– This investigation is a first step in a long process, solid investigations will be required if you want to move forward, says investigator Thomas Persson during a press meeting with education minister Lotta Edholm (L).
The investigation focuses on two main alternatives. One is about a “complete nationalization of the public school”, which would mean that the state takes over the management and leadership of public schools. According to the investigation, this would take twenty years to implement.
– If such a change is to be made, roughly 200 billion will need to be transferred from the municipal sector to the state sector. It is a very big reform.
The second alternative involves the state strengthening its responsibility – but without taking over the leadership from the municipalities. The investigators identify three parts: Financing, competence development and capacity-building support. According to the investigator, this could take ten years to complete.
– Both options are big and complex changes. There are so many people and many organizational units involved.
“Can’t wait 20 years”
The teachers’ union thinks that the time frame of 20 years for a total nationalization of the school is far too slow, writes TT.
– We mean that the equivalence problem that Swedish schools are involved in today, it cannot wait for 20 years. Therefore, it is good if we can get a political consensus on a state’s main responsibility for the financing as a first step, says the chairman Johanna Jaara Åstrand.
The teachers’ union wants to see a long-term agreement on the management of Swedish schools. However, the trade union believes that principalship and employership do not need to be equated.
– It doesn’t have to be the same thing at all. Look at healthcare and public transport. The leadership is the regions, the execution and thus the employer, on the other hand, often lies with external contractors, says Johanna Jaara Åstrand to TT.
Sweden’s municipalities and regions are also critical and believe that it must be clear that a nationalized system produces the results on equality in schools that you want before it is implemented.
– It is important that the government’s governance is clear, long-term, sustainable and predictable. But being national is not synonymous with high quality and equality. Carrying out this without being able to know whether it produces results does not feel justifiable, says Mats Gerdau, chairman of SKR’s preparation for education issues to SVT Nyheter.