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Social Democrats to add vocational training to immigrant Swedish classes

Richard Orange
Richard Orange - richard.orange@thelocal.com
Published: 28 Aug, 2026 CET. Updated: Fri 28 Aug 2026 14:56 CET
Social Democrats to add vocational training to immigrant Swedish classes
The Social Democrats' immigration spokesperson Lawen Redar wants new arrivals in Sweden to learn vocational skills at the same time as Swedish. Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT
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The opposition Social Democrats have proposed combining vocational training with Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) classes to help new arrivals in Sweden get into work faster.

At a press conference on Friday, the party's integration spokesperson Lawen Redar called for new "combination education" where Swedish language courses are combined with upper-secondary school level vocational training in skills Sweden is short of. 

The party also proposed improving the quality of SFI courses available through distance learning, and bringing national tests for workers in health care, care for the elderly and care of children. 

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#social democrats #2026 Swedish election

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Rickard Olseke
Sounds familiar. https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/integration-research-and-initiatives-progress-sweden-2026-03-26_en
V
Why do they think we are all undereducated? When I was in SFI years ago, I was asked about my education level, and they grouped me with similar people — with PhDs, engineers. I understand that; there are people with less education, but then say that, not just "immigrants." Anyway, at SIFA, it's a bit odd that instead of teaching how to speak, they're teaching high-school-level stuff like analyzing novels, how to write emails, and reasoning. I mean, I've learned these in my native language, and it works the same in other languages. So instead of learning how to pronounce things and such, the time with the teacher is spent on her explaining the important elements of analyzing fiction.

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