Skåne Region, Sweden—
The “Yrkes-SFI” is an adult learning programme delivered in the Skåne Region (Sweden) that combines vocational education and training with Swedish language courses.
The collaboration with local employers helped identify economic sectors experiencing skills shortages and oriented students to develop skills relevant in these fields.
The key objective of the Yrkes-SFI programme, which has been in place since 2014, is to provide migrant students with both language skills and vocational or job-related training. The training offered is adjusted to local labour market needs and is related to occupations characterised by skills shortages in the region. This approach shows that combining language with job-related training can be one way to increase employment outcomes, help participants become self-sufficient, and support local economic development.
The target group of the Yrkes-SFI programme is immigrants who are entitled to follow Swedish language courses, including both immigrants who would like to fully use their professional skills obtained in another country and those who are interested in learning a new profession.
To respond to the needs of various groups, the programme consists of three different tracks: i) Upper secondary vocational courses combined with language training; ii) Labour market education combined with language training, and iii) An academic track that provides vocational education for participants with higher education from their home country.
The courses are open to students with different levels of language proficiency (i.e. Swedish as a second language and Swedish for immigrants) and are free of charge for participants.
The programme has been developed thanks to the collaboration between the national Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), the 33 municipalities in the Skåne region, local education providers and local employers. The project is co-funded by the European Commission.
The programme was evaluated in 2020. The evaluation showed that the programme has increased the motivation and commitment among participants to complete training and develop their language skills which again has improved the results in both vocational education and language training.
The evaluation also showed that the collaboration between municipalities and other stakeholders in the region has worked well, indicating that the model could be a good basis for collaboration in other areas or in other regions. However, the cooperation could benefit from better information sharing (mainly of participant data) and the development of clear information channels between the municipalities and other involved stakeholders. The need for better data and information sharing is also important in order to recruit participants with the right conditions and needs for the programme.
Combining language and work-related training can contribute to increasing students’ participation thanks to the immediate benefits of training in terms of labour market prospects. In addition to migrant integration, this approach also contributes to skills development in relevant sectors thanks to the involvement of local employers.
OECD (2022), "Future-proofing adult learning systems in cities and regions: A policy manual for local governments", OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Papers, No. 2022/03, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/11fa26cc-en.
