Social Democrats pledge in-person SFI and welfare language tests
The Social Democrats would make classroom teaching the default in Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), tighten rules for distance courses and introduce national Swedish-language work samples for new hires in public-facing welfare jobs.
Listen to this articleNarrated - 9:12
The party's election pledge also calls for more intensive SFI and more courses combining Swedish with vocational training. For primary-school pupils who need extra language support, it proposes intensive Swedish; other subjects could temporarily give way until pupils have enough Swedish to learn to read and write.
These are proposals, not current law. The party release does not specify a start date, cost, required test level or which welfare roles would be covered. Those details would determine who could be hired and how municipalities would run the system.
SFI already changed this year. Rules introduced on 1 January generally limit participation to three years, with possible extensions for special reasons. That reform was agreed by M, KD, SD and L.
For adults studying SFI and people applying for frontline jobs in healthcare, eldercare or childcare, the election choice is therefore about both access to face-to-face teaching and a new national hiring threshold. No fresh response from another party set out an independently verifiable alternative on Friday; DailySweden will recheck.
DailySweden
DailySweden's desk of editors, reporters, researchers and investigative journalists. We bring readers factual, truthful and objective reporting on the issues that matter to them.
Contact the editorial desk ›
