What is upper secondary school?

The upper secondary school is free of charge and a voluntary school which youth can choose to attend after completing compulsory school. The upper secondary school consists of national programmes, introductory programmes and programmes that differ from the national programme structure.

There are a total of 18 national upper secondary programmes. Each programme last three years and consists of upper secondary school foundation subjects, programme specific subjects, orientations, programme specialisations and a diploma project.

Each national upper secondary programme covers:

• Nine upper secondary foundation subjects – English, history, physical education and health, mathematics, science studies, social studies, Swedish or Swedish as a second language and religion. In the Natural science programme, science studies are replaced by the programme specific subjects, i.e. biology, physics, and chemistry. In the Technology programme, science studies are replaced by the programme specific subjects i.e. physics and chemistry.
• A number of subjects specific to a given programme are chosen.
• Diploma project.
• Workplace-based learning (APL), in vocational programmes.

The different upper secondary programmes may be either vocational programmes, or programmes preparatory for higher education.

A vocational programme can also be taken as an upper secondary apprenticeship education.