This is the Swedish National Agency for Education

The National Agency for Education is the central administrative authority for the public school system, publicly organised preschooling, school-age childcare and for adult education.

The Swedish National Agency for Education is tasked with ensuring that all children and students have access to the same high-quality standard of education and activities in secure environments. Our mission is to create the best conditions for the children’s development and learning and to help improve the students’ learning outcomes.

The National Agency for Education is led by Director-General Joakim Malmström. The agency prepares knowledge requirements, regulations, general recommendations and national tests. We are also responsible for official statistics in the area of education and we conduct national follow-ups and evaluations. We also oversee Sweden’s participation in international education surveys.

Development and in-service training

The National Agency for Education also ensures that Swedish education maintains a good standard of quality. We achieve this with the help of national schools development programmes and in-service training of the staff. We distribute grants and arrange head-teacher training programmes.

National certification for teachers

The agency issues diplomas of certification to teachers and preschool teachers. We have an expressed sectoral responsibility for issues concerning the disabled and the rights of new arrivals in Sweden to receive the same high-quality education as everyone else. The agency also has the responsibility for the Teachers Disciplinary Board.

Certification of teachers and preschool teachers with a foreign teaching degree

Reference centre for vocational education

The agency’s task is to secure the national supply of competence and help young people establish a foothold on the labour market. We therefore support education providers, employers and other organisations in their efforts to improve the quality of upper-secondary vocational education.

Our task is to disseminate information about the latest education research and to share our knowledge of this operational area both in and outside Sweden. As part of this endeavour, we function as a national reference centre providing information about vocational education in Sweden, other EU countries and countries in the EEA. The agency also serves as a national reference point for quality assurance work in vocational education. We are also responsible for the national councils of the vocational programmes of upper-secondary schools.

Official statistics of Sweden

Sweden’s Official Statistics (SOS) are statistics that are particularly important for describing Sweden. Official statistics contribute to the development of our society by being objective and relevant, which benefits citizens.

The Swedish National Agency for Education has been tasked by the Government to be responsible for the official statistics within school system and child care. As a government agency responsible for statistics, we are responsible for ensuring that

• the statistics are objective;
• the statistics are documented; and
• the statistics are accompanied by a quality declaration.

Official statistics must be kept publicly available free of charge on the internet. All official statistics must bear the text Sweden’s official statistics and/or carry the logo.

The logo and the text Sweden’s official statistics may not be used in further processing of the official statistics.

Government agency network

There are about thirty government agencies in Sweden who are responsible for the official statistics. Statistics Sweden is responsible for coordinating and supporting the system for official statistics.

To read more about what constitutes official statistics and which government agencies form part of the network, visit Statistics Sweden’s website.

Statistics Sweden’s website (In Swedish) External link.

Your Europe (europa.eu) External link.

Help us improve (foq.youreurope.europa.eu) External link.

Contact Assistance Service (asf.youreurope.europa.eu) External link.