Formally ready today: Växjö's adult education under its own auspices is closed

When Växjö's municipal adult education was reorganized in 2017, all private education companies that met certain criteria were given the right to carry out adult education and SFI, Swedish for immigrants, in the municipality. The municipality's own activities have always remained as one of the alternatives that the students were able to choose. But now it must be closed down.

- We are facing a tough situation with rising unemployment and we need all the resources we can get to invest in educational places and we can not be burdened by a deficit, says Oliver Rosengren (M), chairman of the Committee for Work and Welfare, to SVT news Småland.

But the Social Democrats in the committee believe that the municipality's own activities have not been given the opportunity to compete with the private actors on equal terms. Their main criticism concerns differences in the number of qualified teachers.

Of the teachers who are currently working with adult education under the municipality's own auspices, all are qualified. According to Thomas Thornell (S), who is the second vice chairman of the boards, the company that now takes over the municipality's courses has only about 50 percent qualified teachers.

- It is really what hurts me the most, that you tear up a business that is working. In the name of justice, it should be said that there are private actors who also have one hundred percent qualified teachers, but there is generally a lower proportion of qualified teachers among the private actors than among the municipality's own, says Thomas Thornell.

But Oliver Rosengren believes that overall there is no shortage of qualified teachers in Växjö's adult education.

- Of all teachers in the entire adult education, 136 out of 181, ie 75 percent, are qualified.

But would it not be good to make demands on the training companies that they must employ qualified teachers in order for them to be allowed to carry out training for the municipality?

- But it is already regulated in the law, which states that qualified teachers must be employed if possible. There is nothing that Växjö municipality can influence, says Oliver Rosengren.

But according to Thomas Thornell, there are companies that conduct education for the municipality that do not have a single qualified teacher.

- A company had zero qualified teachers a year and then a year later they still had none. A serious company should be able to find qualified teachers, he says to SVT Nyheter Småland.