility and owner responsibility. System responsibility includes both public schools and komvux as well as independent schools. This means, among other things, that the state takes over the municipalities' responsibility for the distribution of financial resources to the school.
Option 2 – a system where the state strengthens its responsibility but without taking over the ownership of the schools
In this second alternative, the municipalities still have the owner responsibility for the municipal schools and komvux. Independent schools still have individual owners and there is no change compared to today in terms of management and operational responsibility as well as the employer's responsibility for these.
In the same way as in the alternative of a complete nationalization, the state has system responsibility both for municipal schools and komvux as well as for independent schools. On the other hand, the system responsibility may look a little different in comparison to the complete nationalization, because it needs to be adapted to the fact that there are more owners in this option. There will also be a difference in the responsibility for resource distribution where the municipalities retain a certain amount of responsibility to varying degrees, based on the variants outlined by the investigation.
The proposal of the investigation (in Swedish)
Digitization and a new emphasis on physical textbooks
In December 2022, the Swedish National Agency for Education submitted its proposal for a national digitization strategy for the school system 2023–2027 to the Government Office. The proposal is now sent on a referral. This particularly applies to views related to how children's and students' cognitive development, health and well-being are affected by their use of digital learning resources in teaching.
It seems as digitization in preschools and schools has sometimes been rushed. This is shown not least by the fact that some municipalities have considered that textbooks, paper and pencils no longer are needed. All digitization must take place in a well-thought-out way and build on research and proven experience.
On 2 March 2023, the government decided on a regulation that makes it possible for municipalities to apply for state grants to buy learning materials for the pre-school class, the compulsory school, the special school and the Sami school. The government grant can be used for textbooks. It can be textbooks with or without digital components that are designed to be used in teaching.
The Government invests in emergency schools and increased access to special teachers
The Government has decided on a new state subsidy regulation. Grants according to the regulation must go to staff costs for emergency schools, special teachers and student health. The purpose is, among other things, to increase safety and study tranquility in schools and to strengthen the work with support and adaptations so that more students reach the educational goals. In total, the investments include SEK 535.5 million for 2023.
In order to deal with students who disrupt teaching or threaten other students and teachers, the government is now implementing an initiative to enable municipalities to set up emergency schools, where students can be placed temporarily according to the provisions of the Education Act. The emergency schools thus contribute to securing the continuity of education for all students.
In order to strengthen the schools' work with support and adaptations so that more students will have access to effective support efforts at the right time. Investments are also being made to increase access to special teachers in schools and strengthen the opportunity for municipalities to set up special teaching groups. In order to increase the number of special teachers in the school system, SEK 200 million has also been set aside so that more people can train as special teachers.
The regulation enters into force and will be applied on 12 April 2023.