Sweden

Last update: December, 2021

Swedish schools are organized and funded by the municipalities, often organized by private owners and funded via a voucher system. They all follow the same national curriculum (läroplanen), under the supervision of The Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen). The first nine years of school are mandatory, while the following three years consist of programmes chosen by parents and pupils. Some of these programmes qualify pupils for university level higher education. Adult education on lower levels than university is organized by municipalities, while informal education is also organized by non-profit organizations supported by the government.   Municipalities are also responsible for out-of-school music and culture schools.

Higher education is the responsibility of the national government, and higher art education is an integrated part of the government funded system of universities and university colleges. All education, including arts and culture education, falls within the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Research. In recent years, education and cultural policies have been given an increasing emphasis in the curricula of artists and actors education at university level. 

Participation and access to culture is one of the most important goals of Swedish cultural policy, including art education,with the ambition of enhancing creativity and giving the public access to arts and culture. The largest single item of national government cultural expenditure (SEK 4.2 billion in 2020) is the support for popular adult education (folkbildning, see chapters 6.4). Local networks and study associations (studieförbund) are important actors providing language courses, creative workshops, theatre visits, art lectures etc. Popular adult education also includes grants for non-profit folk high schools, including a large number of artistic courses.

There are also several programmes within the boundaries of cultural policy in the more narrow sense. There is for example a programme of regional artists' consultants, mainly for dance and visual arts. This model, inspired by a similar programme in Finland, is based on triennial contracts that are financed by a region and a grant from the government, via the Swedish Arts Council. These regional consultants are promoters of their respective art sectors and responsible for initiating contact between schools, individual artists and institutions to engage in projects, visits, long term initiatives etc. A similar model is applied for regional artists' consultants to promote cultural diversity. 

Last update: December, 2021

Art, crafts and music are all integrated as subjects in school, and obligatory in the first nine years of school (ages approximately 6-16 years old). In secondary school (ages 16-19), these subjects are no longer obligatory in all schools. Downsizing in these subjects, and their removal as obligatory subjects in secondary school, has been a returning issue in public discussion concerning the school system, and the status of arts and culture in Swedish society. Extensive municipal programmes for music and art education as leisure activities also exist in most municipalities in the form of municipal music and culture schools.

The Creative School programme (Skapande skola) is a government programme allowing municipalities and other school principals to apply for grants from the Swedish Arts Council for cultural projects involving children in preschools, and in the obligatory first ten years of school (ages 6-16 years old). The programme has existed since 2008, and aims to strengthen the integration of artistic and cultural expressions in school, as well as to increase the participation of the pupils in professional art and culture. Creative School was granted SEK 196 million for 2021.

Last update: December, 2021

Higher education in the arts is integrated in the government funded system of university and university college education. It is free of charge, and students' grants and loans are provided by the government. Artistic education programmes are offered at several of the country's universities and university colleges. These are typically organized as separate departments, often included in the faculties of humanities, but e.g. at the University of Gothenburg and Lund University, as a separate faculty. Most of the universities and university colleges that offer teacher training, educate arts and crafts teachers for the school system. Design and media related education is represented in most universities and university colleges, and has expanded considerably in the last two decades. Courses in creative writing are established at a few universities. A few universities also provide doctoral post-graduate education in the fine arts, and the Swedish Research Council offers grants specifically for projects in artistic research.

At four university colleges in Stockholm, only artistic education is offered: the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design (Konstfack), the Royal University College of Fine Arts (Kungliga Konsthögskolan), the Royal College of Music (Kungliga musikhögskolan), and Stockholm University of the Arts (Stockholms konstnärliga högskola). On January 1, 2014, the University College of Dance and Circus, the University College of Film, Radio, Television and Theatre, and the University College of Opera merged into the new Stockholm University of the Arts (Stockholms konstnärliga högskola).

Last update: December, 2021

Voluntary municipal music schools have a long history in Sweden. By the mid-20^thcentury, they were established in most municipalities in the country. Today voluntary municipal music and culture schools focusing on after-school activities for schoolchildren form one of the major areas of cultural activity at the municipal level of government. Since the 1990’s their activities have widened their focus from classical music to a broad selection of cultural expressions, including subjects such as music, dance, drama, theatre, and art, with music retaining its status as the most commonly offered subject.

The number of students has increased steadily since the year 2000. In 2018, municipal music and culture schools had 237 000 pupils, i.e. 10.5 percent of children and young people aged 6-19. Many music and culture schools also organize open activities not included in these numbers. The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions estimate that more than 500 000 pupils participated in such activities in 2018. In 2016, a national subsidy of SEK 100 million was introduced for music and culture schools. Municipal spending on music and culture schools amounted to SEK 2.64 billion in 2019. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the trend was that municipal spending on music and culture schools was increasing (Swedish Arts Council 2019; Swedish Agency for Cultural Analysis 2020).

Last update: December, 2021

Government-supported (but often privately owned) arts and culture schools on the levels between secondary and university level education exist all across the country. In many fields, these schools are, at least in practice, a necessary preparation for admission to university level arts education. This field, to some extent, overlaps with popular education (folkbildning) especially in the case of folk high schools (folkhögskolor) focusing on aesthetic and artistic subjects. Most art and culture schools on this level are either part of popular education (folkbildning), or vocational schools (yrkeshögskola).

Vocational schools (yrkeshögskola) are a part of the education system that was given its current shape through a reform in 2015. In the field of arts and culture, these exist in three main categories: schools preparing for university level art education, professional education for work in the arts and culture sector, and professional education for work in the heritage sector. In 2019, a total of 2 880 students were admitted to vocational schools in the field of arts and culture, 220 fewer than the previous year (statistics from Statistics Sweden, SCB).

Of the 154 folk high schools (folkhögskolor) in Sweden, most offer aesthetic programmes at the post-compulsory educational level, specializing in music, fine art, handicrafts, performing arts or creative writing. In the autumn of 2016, more than 7 000 students participated in such programmes, a number which had then increased at least since the 1990’s. Studies indicate that these courses have a central position in the infrastructure of Swedish professional arts education. In 2016, almost 60 percent of students finishing such programmes applied to university level education within 12 months, primarily for studies in the arts and humanities, but also in social sciences and pedagogy, and for teacher training. Interestingly, 27 percent of the participants had studied university level courses and programmes before folk high school studies (Fürst, Levelius & Nylander 2018).