Compulsory education – if you have little or no education
Listen
Some of the people who arrive in Sweden find themselves subject to compulsory education. It means getting the education you need in order to improve your chances of finding employment. If compulsory education is something that applies to you, then you must apply for admission to a Municipal Adult Education or Folk High School.
What
Most job opportunities in Sweden require a certain degree of education. Without an education, you risk being unemployed for a long period of time.
If compulsory education applies to you then you will be required to study:
- SFI (Swedish for Immigrants)
- civic orientation and
- a basic or secondary level education at a Municipal Adult Education centre or a general course at a Folk High School. Examples of what you can study includes vocational courses, mathematics or a course in how to use a computer and the Internet.
Who
Compulsory education applies if:
- you are participating in Arbetsförmedlingen’s introductory programme
- you only have a short period of education
- Arbetsförmedlingen believes that you will struggle to find employment during the course of the introductory programme.
A short period of education means that you have not completed an education at upper secondary school level. Perhaps you had started but were not able to finish your upper secondary school education in your native country or you only attended compulsory school or no school at all.
How it works
If compulsory education applies to you, a new activity will be added to your programme plan. To see the activity, log into My Pages.
This is how the activity looks:
The activity tells you that you should apply for adult education in your municipality or contact a Folk High School and apply for a basic course. This activity is mandatory and you must apply before the date shown in the bottom left corner.
What happens if I do not apply for an education or apply too late?
If you are too late in applying for an adult education or a basic course at the Folk High School, you may receive a warning or your introduction benefit reduced. This means that the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan) will pay you a lower amount of introduction benefit.
Activity reporting
You must submit an activity report every month. This is so that we can follow your progress and give you the support you need. Your activity report consists of three activities that you need to respond to.
Click the Done checkbox in your activity report once you have completed the following activities:
- Applied for adult education or to a Folk High School
- Have been accepted to adult education or a Folk High School
- Have started your education
This is how it will look in your activity report:
Financial support
As part of your introduction programme, you will need to apply to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency for introduction benefit.
The same applies when compulsory education is required. The activity ‘Education’ is then added to your programme plan and you continue to apply for introduction benefit from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
Financial support whilst participating in the introduction programme
Contact us
If you are not sure what to do, feel free to call us on 0771 416 416.
If you are participating in the introduction programme and need information in another language than Swedish, please call us on 0771 860 100.