'Make secondary education mandatory'
Published: 30 Jan 13 07:15 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/45892/20130130/
Children in Sweden should be required to attend school until they are 18-years-old to ensure they are prepared to enter the labour market, Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven proposed on Wednesday.
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Today, completing secondary education (gymnasiet) is a precondition for young people to compete in the labour market, they write.
However, the current centre-right Alliance government of Fredrik Reinfeldt has consistently forgone investments in education and made large cuts to Sweden's secondary education system, Löfven and Baylan claim.
In 2012, 675 million kronor ($106 million) in secondary education spending was cut, with a further 1.36 billion kronor planned in 2014.
"For the first time in our history, Sweden has a government that is lowering ambitions for the education of the next generation," they write.
Making secondary school mandatory is an "ambitious but realistic" step, they argue, adding that any final proposal would include exceptions to the requirement for students with good reason to leave school early.
The Social Democrats also want to see more pathways for students to complete a secondary school degree, including allowing students to combine practical work experience with their studies.
In addition, vocational training programmes ought to be revised to ensure they better align with their respective industry sectors.
"This reform is going to require resources. But the costs of letting young people end up outside the labour force are significantly higher," write Löfven and Baylan.
The new school requirement proposal will be presented at the Social Democrats' party congress in April.
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Personal experience has shown me that its all well and good going to gymnasia, but if you may spend 1-3 hours there a day and have a poor teacher, or a lack of teacher who can stand in at a moments notice, its the students education that is lacking and many are just happy to skip and only do what is necessary, not work above and beyond the expectations that are put on them.
To make students be able to compete in the labour market, they need to learn common sense and be more than just a Swedish citizen, they need to be people of the world as such a large market is international, and allow them to have the tools to live and work outside of Sweden efficiently. However Swedish mentality as I see it, stop this development from happening, in the home, schools and within the culture.
What was is? something like the largest percent of people, i think 16% as i last read it (immigrants)coming to live in Sweden, just happen to be Swedish who have lived outside the country. Many I would argue don't have the skills or compatibility to live elsewhere, they feel more secure and safe in Sweden. I wouldnt say adaptability is a swedish persons strength, and this is something that does need to be taught in schools more.