Municipal adult education (Komvux)
Municipal adult education (Komvux) is for adults who lack an education from compulsory or upper-secondary school. At Komvux, you can also supplement your prior education or choose to begin a new educational specialisation. As of 1 July of the year that you turn 20, you can begin studying at Komvux.
At schools and in the municipality, there are study and career advisers who can provide more information both about educational programmes and the Swedish labour market.
If you are new to Sweden
There are many educational programmes for adults to choose from, both programmes that lead to a profession and programmes that prepare for further studies at a vocational college or university. In order to find out what level your earlier education is at, the study and career advisers in your municipality or at your school can help assess your knowledge and experience.
At schools and in the municipality, there is access to study and career advisers who can provide more information both about educational programmes and the Swedish labour market.
Municipal adult education (Komvux)
Municipal adult education (Komvux) is for adults who lack an education from compulsory or upper-secondary school. At Komvux, you can also supplement your prior education or choose to begin a new educational specialisation. You can also learn Swedish at Komvux; read more under SFI, Swedish for immigrants further down in the text.
When you begin studying at Komvux, you have a right to an individual study plan. All educational programmes that the municipality is responsible for are free of charge.
At Komvux, you can
- take sfi and courses that are equivalent to compulsory school and upper-secondary school
- earn a diploma that is equivalent to upper-secondary school
- supplement earlier education to obtain qualification for university or vocational college
- get vocational training
- take a test of your knowledge in a subject
- have previous knowledge validated.
Who can study at Komvux?
As of 1 July of the year that you turn 20, you can begin studying at Komvux. To be able to study at Komvux, you must also be resident in Sweden, lack the knowledge that the education provides and have conditions to be able to complete the education. Sometimes, one can also begin even if one is younger than 20.
How the educational programme is structured
There may be a possibility to study full time or part time. You can study at the school, through distance education or a combination of these. There may also be a possibility to take certain courses, or parts of courses, at a workplace.
Studies at different levels may be combined. For example, you can combine education in Swedish for immigrants (sfi) with other studies in Komvux.
Contact a study and career adviser at the adult education programme you want to attend or in your home municipality for more information on what courses are offered at Komvux in your municipality.
Assessment and learning
During the programme, you will continuously receive information on what you have learned in relation to the teaching objectives.
It is important that you obtain an understanding of your own learning and need for development.
Komvux uses the grading scale A-F, the same as in compulsory school and upper-secondary school, for example. A is the highest grade and E is the lowest passing grade. The grade F is not passing. Your teacher sets grades on each course that you have completed.
Assessment – how it is done
Assessment means that you have your knowledge assessed based on the knowledge requirements for you to be able to receive a grade in the subject or the course. You have a right to do assessments in all subjects and courses in which grades are set. The assessment may only be done in a municipality that arranges the course in question. In order to be able to do an assessment, you must be resident in Sweden.
The purpose of the assessment is for the student to demonstrate his or her knowledge in all parts of the subject’s or course’s knowledge requirements. How this is done in detail is decided by the school. It is also the school that decides how and when an assessment will be carried out. A student cannot demand to have an assessment during a specific time.
Assessment can be done in compulsory school, upper-secondary school and adult education. In an assessment, all grade levels shall be possible to achieve. If you already have a passing grade in the course, but want to do an assessment aiming for a higher grade, the school may charge a fee for the assessment. The fee may be a maximum of SEK 500.
Validation – have our prior knowledge assessed
Validation means mapping and assessing the knowledge that a person has. There may be a possibility for you to have your prior knowledge and experience validated. The objective of the validation may be that you want to
- begin studying and prior to beginning, adapt the content and level of your studies so that you do not need to study what you already know
- shorten the time in an on-going educational programme
- document your knowledge to be able to present it in a job interview for example.
If you want to have a validation, contact your municipality.