Equality of Opportunity Committee

Inquiry into Migrant Workers

Additional Evidence from Members Research service.

Introduction

The following information about the Swedish for adult immigrants model is an excerpt from the Government of Sweden website:

Swedish for immigrants forms part of the public adult education system in Sweden. The purpose of the scheme is to provide learners with basic Swedish language skills. It also aims to give adult immigrants who cannot read or write the chance to acquire these skills. Immigrants must be given the opportunity to develop their ability to communicate in Swedish - orally and in writing - in everyday situations, social settings and working life. Swedish for immigrants must also prepare learners for further studies.

Municipalities are required to offer Swedish language instruction to all adult immigrants who lack basic Swedish language skills. This should normally begin within three months of registration of residence in the municipality. Depending on the learner's educational background and previous knowledge, she or he is placed in one of three differently paced study tracks, with the right to progress to [the final course], regardless of which track she or he started on.

Funding

Under Swedish legislation the state provides education for adults in the form of municipal adult education, education for adults with learning disabilities, and Swedish Tuition for Immigrants (SFI). These constitute the national adult education system and are parts of the public school system which are totally funded by the municipal budget, which consists of state grants and local tax revenues.

Statistics from the Swedish National Agency for Education 2006 indicate the expenditure on 'Swedish Tuition for Immigrants’ for 2006 was 1023 million SEK. The total expenditure for formal adult education was 7545 million SEK. The total cost of 'Swedish Tuition for Immigrants’ per student during 2006 was 30 700 SEK.

Tuition Fees

Municipal adult education, education for adults with learning disabilities, Swedish Tuition for Immigrants and Advanced vocational education is free of charge. The organiser can decide to charge a limited sum for learning aids.

Swedish for Immigrants- Course Provision

The following information is an excerpt from the National Report on the Development and State of the Art of Adult Learning and Education (ALE), Ministry of Education and Research:

Every municipality is obliged to ensure that Swedish for Immigrants is offered to every person entitled to participate. Courses shall be available as soon as possible after a right to Swedish Tuition for Immigrants has been established. Unless there are special reasons, it should be possible to start courses within three months. Every municipality shall actively work towards reaching those in the municipality who are entitled to Swedish Tuition for Immigrants and to motivate them to participate in courses. The municipality shall consult with the relevant employer and local employees’ organisation with whom the employer is bound by collective agreement concerning an employee’s participation in the courses and the scheduling of the courses.

The following persons shall have a right to participate in Swedish Tuition for Immigrants as from the second six calendar months of the year of their 16th birthday:

A person resident in the municipality, who lacks the basic knowledge of the Swedish language that the tuition aims to provide.

Finnish nationals who permanently work in the municipality, but who are resident in Finland close to the Swedish border and who lack the basic knowledge of the Swedish language that the education aims to provide. A person who has such knowledge of the Danish or Norwegian language that tuition in basic Swedish cannot be deemed necessary, shall not be entitled to participate.

Municipalities may contract others to provide courses in Swedish for Immigrants. The Government may issue regulations as to whom may be awarded such contracts and the terms and conditions.

Swedish for Immigrants- Study Paths

The Swedish National Agency for Education is the central administrative authority for the Swedish public school system for children, young people and adults. The Swedish National Agency for Education provides information on study paths of the SFI course.

Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) consists of three study paths. Each study path consists of two courses, in both of which the student is given a grade. Each study path is made up of two separate courses that define the progression within the program. This enables the student to plan his or her studies with the help of goals that can be achieved within a reasonable time period. The Sfi 1 study path consists of courses a and b, Sfi 2 of courses b and c, and Sfi 3 of courses c and d. The courses provide the student with a basic knowledge in Swedish. The student may combine SFI studies with basic mathematics and computer courses plus vocational language training for the transport, technology and healthcare sectors.

Participation

The following information is an excerpt from the National Report on the Development and State of the Art of Adult Learning and Education, Ministry of Education and Research:

In 2005/06 Swedish for Immigrants could be studied in 251 out of Sweden’s 290 municipalities. 25 000 students of a total of 52 500 were beginners. The students represented 135 different languages of which 109 were spoken by less than 10 people. 61 per cent of those studying Swedish for Immigrants had at least a ten-year long education from their native countries. 40 per cent of the students were men but there is a large variation between different language study groups concerning gender.

There were 65 200 participants in Swedish Language for Immigrants in 2006/7. Of these 43 per cent were men and 57 per cent women.

Swedish for Immigrants- Teaching

In February 2008 the Swedish Government presented an initiative to boost Swedish for Immigrant teaching in order to better students’ achievements. Skills enhancement for teachers teaching Swedish for Immigrants is one of the measures taken. The Swedish Government has invested 51 million SEK for in service training for 2007-2009.

New Syllabus for SFI

Since the Swedish education system is decentralised, the municipalities determine how schools are run and consequently no guidelines on methodology are included in national syllabuses. The following excerpt is taken from Lindberg and Sandwall, critical analysis into Swedish for Immigrants provision.

The rationale behind the introduction of the most recent syllabus in 2007 was a perceived need to clarify the role and responsibility of Sfi as first and foremost an educational program devoted to language instruction (Skolverket 2007). The syllabus also stipulated 15 hours of instruction per week. The need to learn how to communicate in everyday contexts in society is still emphasised, but civic goals were removed from the syllabus. The emphasis on Sfi as a labour-market instrument is mirrored in an increasingly strong demand that Sfi should focus on work-related communication skills. Consequently, many municipalities now put great efforts into organising periods of practical work experience and courses

targeting rapid employment, even in the early stages of Sfi. Adult literacy has been included in the syllabus.

Critical Analysis

Inger Lindberg and Karin Sandwall, Nobody’s Darling? Swedish for adult immigrants: A critical perspective (2007) gives an outline of professional development of SFI from a critical socio-political perspective. It discusses the role of the SFI, considering whether it should meet labour market demands or as a means of fulfilling longer-term goals of personal and professional development and future citizenship.

The elementary Swedish language program for adult immigrants (Sfi) has been running for more than 40 years. However, its history is not one of great success in the way the story has been told or in how it has been referred to in official debates.

Official Language Policy

The elementary Swedish language program for adult immigrants is in many ways a privileged second-language program, as it is supported by an official language policy, which states that 'everyone is to have a right to language: to develop and learn Swedish, to develop and use their own mother tongue and national minority language, and to have the opportunity to learn foreign languages’ (Kulturdepartementet 2005/06).

Integration Policy

The program is also part of an integration policy that ensures all immigrants have the right to free language provision and financial support while studying, with no legal limitation on hours of provision. Five hundred and twenty-five hours is stipulated but this is regarded as a guideline and is interpreted differently by municipalities.

Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, Council of Europe

Citizenship

In October 2006, the new government announced its intentions to propose a new Swedish Language Act, a new law, intended to safeguard access to the Swedish language as a condition for democracy. It is unclear how this law will relate to a recent debate on making mastery of the Swedish language a condition for citizenship.

Further Information

Overview of Adult Education in Sweden, Swedish National Agency for Education Fact Sheet http://www.unesco.org/education/uie/pdf/country/Sweden_app2.pdf

Government Offices of Sweden Swedish Citizenship