Skills validation system should help foreign workers

Sweden should establish an organisation for the validation of professional skills, irrespective of where and how they are acquired. This should make it easier to find employment, especially for workers from other countries, according to a report presented to the Minister for Education in December 1998.

Many people who have acquired their professional skills in other countries have difficulties in finding employment in Sweden. This is partly because Swedish employers do not know what value to place on certificates from foreign upper-secondary schools or foreign work experience. Early in 1998, the Minister for Education therefore appointed a special investigator with the task of proposing measures that would remedy this deficiency.

On 18 December 1998, the investigator presented his report. He proposes that Sweden should establish an organisation for the validation of professional skills, irrespective of where and how they are acquired. Its services should not only be provided for workers from abroad: at present, professional skills can be achieved in many different ways, and some Swedish workers might well wish to have their qualifications validated by a reliable institution.

The validation should not be based on the formal certificates that the worker may have, but on a test. Prior to this, the employment agency or the authority responsible for the integration of immigrants should assess if the worker concerned would benefit from some supplementary training before undergoing the test, or if he or she should undergo the test immediately.

The test should indicate the worker's qualifications for the specific occupation - such as basic theoretical knowledge and ability to comprehend the entirety of the work - as well as those skills that are needed generally in working life - such as the ability to cooperate, to communicate and to solve problems.

If a worker passed the test, a certificate would be issued, which would have the same value as a leaving certificate from a Swedish upper secondary school. With this certificate, the worker could try to find a job directly, or proceed to the third stage, whereby he or she might qualify for work in a sector which requires a special certificate - eg as a plumbing, heating and ventilation installation engineer.

The validating organisation, according to the report, should be overseen by a board which would consist of representatives from the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO), the Swedish Employers' Confederation (Svenska Arbetsgivareföreningen, SAF), the Swedish Association of Local Authorities (Kommunförbundet) and the Federation of County Councils (Landstingsförbundet), and perhaps representatives from other organisations.