The school system in Sweden has just undergone a major reform, both in primary education (Lgr11) and in upper secondary education (Gy11).

The upper secondary school is free of charge and 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. The different secondary upper secondary programmes may be either vocational programmes, or programmes preparatory for higher education. A vocational program can also be taken as an upper secondary apprenticeship education (Skolverket, 2012).

Ten percent of students fail their core subjects already during compulsory schooling. These students are allowed to enter upper secondary school on the premise of an ”individual” program which allows them to complete their compulsory school education and than transit into a normal upper secondary school program (Source: School to Work Transition in Sweden, Oskar Nordström Skans).

From autumn 2011 upper secondary school has five introduction programmes that replaces the individual program (IV) for those who are not qualified for a national program. None of the five programmes provides a degree, but the idea is that they will lead on to a national program or to work. The programmes content will be determined in an individual study plan. After the education the students get a study certificate. If the students are not qualified for a national program, he/she have the right to join a introduction program. Which program the student can choose from depends on the goals the student sets up. An other option, if the student is not qualified, is to remain in compulsory school up to two years.

The labour market connection of upper secondary education could probably be strengthened in many dimensions. The workplace practice is by most observers considered to be a very important part of the vocational programs – yet it does not materialize as required. Summer jobs (or other casual jobs held while in school) are frequent and may fill the gap left from lack of workplace practice. Data suggest that they do play a role as a bridge into regular employment. There are however reasons not to rely on these jobs as the sole bridge between school and work. First of all, all casual jobs are extremely sensitive to the business cycle – suggesting that the importance of work practice arrangements increases in bad times. Second, casual jobs are often distributed through social contacts, probably even more so than regular jobs. This means that students who lack contacts either because they have made a different career choice than their parents, or because the parents are unemployed may be left without jobs, or at least without jobs which are related to the field of education.

As a policy for introducing children to working life, most Swedish municipalities provide a few weeks of low paid employment during the summer months for upper secondary school students unable to find other jobs. The jobs are often rationed. Wang et al (2006) study these jobs in a municipality were the jobs allocated through a lottery. They find no significant long run difference in outcomes between those who received a job and those that did not. Even though the statistical precision was quite low, this seems to suggest that the short and often seasonally oriented summer jobs provided by the municipalities do not help students to enter the labour market (Source: School to Work Transition in Sweden, Oskar Nordström Skans).