Charlotta Friborg: How the school group tried not to answer SVT Nyheter's questions

Nils Pihlsgård is acting principal at Thoren Business School in Växjö. He participated in an interview for SVT Småland because his school had been criticized by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.

When the team wanted to ask one last question, a communicator on site called the principal, who went away and took a phone call. He then returned with the message that he had been ordered that he absolutely not be allowed to talk to SVT's journalists.

He then asks SVT's journalists to leave the school. All this can be seen in our reportage.

Speaks for the Group's attitude

The interrupted interview is indicative of the Thoren Group's attitude towards journalists and the review that SVT News has done and which points to serious and recurring shortcomings in the business.

On Thursday 11 May, we requested in a telephone conversation with the Head of Communications of the Thoren Group an interview with the company's owner Raja Thoren, or another person in the company management. On Saturday, May 13, we received a text message from the Head of Communications that it will be the company's CEO, Ola Rönnqvist, who will take the interview and that it cannot take place in a regular interview situation but digitally. The interview will take place on the afternoon of 16 May.

Setting up at the last moment

After several requests for information about the time of the interview, the Thoren Group announced on May 16 that there will be no interview during the afternoon.

Instead, the company refers to the following written comment:

Recently, there has been criticism of some of the Thoren Group's schools. We take the criticism very seriously and we are currently working with full force to address the problems. Our mission is to create conditions for promoting the development and learning of children and pupils. We have only succeeded when all children and students are fully given this opportunity.

In addition to the specific measures, long-term work is therefore underway throughout the organization to identify areas for improvement of a systematic nature. This is to prevent similar problems from occurring again. This is especially important as the Thoren Group has had challenges in the past. The first step is to map and analyze the business based on a number of parameters. The second step is to take measures based on the analysis to strengthen our systematic quality work.

In order to fully focus on this, we are currently refraining from interviews, although we understand that there is a legitimate interest. We need to devote all resources and energy to our schools. We hope you understand that.

Sincerely,

Christine Rosencrantz

Head of Communications Thorengruppen

New interview offer

On Thursday, May 25, four days before publication, we sent an email with an explanation of what the publications contain, and a new offer for interview:

Hello!

We will publish the reports about the Thoren Group starting Monday.

I know that you declined, but would like to offer you an opportunity to still conduct an interview, based on what we will eventually tell in the report.

In addition to the examples Yrkesgymnasiet in Stockholm/Skarpnäck, where we highlight criticism from a former student and from the Swedish Schools Inspectorate in 2011, 2015 and 2019, and have included the current principal and a satisfied school student, and Thoren Business School in Växjö as examples of the current serious supervisory cases, we have reviewed and analyzed the Swedish Schools Inspectorate's supervisory reports at the Group's upper secondary schools since 2010.

It shows a large number of injunctions, sometimes with the threat of fines.

When we look specifically at injunctions that deal with various ways of not providing the education to which students are entitled, we have found that it has occurred in 23 of the Group's secondary schools since 2010.

The Swedish Schools Inspectorate says in the report that it is distressing and sad that there is such a large activity where students do not get what they are entitled to.

We tell you that the Thoren Group has simultaneously made profits of SEK 944 million over the past ten years and that the owner Raja Thoren has paid a dividend of SEK 81 million.

We will also publish testimonies that the company instructs teachers on what to say when the Swedish Schools Inspectorate comes for a supervisory visit.

Due to the Tidö agreement's wording that school vouchers can be claimed back if it has been shown to be used for other than school activities, and the Minister for Education's criticism of this with regard to other groups, we also publish a feature about the construction of Thoren Arena and that there have been group contributions from Thorengruppen with the school activities, to Thoren Arena AB. No comment from the Minister for Education on your case with the arena planned at present.

Is there any of this you would like to answer questions about/answer in an interview?

Interview bits need to be cut in Friday afternoon, so we would have to conduct the interview this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Sincerely

Kristina Lagerström

Hassles around Morgonstudion

When we did not receive a response to the email above on Thursday, we contacted the communications manager who informed us that the company continued to decline an interview and still wanted to refer to the written comment she had sent earlier.

On Friday afternoon, SVT's Morgonstudion offered Thorengruppen's CEO participation in a live broadcast Monday morning. The company accepted this. But since SVT did not publish the entire review and thus could not ask questions in Morgonstudion about all parts of the review, we wanted to do a taped interview after participation in Morgonstudion. There, we were able to offer the CEO the opportunity to respond to future publications.

But the trouble continued and the CEO, backed by the head of communications, refused to answer questions outside the studio. The communications manager referred to an "agreement" with SVT that there would be no interview after the studio performance. SVT's editorial staff do not enter into any agreement that interviewees should avoid questions. The head of communications could also not answer who on SVT this deal would be made with.

Should be obvious to answer

It is remarkable that a school group that has received so many serious remarks tries to wriggle out of answering questions. After all, these are young people who suffer from substandard education and a company that receives taxpayers' money. Answering legitimate questions from journalists should be self-evident for a company with an important social mission.