Swedish for immigrants (normally known as SFI or Svenskundervisning för invandrare in Swedish) is the national free Swedish language course offered to most categories of immigrants. Immigrants who speak Danish or Norwegian are ineligible for free Swedish tuition through SFI. All other persons who have emigrated to Sweden are entitled by law to Swedish language education.
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Source: Swedish National Agency for Education (red) [1] 2011,[2] 2012,[3] 2013,[4] 2014,[5] 2015,[6] 2016[7] Municipalities & private organisers, Statistics Sweden (grey)[8] No SCB Data for municipalities prior to 2014.
SFI is directed towards people who lack basic knowledge in Swedish and are of the minimum age of sixteen.[9] As a significant proportion of immigrants arriving in Sweden are illiterate, certain courses also teach how to read, write and interpret a clock.[10] The training is paid for by the municipality (local authority) in which the immigrant lives, and applications to take the course are made to the municipality's adult education department (kommunens vuxenutbildning).
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/SCB_SFI_Total_Female_Male_Students_Enrolled_2003_2013.png/220px-SCB_SFI_Total_Female_Male_Students_Enrolled_2003_2013.png)
According to the SFI and Vuxenutbildningen Luleå, the Swedish for immigrants program comprises three different tiers: Sfi 1, Sfi 2, and Sfi 3. Sfi 1 consists of the study courses A and B, which are aimed at pupils with little or no education and individuals who are illiterate. Sfi 2 includes the study courses B and C, which are earmarked for students who have undergone many years of schooling but are unfamiliar with the Latin script. Sfi 3 includes the study courses C and D, which are geared toward pupils with college education that are seeking further studies.[11] As of 2007, according to the National Center for SFI and Sweden as Another Speech (NC) and the Institute for Sweden as Another Speech (ISA), a total of 137 foreign languages were spoken as mother tongues by students within the Swedish for immigrants program. Of these languages, the most common mother tongues of pupils within the Sfi 1 tier were Arabic (2,036), Thai (1,510), Somali (1,473), Kurdish/North Kurdish (1,150), Southern Kurdish (740), Turkish (650), Spanish (281), Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (277), and Persian (273).[12]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Kista_folkh%C3%B6gskola1.jpg/220px-Kista_folkh%C3%B6gskola1.jpg)
In the five years leading up to 2012, the number of illiterate migrants doubled, they had fewer than three years to no schooling from their origin country. In 2011, about 19,200 migrants in the Swedish for immigrants program had 0–3 years of education. For instance in Borlänge, 4 out of 10 of those who completed the introduction for immigrants had no education at all, the majority being women.[13]
According to Statistics Sweden, as of 2012, the most common countries of birth for pupils in the Swedish for immigrants program are Iraq (13,477), Somalia (10,355), Thailand (5,658), Poland (5,079), Iran (4,748), Turkey (3,344), China (3,408), Eritrea (3,618), Afghanistan (3,640), and Syria (3,257). The most common mother tongues spoken by the students are Arabic (18,886), Somali (10,525), Persian (7,162), Thai (5,707), Polish (5,100), English (4,796), Spanish (4,552), Tigrinya (3,623), Turkish (3,064), and North Kurdish (3,059).[14] The SFI (kurs D) test is equivalent to stage B1 (Independent Speaker: Threshold or pre-intermediate) on the Common European Framework.
Notes
edit- ^ "Kostnader för utbildning i svenska för invandrare år 2016". www.skolverket.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2018-03-16.
- ^ Samtliga verksamheter inom fritidshem och annan pedagogisk verksamhet, skola och vuxenutbildning – Kostnader – Riksnivå 2011. February 2017. p. near the bottom in .xls "Svenska för invandrare totalt" in thousands. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Samtliga verksamheter inom fritidshem och annan pedagogisk verksamhet, skola och vuxenutbildning – Kostnader – Riksnivå 2012. February 2017. p. near the bottom in .xls "Svenska för invandrare totalt" in thousands. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Samtliga verksamheter inom fritidshem och annan pedagogisk verksamhet, skola och vuxenutbildning – Kostnader – Riksnivå 2013. February 2017. p. near the bottom in .xls "Svenska för invandrare totalt" in thousands. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Samtliga verksamheter inom fritidshem och annan pedagogisk verksamhet, skola och vuxenutbildning – Kostnader – Riksnivå 2014. February 2017. p. near the bottom in .xls "Svenska för invandrare totalt" in thousands. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Samtliga verksamheter inom fritidshem och annan pedagogisk verksamhet, skola och vuxenutbildning – Kostnader – Riksnivå 2015. February 2017. p. near the bottom in .xls "Svenska för invandrare totalt" in thousands. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Samtliga verksamheter inom fritidshem och annan pedagogisk verksamhet, skola och vuxenutbildning – Kostnader – Riksnivå 2016. February 2017. p. near the bottom in .xls "Svenska för invandrare totalt" in thousands. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ "SCB: Kostnader för kommunernas komvux, särvux och sfi, tkr efter uppgift och år". www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
- ^ SFI system in Stockholm explained in English at Stockholm.se
- ^ "Många i SFI har ingen skolgång från hemlandet". Swedish Radio. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
- ^ "Swedish for Immigrants (SFI)" (PDF). SFI and Vuxenutbildningen Luleå. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Alfabetiserings-utbildningi Norden" (PDF). National Center for SFI and Sweden as Another Speech, Institute for Sweden as Another Speech. p. 89. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ Radio, Sveriges (2 October 2012). "Tufft för nyanlända invandrare som är analfabeter - Nyheter (Ekot)". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
- ^ "Utbildning och forskning – Education and research - Statistisk årsbok 2014" (PDF). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
External links
edit- Learning Swedish in Stockholm from Spouses.nu
- Skolverket Information on SFI in Swedish from the education office.
- Stockholm.se SFI in Stockholm explained in English.
- Studentum Information about SFI on Studentum.
Language tools
edit- Verbix.com: Swedish Conjugate Swedish verbs.
- Lexicon Online Swedish-English dictionary.
- SFI Länkar (SFI links) Useful round-up of SFI resources
- languagekompis.com:Swedish Online resources about Swedish language and culture. Navigation in English.