Lgr22 is the current curriculum, with syllabuses, for Swedish compulsory school. The new syllabuses started to apply in schools in the autumn term of 2022. This is a short guide to what Skolverket (the Swedish National Agency for Education) itself describes as the most important changes, and what is useful for you to know as a parent.
What changed
- All three parts of the syllabuses changed: the aim, the core content and the criteria for assessment.
- Facts and understanding are emphasised more than before, and the character of each subject comes through more clearly.
- The difference between the stages (Years 1–3, 4–6 and 7–9) is clearer. Basic knowledge is strengthened in the early years, and more complex contexts are introduced step by step.
- What used to be called knowledge requirements are now called grading criteria. In Years 1–3 the term is instead “criteria for assessing acceptable proficiency”, because no grades are given there.
- The criteria are less detailed, so that teachers can assess knowledge in many different ways.
What does “core content” mean?
Core content is what the teaching must cover. It is set out for each subject and stage, not for each individual year. How the content is spread over the years is decided locally by the school. That is why two schools can teach things in a different order, and why Lärkompis, which splits the content up by year, gives its time windows as estimates.
Grades and criteria
Under the current rules, grades are given from Year 6. The teacher makes an overall assessment of the pupil's knowledge against the criteria. For a grade E, every part of the criteria must be met, while the boundaries for D–A are less rigid than before. In Year 3 there are no grades, only criteria for acceptable proficiency, and national tests in Swedish and maths to support the assessment.
What you can do at home
- Ask the teacher: “What is the most important thing my child should be able to do by the end of term, and what does it look like when it has clicked?” The criteria are written for exactly that question.
- Talk about understanding before speed. The criteria talk about explaining, reasoning and giving examples, not about being fast.
- Read the syllabus for your child's subject on Skolverket's website. It is short, and the core content for your child's stage is the most concrete part. Skolverket publishes an English translation of the whole curriculum.
- Use the parent-teacher progress meeting (utvecklingssamtal). Ask for a concrete picture of where your child is in relation to the criteria and what the next step is.
And 2028?
Lgr22 applies in full up to and including the 2027/28 school year. The Swedish parliament has decided on new curricula, a new grading system with a 1–10 scale and a ten-year compulsory school, starting in the autumn term of 2028. The details, including new syllabuses, are being drawn up by Skolverket, so follow Skolverket's page on changes for up-to-date information. The content model in Lärkompis is versioned, so that new syllabuses can be added when they apply.
See what Lärkompis practises
Every exercise in Lärkompis is linked to an item in the core content of Lgr22. On the pages for each subject and year you can see exactly which items are covered and which skills are practised, for example in maths in Year 4 or Swedish in Year 2.
