Adult education in Sweden and the United States : Working Life in Sweden No. 38

All young persons in Sweden have to complete 9 years of basic compulsory schooling. More than 95 percent opt for an additional 2 or 3 years of upper secondary school, after which they have free access to further education. The system of adult education is designed to bridge the gaps between generations and to provide opportunities for recurrent, lifelong education. The traditionally strong position of adult education is partly tied to the large number of providers. Formal adult education comprises basic education operated by authorities through government grants and municipal adult education. Popular adult educational activities are studies at folk high schools or under the aegis of adult educational associations. Labor market training takes the form of specially organized vocational training or uses the regular educational system. Personnel education and inservice training are educational activities aimed at employees and organized on the employers' terms and at their expense in companies and national or local authorities. The government has tried to establish the necessary preconditions for adult educational activities, including adult education in all municipalities, educational financing, educational leave, studies as part of the renewal of working life, and adult education as an expression of general welfare policyUpprättat; 1990; 20071130 (andbra