Sweden School Route Passport
Follow Sweden’s route from preschool and compulsory schooling through upper secondary study, vocational options, higher education, and adult learning.
Preschool
Selected stamp: Preschool. Choose another stamp to update the route card.
Sweden’s education system combines public financing, local responsibility, and a long-standing commitment to lifelong learning. The national level sets legal duties, curricula, qualification rules, and learning goals, while municipalities and approved independent providers operate much of the day-to-day provision. Preschool, compulsory schooling, upper secondary education, higher education, and adult learning therefore form connected routes with opportunities to return to education later. School education is generally free of charge. OECD data place total investment from primary through tertiary education at 5.3% of GDP, compared with 4.7% across the OECD. [OECD]
System Profile
- Preschool class is currently mandatory at age 6.
- Compulsory school currently runs for nine years, mainly from ages 7 to 16.
- Upper secondary education has 18 national programs: 6 higher education preparatory and 12 vocational.
- Gy25 subject grades replaced course grades for upper-secondary and Komvux education beginning after June 30, 2025.
- Higher education follows the European three-cycle degree structure and normally uses 60 credits for one academic year.
- Adult education is part of the public education route through Komvux, SFI, and liberal adult education.
How Sweden Organises Education From Preschool to Doctoral Study
| Stage | Usual Age | Status | Main Organisation | Typical Progression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preschool | 1–5 | Not compulsory | Municipal or approved independent provider | Early learning, care, language, social development |
| Preschool Class | 6 | Compulsory under the current structure | Usually municipal or approved independent school | Bridge into Grade 1 |
| Compulsory School | 7–16 | Compulsory | Municipal or grant-aided independent school | Completion of Grade 9 and upper-secondary eligibility |
| Upper Secondary School | 16–19 | Voluntary but widely attended | Municipal or independent provider | Higher education preparatory diploma, vocational diploma, or introductory progression |
| Higher Education | 19+ | Voluntary | Universities, university colleges, independent providers | Bachelor’s, master’s, licentiate, doctorate, professional awards |
| Adult Education | Mainly 20+ | Voluntary | Municipal adult education and publicly supported providers | Basic education, upper-secondary completion, SFI, reskilling |
The national structure also includes Sami school, special school, adapted compulsory school, and adapted upper secondary school. These forms sit within the public education system and provide routes designed for pupils with different educational needs and circumstances.
Under the structure in force in 2026, municipalities arrange preschool class for six-year-olds, followed by nine grades of compulsory school. This structure has a confirmed end date. Parliament has decided that Sweden will introduce a ten-year compulsory school from autumn 2028. Preschool class will be replaced by a new Grade 1, and the final year will become Grade 10. New curricula will begin at the same time. Until that reform takes effect, preschool class plus Grades 1–9 remain the current route. [Skolverket]
Current Student Scale
| Indicator | Latest Value | Reference Period |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsory-school pupils | Just under 1.1 million | 2025/26 |
| Upper-secondary students | 375,000 | 2025/26 |
| Registered higher education students | 476,100 | 2024/25 |
| Higher education institutions | 50 | 2025 |
| Higher education graduates at first and second cycle | 76,700 | 2024/25 |
The number of compulsory-school pupils continued to decline in 2025/26 and fell by almost 9,900 pupils from the previous school year. Upper-secondary enrolment moved in the other direction: the total reached 375,000, up by about 3,640 students. Vocational-program enrolment rose by 4% while higher education preparatory programs were almost unchanged. [Skolverket] [Skolverket]
Higher education followed a different reporting calendar. In 2024/25, Sweden recorded 476,100 registered students, 17,100 more than in 2023/24. The number of new entrants reached 101,600, the highest in the previous ten academic years. The same year produced about 76,700 graduates at first- and second-cycle level. [UKÄ]
How Governance, Funding, and School Choice Work
Sweden’s school system is decentralised, but national rules still define the basic conditions. The government and national authorities set education law, curricula, grading rules, and expected outcomes. Municipalities organise most preschool, compulsory school, upper secondary school, and adult education. Grant-aided independent schools operate inside the publicly financed school system and generally cannot charge tuition fees.
This design affects school choice. Guardians can state preferences for compulsory-school placement, but municipal and independent schools can apply different legally permitted admission criteria when places are limited. Municipal decisions must take account of guardian preferences within statutory placement rules. Independent schools may use criteria such as queue time, sibling priority, and proximity where permitted. [Skolverket]
Funding data show the scale of public involvement. OECD figures place education investment from primary through tertiary education at 5.3% of GDP. Public sources provide 99.8% of funding for primary, secondary, and post-secondary non-tertiary education and 83.6% at tertiary level. [OECD]
What Pupils Study and How Learning Is Assessed
The national curriculum states that school education is rooted in democracy, respect for human rights, objectivity, and equal access to education. Teaching is non-denominational in the public school system and is expected to be adapted to pupils’ circumstances and needs. Equal education does not require identical teaching for every pupil; schools may use different support measures to help pupils reach the national goals.
The current compulsory-school grading scale uses A to F. Grades A to E are passing grades and F indicates that the requirements for a passing grade have not been reached. Grades B and D sit between the main criterion levels. This remains the operative school grading structure in 2026.
Upper-secondary grading changed in another way before the numerical grading reform scheduled for 2028. From July 1, 2025, Sweden introduced subject grades for new upper-secondary and Komvux education. Subjects can contain several progressive levels, and a passing grade awarded at a higher level replaces the passing grade from a lower level in the same subject. Students who began upper-secondary education before July 2025 continue under the earlier course-grade rules during the transition. [UHR]
A second grading change has already been passed but is not yet the current grading system. From autumn 2028, Sweden is scheduled to introduce a numerical 1–10 grading scale, centrally marked national final examinations, and a new merit-value model. The legislation removes the present sharp pass/fail boundary from the future scale. Komvux is scheduled to move to the new grading system from January 2031. [Skolverket]
OECD data show that 48% of compulsory instruction time in primary education is allocated to mathematics plus reading, writing, and literature, compared with 41% across the OECD. At lower secondary level, the share is 26%. The pattern gives foundational literacy and mathematics a larger share of scheduled learning time in the earlier grades. [OECD]
Upper Secondary School: Academic and Vocational Routes
Upper secondary school is normally a three-year stage. Under Gy25, Sweden continues to offer 18 national programs: 6 higher education preparatory programs and 12 vocational programs. Four introductory programs serve students who do not yet meet the entry requirements for a national program. The program structure is therefore wider than a simple academic-versus-vocational split. [Skolverket]
In 2025/26, about 375,000 students attended upper-secondary school. Vocational programs grew by about 4% from the previous year. The three largest national programs were all higher education preparatory: the Social Science Program with about 65,900 students, the Business Management and Economics Program with 63,500, and the Natural Science Program with 43,500. The largest vocational program was Electricity and Energy with about 17,100 students. [Skolverket]
The vocational route can still lead to higher education. For students following subject plans introduced from July 2025, a vocational upper-secondary diploma can meet general higher-education entry requirements when the required levels in Swedish or Swedish as a second language and English are completed. Admission also depends on any course-specific requirements for the program applied to. [UHR]
Higher Education: Credits, Degrees, Institutions, and Entry
Swedish higher education uses a modular credit system. One full academic year normally equals 60 higher education credits, aligned with ECTS. Students may take individual courses or follow complete programs. Sweden does not use one national higher-education GPA. Institutions use course and program grading arrangements within national degree rules.
A bachelor’s degree normally requires 180 credits. A one-year master requires 60 credits, a two-year master 120 credits, and a doctorate 240 credits. Licentiate study is also available at third-cycle level. [UHR]
Sweden had 50 higher education institutions in 2025. Thirty-one were public-sector institutions, while the remaining 19 were independent providers of different types. Most higher education is delivered by public institutions. Tuition-free study remains available to Swedish, EU/EEA, and Swiss citizens and to several categories of residents. [UKÄ]
Official data for 2024/25 recorded 476,100 registered students, up 3.7% from 459,000 in 2023/24. Women represented 62% of registered students. International mobility also rose: 46,920 incoming students studied in Sweden during 2024/25, around 10% of all registered students. [UKÄ]
PISA 2025: Current Learning Outcomes
PISA 2025 is now the latest published international assessment for Swedish 15-year-olds. Sweden recorded mean scores of 464 in mathematics, 466 in reading, and 485 in science. The corresponding OECD averages were 463, 461, and 482. Sweden also scored 503 in computational problem solving, compared with an OECD average of 500. OECD describes Sweden’s 2025 results as close to the OECD average across the three core domains. [OECD PISA]
Sweden’s PISA Performance Across Four Cycles
Mean scores in mathematics, reading, and science for 2015, 2018, 2022, and 2025.
Source: OECD PISA country and trend data. [OECD PISA]
| 2015 | 494 | 500 | 493 |
| 2018 | 502 | 506 | 499 |
| 2022 | 482 | 487 | 494 |
| 2025 | 464 | 466 | 485 |
Unit: PISA score points. Rounded published means are shown. OECD trend calculations may differ by one point from simple subtraction because they use underlying unrounded estimates.
The strongest point in the selected series was 2018, when Sweden scored 502 in mathematics, 506 in reading, and 499 in science. By 2025, mathematics was 38 points lower than in 2018 and reading 40 points lower; science was 14 points lower. For the most recent cycle-to-cycle comparison, OECD reports declines of about 18 points in mathematics and 21 in reading from 2022 to 2025, while the science change was about 8 points and was not statistically different from the 2022 result. [OECD PISA]
| Domain | Sweden: Level 2+ | OECD Average: Level 2+ | Sweden: Level 5 or 6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 66% | 65% | 8% |
| Reading | 69% | 69% | 8% |
| Science | 74% | 74% | 9% |
The proficiency distribution places Sweden close to the OECD baseline in all three domains. The share reaching at least Level 2 was one percentage point above the OECD average in mathematics and equal to the OECD average in reading and science. Sweden had a somewhat larger top-performing share in reading and science than the OECD averages. Compared with 2015, however, the share performing below Level 2 increased by 13 percentage points in mathematics, 13 points in reading, and 4 points in science. [OECD PISA]
Socio-economic differences remain visible. In PISA 2025, students in Sweden’s top national quarter of socio-economic status outscored those in the bottom quarter by 92 science points, compared with an OECD average gap of 85. Socio-economic status accounted for 12% of the variation in Swedish science performance, the same share as the OECD average. [OECD PISA]
Adult Skills, Attainment, and Later Entry
OECD attainment data show that the share of 25–34-year-olds without upper secondary attainment fell from 16% in 2019 to 12% in 2024. Labour-market outcomes still differ sharply by qualification level: unemployment among 25–34-year-olds without upper secondary attainment stood at 19%. [OECD]
Family educational background remains associated with tertiary attainment. Among 25–34-year-olds with at least one tertiary-educated parent, 49% had attained tertiary education themselves, compared with 23% among those whose parents did not complete upper secondary education. In the 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, 11% of Swedish adults aged 25–64 had literacy proficiency at or below Level 1, compared with 27% across participating OECD countries. [OECD]
Later entry into higher education is common. OECD data indicate that 77% of new entrants to bachelor’s programs had taken at least one year between upper-secondary education and tertiary study. Women accounted for 56% of first-time entrants in 2023. Bachelor completion stood at 40% within the theoretical duration, 54% one year later, and 67% three years later. First-year dropout was 10%. [OECD]
School Staffing and Learning Conditions
Teacher supply remains an active planning issue. OECD’s 2025 country note reported 5% unfilled teaching positions and 18.7% of teachers not fully qualified under the indicator used for the comparison. The 2025 PISA school survey gives a different measure: 14% of Swedish students attended schools whose principals said instruction was hindered at least to some extent by a lack of teaching staff, down from 36% in 2022. These indicators should not be combined because one measures staffing positions and qualifications while the other records principals’ perceptions of instructional constraints. [OECD PISA]
PISA 2025 also reports that about 20% of students said they could not work well in most or all science lessons, close to the OECD average of 19%. Twenty-nine per cent said noise and disorder disrupted most or every science lesson. Digital use is high: students reported 2.4 hours per school day using digital devices for learning activities and 1.1 hours for leisure while at school. [OECD PISA]
Changes Already in Force and Scheduled Reforms
Several education changes now overlap because they have different start dates. Gy25 subject grades have already applied to new upper-secondary and Komvux education since July 2025. From August 1, 2026, pupils’ mobile phones must generally be collected at the beginning of the school day and returned at the end in compulsory school forms, school-age educare, and open leisure activities. Exceptions are possible where a device is needed for a pupil or for another permitted reason. [Skolverket]
The next large structural change begins in autumn 2028. Preschool class will be replaced by the first year of a ten-year compulsory school, new curricula will start, and the new numerical 1–10 grading system is scheduled to begin. Centrally marked national final examinations will later feed the new merit-value model used for progression. These are enacted future changes and should not be confused with the rules used by most pupils in 2026. [Skolverket]
Adult Education and Lifelong Learning
Municipal adult education, or Komvux, gives adults routes to complete compulsory or upper-secondary education, meet entry requirements, change occupation, or acquire additional qualifications. Adults who lack education corresponding to compulsory-school level can have a right to basic municipal adult education when the legal conditions are met.
Swedish for immigrants, or SFI, provides Swedish-language education to eligible adult immigrants who lack basic Swedish. Liberal adult education through folk high schools and study associations adds non-formal and alternative study routes alongside municipal provision. Adult learning therefore supports both formal qualification progression and later return to education.
Komvux is also affected by the current transition in assessment. Subject grades have applied to new upper-secondary Komvux study since July 2025, while the numerical 1–10 grading system is scheduled to apply to relevant Komvux education from January 2031. That staggered timetable means adult learners and institutions will operate with more than one grading arrangement during the transition period.
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