Pre-school services are offered to all children from one year of age until they start school. The City of Stockholm provides pre-school services to children of working or studying parents, and in some cases where therea are individual needs. A priority is to fina a pre-school as close to the child’s home as possible, and can usually be arranged within three or four months after a registered request.

There are approximately 22,000 children in Stockholm pre-schools, including public and private schools. Four of five children in Stockholm, between the ages of one to five, are currently enrolled in municipal or private day care centres, or family day nurseries. Special facilities are available to assist children with mental and/or physical disabilities. There are also special day care groups e.g. for hearing impaired children, and children with speech and language difficultie

30% privately owned

Child care services were once provided exclusively by the municipality, but are now also provided by co-operatives and private enterprise. Today, 30% of all child care services in Stockholm are privately owned.

A pre-school is normally attended by 15-20 children, and is staffed by pre-school teachers and childminders. Day care centres make their own decisions on activities, staff and budgeting, and receive a fixed income per child from the district council. The total annual cost per day care center is SEK 108,300 (2005).

The first step of lifelong learning 

Fees paid by parents for child care services cover about one-tenth of the actual cost, while the remainder is financed by tax revenue. The monthly charge for child care depends on the period of time the child attends, on parental earnings, and on the number of children in the family. There is, however, a maximum charge. The fees for private day-care centers are the same as for the state owned, and all centers receive subsidies.

The national pre-school curriculum highlights the significance of pre-schools as the first step on the path to lifelong learning. The educational principles are based on the idea that welfare and education are closely related. Good welfare provides a basis for development and learning, just as it entails an element of education. The importance of play in children’s development is also highlighted. Pre-schools should provide a secure environment, while at the same time offer a fun and inspirational educational environment for all children.

Several choices

• In order to meet the varying needs and expectations of Stockholm families, we have increased the choices of services in the last years. The wide range of child care alternatives include:
• Pre-schools for children aged between one and five is the most common form of childcare in Stockholm. Many day-care centres have specific programmes, or are follow particular teaching principles. 
  
• Public day-care centers are available for children aged four and five and offer three hours of activities, either in the morning or afternoon.
  
• Day nurseries that are free of charge ar available for children aged between one and ten, and are supervised by a professional childminder. The premisses are ususally the childminder's home shared by his or her own children. The groups are usually small and consist of three to four children of pre-school age. 
• Open pre-schools are available to parents who are not working, or to childminders and the children in their care. This is a drop-in facility for social and educational stimulation.
  
• Integrated day-care centres are day-care centres which have been adapted to enabling children with learning and/or physical disabilities to participate in normal activities. 

Schooling is compulsory for all children residing in Sweden. In other words, all children between the ages of 7 and 16 are entitled and obliged to attend education within the public sector school system (or at an independent school approved for compulsory schooling).

The City of Stockholm is also obliged to accept all six-year-olds who wish to start school. The provision of pre-school classes for six-year-olds is mandatory for the municipality, but participation is optional for children. Most parents in Stockholm have, however, taken the opportunity to let their children attend this preparatory year before the official school start.

About 70,000 pupils are presently enrolled in compulsory primary and secondary schools in Stockholm, including pre-school classes. Compulsory school is divided into nine grades (years). The national curriculum outlines the goals that must be achieved by the end of the fifth and ninth years of school. This provides an opportunity of monitoring educational achievments on a national level.

Free choice

As part of a pupil-linked school funding system, children and their parents can select the primary and secondary school they prefer. A reservation for each child is always made at his or her local school, since entry to other schools is subject to availability. There is always the option of changing schools from one school year to the next, regardless of where in Stockholm the pupil lives.

There are approximately 220 primary and secondary comprehensive schools in Stockholm. One third of these are managed independently.

Schools with specialisations

There are many schools which specialise in particular fields, such as music, art, dance, sport and languages. There are also schools – both municipal and independent – which offer alternative teaching methods, such as Waldorf and Montessori to name a few.

Foreign children who attend a Swedish school are entitled to receive parts of their teaching in their native language. Education in native languages can be chosen as as an alternative to a second foreign language, after English (which is compulsory). Children up to the age of 12 have the option to attend bilingual classes, combining Swedish with English, Finnish, Greek, Serbian, Spanish or Turkish.

Monitoring progress

Pupils’ achievements are assessed in the eighth and ninth school year. Naturally, up until this time, parents have the right to receive comprehensive reports on their children’s progress. In addition, meetings are held each half term with the teacher, parent(s) and child. 

About 24,000 students attend secondary school, and the City of Stockholm provides education on this level at 28 schools. Additionally, there are 45 independent schools. The municipal upper secondary schools offer 16 national programmes, 15 specialised programmes, individual programmes and the International Baccalaureate programme.

The City of Stockholm, as all other municipalities, is required by law to offer upper secondary education to all students who have completed their compulsory, basic schooling. Upper secondary schooling is free of charge and voluntary. The lunch meals are provided free of charge. The right to attend upper secondary school education applies up to the age of 20. To have passed the modules of Swedish, English and mathematics in the compulsory school, is a requirement in order to attend upper socondary education.

Speciality programmes

There are 16, three year long national programmes. Each programme focuses on a particular field, such as Construction, Electrical Engineering, Food, Arts, Business and Administration or Media. In addition to their specialty, they provide a broad and general education - providing qualifications for further studies at university or college. All national programmes include eight core subjects: English, Art, Physical and Health Education, Mathematics, Natural Science, Civics, Swedish (or Swedish as a second language) and Religion.

Fourteen of the programmes are primarily vocationally oriented. The other two, Natural Science and Social Science, focus more on university entrance.

Specially designed programmes

By combining special subjects from various programmes, specially designed programmes are offered. A specially designed programme also comprises the eight core subjects and corresponds to a national programme in terms of the level of education and number of hours.

Individual programmes

An individual programme may vary in length and content and is determined by individual student needs. The aim is for the student to change over at a later date to a national or specially designed programme.

There is a syllabus for each course that defines goals to be fulfilled. Each course has set criteria for what is expected of the student in order to reach the grade Pass or Pass with credit.

The upper secondary school education has undergone major changes over the past years. In principle all pupils graduating from compulsory secondary school enter upper secondary school. The qualification requirements have been raised. If a student fails at least on of the modules Swedish, English or maths, he or she is offered individual programmes to prepare them for other national or specially designed programmes.

Stockholm offers unique opportunities for higher education. No other place in Sweden can compete in terms of the variety of study programmes, institutions and libraries. Stockholm's 3 universities and 17 university colleges offer higher education of top quality in a broad range of fields.

The universities and university colleges fall under the administration of the government, not the municipalities.

If you want to learn more about higher education in Stockholm, visit Study in Stockholm.

Those over the age of 20 are entitled to municipal adult education of upper secondary level (Komvux), an opportunity with increasing popularity .
Adult education students pay for teaching materials but tuition is free of charge. With some exceptions, the same courses are available in adult upper secondary schooling as in the regular school. Komvux also provides additional courses aimed at students with advanced knowledge.

Studies within municipal adult education gives the student formal qualifications in individual modules, or the equivalent of a certificate from the compulsory school and/or the upper secondary school. Education is organised as separate courses, which should be scheduled in a way that students can combine their studies with employment.

The students are allowed to choose their own study programme, and they can also combine studies at a basic or upper secondary level. There are no entrance requirements or final examinations.