About municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities

Engelska (ENG)

Municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities is designed for individuals with an intellectual disability or with an acquired brain injury. Municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities is available at the basic and the upper secondary level.

You can do the following through municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities:

• take basic-level courses that correspond to education through compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities
• study levels of subjects from a national programme of upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities
• take a vocational programme
• take an examination in a course or level of a subject that you want to receive a grade in
• have your knowledge assessed and documented in writing through what is known as validation.

Komvux also offers Swedish for immigrants (SFI) and education at the basic and the upper secondary level.

Municipal adult education in Swedish for immigrants (SFI)

Municipal adult education at the basic and the upper secondary level

Would you like to know more or start studying at Komvux for adults with intellectual disabilities?

Contact a study and vocational guidance counsellor in your municipality if you want to start studying. You can find contact details on your municipality's website.

Contact a study and vocational guidance counsellor (in Swedish)

Who can study through municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities?

Municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities is designed for individuals with an intellectual disability or with an acquired brain injury. You can start studying at Komvux from 1 July of the year you turn 20. To be eligible, you must also

• be a resident of Sweden
• lack the knowledge that the education will provide
• be capable of completing the education.

In some cases, you may be allowed to start even if you are younger than the age of 20. These qualification requirements apply to municipal adult education for adults with intellectual disabilities at both the basic and the upper secondary level.

You take courses or subject levels

With municipal adult education at the basic level for adults with intellectual disabilities, you study courses. With municipal adult education at the upper secondary level for adults with intellectual disabilities, you study levels of subjects. If a course or a level in a subject is extensive, the headteacher may sometimes decide to divide it into sub-courses or sub-levels.

Basic-level courses

If you meet the qualification requirements, you are entitled to study through municipal adult education at the basic level for adults with intellectual disabilities. You can study the courses you need in your home municipality or in another municipality where the courses are available.

Municipal adult education at the basic level for adults with intellectual disabilities offers courses that correspond to the subjects offered at compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities.

You can choose from the following courses:

• Biology
• English
• Physics
• Geography
• History
• Home and consumer studies
• Chemistry
• Mathematics
• Religious studies
• Civics
• Swedish
• Swedish as a second language
• Technology.

There are also basic-level courses that correspond to the education provided in the subject areas of compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities. These courses are

• Individual and society
• Nature and the environment
• Language and communication.

Levels of subjects at the upper secondary level

You can apply to study levels of subjects at the upper secondary level. Municipal adult education at the upper secondary level for adults with intellectual disabilities offers the same subjects as the national programmes of upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities.

At the upper secondary level, you can choose from among vocational subjects and more general subjects.

For example, vocational subjects are offered in the following areas:

• Property maintenance and construction
• Vehicle and goods handling
• Health, nursing and social care
• Forest, land and animal.

Examples of general courses include Swedish, mathematics and English.

Orientation courses

You can also take orientation courses, which serve a variety of purposes. Among other things, they can help you

• learn how to study
• find out more about different areas you can study
• help you choose a course of study or vocation
• gain basic digital skills.

Ask your study and vocational guidance counsellor which orientation courses may be helpful for you.

Learning at a workplace

In certain courses, subject levels, or parts of these, your learning can take place at a workplace. There, you will learn how to perform certain work tasks. You will also be assigned a supervisor, who will assist you during your time at the workplace. This is called workplace-based learning (APL).

Plan your studies

You plan your studies together with a study and vocational guidance counsellor or someone else within the municipal adult education system who knows a lot about studies and jobs.

You take part in drawing up your own study plan. It shall include

• why you are studying and what your goals are
• what courses or subject levels you will be studying
• how many activity credits the courses or subject levels have, i.e. how extensive the studies are
• how long you will be studying.

Validation – giving you credit for what you already know

Through life, school and any job you may have had, you have learned a variety of things. If you already know parts of the content of a course or a subject level, you do not need to study it again. The staff at Komvux can find out what you already know and document it. This process is called validation.

Examination for grades

If you are a resident of Sweden, Komvux for adults with intellectual disabilities gives you the option of taking an examination in all courses and subjects that are graded. You can also have your Komvux diploma project assessed. The examination may only be taken at a municipality that provides the course or the subject level in question.

Komvux is allowed to charge a fee for taking an examination. However, they are not allowed to charge this fee to anyone who has not achieved a passing grade after completing the relevant course through municipal adult education at the basic level for adults with intellectual disabilities. Nor may they charge a fee to anyone who has not achieved a grade of E after completing the relevant level of a subject through municipal adult education at the upper secondary level for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Talk to your study and vocational guidance counsellor if you would like to take an examination and need more information about how this works and how much it costs.

Examinations in municipal adult education

Grades and certificates

Once you have completed a course or a level of a subject, the teacher will give you a grade.

For courses through municipal adult education at the basic level for adults with intellectual disabilities that correspond to subjects in compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities, you can receive a grade of Pass.

For courses corresponding to subject areas in compulsory school for pupils with intellectual disabilities, you will be given a letter grade.

At municipal adult education at the upper secondary level for adults with intellectual disabilities, you can receive a grade of A, B, C, D or E, with A being the highest grade and E the lowest.

For courses or subject levels that are graded, you can also receive a certificate showing what you learned in the course or subject level you studied.

Komvux certificate

Pupils who have completed their studies in municipal adult education at upper secondary level for adults with intellectual disabilities are issued a Komvux certificate. The Komvux certificate shall state whether you studied a programme that is generally equivalent to a complete programme in upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities and which programme your studies are generally equivalent to. For this reason, information about education through upper secondary school for pupils with intellectual disabilities may be included.

Talk to your study and vocational guidance counsellor if you would like to learn more about what a Komvux certificate may contain.