The teacher certification system – design, governance and monitoring
(RiR 2025:12)
Summary
The Swedish National Audit Office has examined whether the system for certifying teachers and preschool teachers, introduced in 2011, works effectively. The system was introduced with the aim of helping to ensure that, by improving legal certainty for children and pupils and the quality of the teaching staff, all children and pupils would be taught by well-qualified and suitable teachers and preschool teachers. Furthermore, certification was intended to make the teaching profession more attractive and raise its status.
The overall conclusion of the Swedish National Audit Office is that the certification system has not had the intended effect. An important reason for this is that the shortage of teachers has increased and become more protracted than the Government anticipated when the system was introduced. However, the audit has also identified significant shortcomings in the system that – notwithstanding the teacher shortage – have had an adverse impact on goal achievement. This is mainly because the Government has not designed the system sufficiently well to prevent unsuitable teachers from working in schools. Therefore, the overall assessment is that the teacher certification system does not work effectively.
Despite these shortcomings, the system should remain in place. Certification serves a purpose as proof of a teacher’s formal competences, and the system of disciplinary actions bolsters the protection of children and pupils when a teacher or preschool teacher has proven to be unsuitable. To better achieve the objectives of the certification system, the Government needs to take measures to address the shortcomings identified in the audit.
Proportion of unqualified teachers in schools remains high
In the long term, the certification requirement was intended to lead to only certified and qualified teachers teaching in schools. Fourteen years after certification was introduced, many children and pupils continue to be taught by teachers who lack either certification or relevant qualifications for the subjects, school years or school forms in which they teach. At national level, the proportion of such teachers is almost 30%, albeit with substantial disparities between subjects, school forms and schools.
Teacher shortages have affected prospects of a well-functioning system
The Government has taken measures to mitigate the shortage of teachers through a number of different exemptions from the certification requirement. This has had an adverse impact on objective fulfilment in several respects. Exemptions have led to a very high proportion of non-certified teachers in certain disciplines, while the same teachers have weaker incentives to obtain certification. In addition, exempted teachers are not subject to the disciplinary actions introduced in 2011, since these only apply to certified teachers. On the other hand, the Government has also taken measures to improve objective fulfilment through initiatives aimed at increasing the number of qualified and certified teachers.
Lack of sufficiently effective mechanisms to prevent and address unsuitable teachers in schools and preschools
The audit shows that the system neither identifies nor addresses unsuitable teachers sufficiently well. The shortcomings, which are manifest at all stages of the system, are mainly due to the Government’s inadequate governance and are present both in legislation and in government agencies’ responsibility and authority.
When the National Agency for Education examines a teacher’s right to become certified, the teacher’s suitability is not examined through any record check or other type of assessment. Employers have a statutory obligation to perform record checks, but only for new recruitments. Furthermore, there are indications that education providers do not always report unsuitable teachers to the Swedish Schools Inspectorate, and that the courts do not fulfil their duty of notification. The Swedish Schools Inspectorate, in turn, has no mandate to address filed reports concerning non-certified teachers, despite the fact that one in five teachers in schools is uncertified. The Teachers’ Disciplinary Board essentially functions well, but too few cases come to the Board’s attention for examination.
Recommendations
To the Government
- Regularly evaluate which exemptions from the certification requirement remain justified.
- Enable the National Agency for Education to check criminal records when teachers and preschool teachers apply for certification.
- Expand record checks among school staff. For example, consider whether record checks among school and preschool staff should be performed on a regular basis, rather than only for new appointments. Also, consider whether the record extract to work at schools should include the same offences as those in the record extract to work at homes for care or residence (HVB).
- Introduce requirements for education providers to report serious cases of unsuitable and unskilled teachers to the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.
- Review disciplinary actions for teachers and preschool teachers to ensure that they are effective and that they also cover non-certified teachers and preschool teachers.
- Follow up to ensure that the National Courts Administration’s work to grant the Courts of Sweden automated access to the National Agency for Education’s certification register is completed.
To the Swedish Schools Inspectorate
- Deepen the annual reporting of cases brought before the Teachers’ Disciplinary Board by, for example, explaining processing times and grounds for filing reports with the Board.
To the National Agency for Education
- Review the application process for applicants with third-country education to ensure that they do not need to pay the application fee twice.