ALPHA. Demokratiskolan.se is a PROTOTYPE · Content review in progress
Demokratiskolan
The Youth & kids card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 118 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaPeople & belonging
  • Centre of gravityThe municipality
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionKommunvalet
People & belonging

Youth & kids

Upbringing, spare time & school

Children cannot vote, but almost everything the public sector does concerns them: the school, the youth centre, child psychiatry and social services. Since 2020 the Convention on the Rights of the Child is Swedish law, which means that the best interests of the child must be weighed into all decisions that concern children. The municipality has the most power over young people's everyday lives.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · school, leisure & social services · approx 45 %
  • Region · child psychiatry & youth clinics · approx 15 %
  • State · child convention & education act · approx 35 %
  • EU · youth programmes & exchanges · approx 5 %

The centre of gravity lies with the municipality (kommun): school, leisure and social services. The municipal election decides the most about children's and young people's everyday lives, even though they cannot vote in it themselves.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe everyday of growing up · centre of gravity
The regionCare for the young
Central governmentThe child's rights
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) and the school, leisure and social welfare committees.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the healthcare committees.
The Riksdag, the National Agency for Education, the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), MUCF and the Ombudsman for Children.
What do they decide?
Preschool, compulsory school, youth centres, culture school, field workers and social services' support to children at risk.
Paediatric care, child and adolescent psychiatry (BUP), youth clinics (often together with the municipality) and dental care that is free of charge into early adulthood.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child as law, the Education Act, the Social Services Act and national youth policy.
Where are decisions made?
In committees and the council. Many municipalities have a youth council that is consulted.
In the regional council and the healthcare committees.
In the Riksdag and at the agencies. The Ombudsman for Children watches over children's rights.
Who pays?
The municipal tax: the school is the municipality's largest expense.
The regional tax: child psychiatry, paediatric care and youth clinics.
The central government budget: grants to schools, youth organisations and the association sector.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Pupil councils, youth councils and citizens' proposals (medborgarförslag), which in many municipalities are open to children too.
Regional election The regional election shapes the queues at child psychiatry. Views through 1177 and the patients' advisory committee.
General election The general election shapes the Education Act and children's rights. Youth organisations respond to referrals (remiss).
EUThe EU funds youth exchanges through programmes such as Erasmus and weighs children's rights into its legislation. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case A citizens' proposal becomes a skatepark
  1. State

    The child convention requires that children are heard

    Since 2020 the Convention on the Rights of the Child is Swedish law. Decisions that concern children are to weigh the best interests of the child, and children have the right to express their view in matters that concern them.

    Point of influence

    The general election shapes children's rights policy. The Ombudsman for Children reviews how the law is followed.

  2. Municipality

    The young people submit a proposal

    A group of fourteen-year-olds get tired of travelling to the neighbouring municipality to skate and submit a citizens' proposal for a skatepark. In many municipalities, even those under 18 may submit a proposal.

    Point of influence

    The citizens' proposal (medborgarförslag) is young people's strongest formal tool before the right to vote. It is often enough to be registered as a resident in the municipality.

  3. Municipality

    The committee prepares and the youth council is heard

    The leisure committee investigates cost and location. The municipality's youth council gets to have its say, and the administration holds a meeting at the youth centre to hear more young people.

    Point of influence

    Youth councils and open meetings are ways in. Ask the municipality what exists where you live.

  4. Municipality

    The council sets aside the money

    The municipal council decides on the investment in the budget. The members are elected in the municipal election, where the age limit is eighteen, but their decisions mainly shape the everyday lives of the younger.

  5. Your everyday life

    The concrete dries in June

    The first evening the park is full. A proposal written at a kitchen table became a place that is visible across the whole district, and a few fourteen-year-olds learned how the municipality works from the inside.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. Where were the adult-free places when you grew up, and which exist for young people today?

  2. How should children's voices be weighed into decisions when children cannot vote?

  3. What should a municipality invest in first for its young people: the school, leisure or support when things go wrong?

  4. Lowering the voting age is discussed now and then. Which arguments weigh heaviest for and against?

  5. What support would you have needed as a young person that you did not get, and does it exist today?

Glossary

Barnkonventionen
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Swedish law since 2020.
Barnets bästa
The principle that decisions concerning children are to start from what is best for the child.
Ungdomsråd
A municipal forum where young people get to have their say on decisions that concern them.
Medborgarförslag
The right in many municipalities to submit a proposal to the council, often with no age limit.
BUP
Child and adolescent psychiatry, the region's specialist care for young people's mental health.

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.