The Sportbladet survey found widespread problems with the country’s ice hockey high schools.
Already in 2020, government investigators wanted to scrap all NIU education subjects.
But when it came to her, the government stopped the investigation.
A Sportbladet review of NIU’s education in ice hockey showed widespread problems. Everything has been revealed from clubs demanding payment from students who don’t want to lose while expelling those who are no longer desirable to categorization of cheating, unfairness, confusion of club and school sports, and bizarre admissions.
In July 2020, the Ministry of Education’s investigation into physical education at the secondary level was presented. Previous criticisms have related to the increased costs to municipalities, the lack of clarity regarding sports movement and school responsibilities, the difficulty in recruiting qualified teachers, and the fact that elite sports and studies cannot be combined in an effective manner today.
In the memo, a fundamental reform and downgrading of the current system was proposed. Above all, investigators have pointed to problems with the so-called NIU courses.
The number of students increased from 10 to 7800
Today there are two levels of physical education. Riksidrottsgymnasium (RIG) with national intake and Nationally Accredited Sports Education (NIU) with regional intake.
The idea with the National Sports High Schools – when they emerged in the mid-1990s – was that they would only exist in specific sports where joint training was required and Sweden as a country was willing to make a private investment.
In 2011, it was supplemented by NIU training courses, which will then be organized only in a few places in the country. No one expected the explosion that would follow.
Of the ten students in 2012, 7,800 were suddenly tutored at NIU in 2019/20.
In the memo, a fundamental reform and downgrading of the current system was proposed. Above all, investigators have pointed to problems with the so-called NIU courses.
Today there are two levels of physical education. Riksidrottsgymnasium (RIG) with national intake and Nationally Accredited Sports Education (NIU) with regional intake.
The idea with the National Sports High Schools – when they emerged in the mid-1990s – was that they would only exist in specific sports where joint training was required and Sweden as a country was willing to make a private investment.
In 2011, it was supplemented by NIU training courses, which will then be organized only in a few places in the country. No one expected the explosion that would follow.
Of the ten students in 2012, 7,800 were suddenly tutored at NIU in 2019/20.
One reason is that major collegiate football and ice hockey are only held as NIU tournaments is for the reason that youngsters must remain in their local or regional association. But on investigation it was found that it still happens that even NIU courses receive students from all over the country.
Of the boys who started the Lakesand Hockey Hall this year, eight out of ten came from the Stockholm region. Only two Dalarna were captured.
HV71 in turn brought players from Croatia and Swiss Rogel.
If the goal of education is to produce professional ice hockey players, the numbers are also bleak.
14 out of 120 have become a professional
Björklöven calculated that 14 of the 120 players coached since 2011 reached the top elite (SHL, Hockeyallsvenskan or SDHL). This corresponds to twelve percent of the students.
At Lulea, 37 players have reached the top elite since 2011 (equivalent to four players per group).
Investigators pointed to many problems with education and violent expansion.
Among other things, difficulties in identifying talent were noted and it was also questioned whether officials had made similar assessments. The investigators also found that students who could not be described as elite were nonetheless accepted into the courses.
There has also been criticism from the School Inspection Department against the fact that curricula for the subject of special sports are not clear. At the same time, the researchers testified that it was sports that set the agenda and that school-regulating documents played a secondary role.
In the investigation, the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation and the Swedish Football Association argued that in the future they would have their own form of education called “elite team football”. However, this was not paid attention to by the investigator, who instead put forward the view that the NIU should be abolished entirely and that only one form of education should remain with the national intake.
In order to implement secondary education in sports, there was a requirement that there must be a “national interest in education to meet the requirements of elite sports and the need for students to be able to combine secondary education with elite sports”.
In order to conduct NIU education today, only “a clear, elite sports figure and solid cooperation with a special education-related sports federation” is required.
A special sports federation is the collective name for each sports federation associated with a particular sport. Such as the Football Association, the Ice Hockey Association or the Handball Association.
He’s about to cut the number of students in half
The investigation also shows that today it is somewhat up to the private sports federations to approve or reject the new NIU education. This is because the Swedish National Education Agency does not in practice test the suitability, but only decides on the recommendations of the association.
“Instead, any organization with a national sports perspective should comment and submit proposals for where high school sports training should be with special sports and how many students should be allowed to participate in them. Such a measure ensures transparency,” the memo said. equality and clarity.
There it was also suggested that the Swedish National Agency for Education make an assessment on whether or not the application will be approved, how many places there should be and where they should be located.
“The number of students then does not risk expanding the way it has in terms of nationally accredited sports education.”
It was proposed that the costs of education be shared between the state and municipalities, and that the expenses of the equipment should be borne by the student himself.
The result, according to the investigators, was that the number of students in physical education would drop from 9,000 to 5,000-6,000. This means a saving of SEK 90 million for the municipalities, and a cost increase of SEK 75 million for the state.
The investigators wanted the proposed changes to the law to take effect as early as January 1, 2022, in order to “address as quickly as possible a number of issues that exist under the current system.”
The last students at NIU will then be accepted into their studies in Fall 2023.
But after the memorandum was finalized, the National Sports Federation was informed in September 2021 by Secretary of State to Education Minister Anna Ekström that it would not be presented to Parliament.
When Sportbladet asked the outgoing government for comment in September, then-education minister’s press secretary Lena Axelsson Kilbom responded two days after Election Day:
“The issue of physical education prerequisites is important to the government and the proposal is being prepared within the government office.”
Sportbladet is looking for Sweden’s new education minister, Lotta Edholm, for an answer to what the new government intends.
