[The term inclusion in education is used all the time. Some are for inclusion, some are against it. Let\’s look at inclusion from a financial perspective.
The Ministry of Education is preparing a new amendment to the decree on common education for children, which should save funds for the support of disabled children, especially teaching assistants.
– According to a recent analysis by the Ministry of Education, teaching assistants accounted for 7.2% of the support provided last year, at a cost of SEK 1.35 billion.
– The total cost of support for children\’s co-education amounted to approximately SEK 2.07 billion
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– The ministry is therefore proposing to change the calculation of the money that schools receive for the assistance.
– Currently, the amount that schools pay to assistants is less than the amount sent by the government. The remaining amount is supposed to be used by the school to compensate other staff members.
– The proposed amendment provides for the classification of assistants into two groups according to the type of support provided.
– The ministry wants to calculate the amount to be paid on the basis of a level 4-8 for more qualified assistants and a level 4-5 for assistants who provide simpler support.
– According to the table in force since November, this means SEK 21 920 and SEK 15 760, respectively.
– Last year the average monthly salary for teaching assistants was approximately SEK 18 250.
– Teaching assistants\’ salaries should be adjusted to the actual length of the teaching assistants\’ working hours according to the educational needs of the individual students.
– In the future, assistantships would not only be calculated in quarter increments, but there would be ten variations ranging from .15 to full time.
– Last September, the authorities estimated a subsidy expenditure of SEK 410 million for the rest of 2016 and SEK 1 billion for this year. In reality, however, the country paid SEK 589 million last year and about SEK 1.5 billion for the first half of this year for inclusions.
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The office calculates that the revised decree will save approximately SEK 1.08 billion in the next fiscal year. Teaching assistants are the most expensive part of inclusion.