Sad about leaving Sweden

[jannybabes]

Hej there, I came across this board by chance. I have been living south of Stockholm for the past 4 months, and I have had to return to Scotland to complete my post-grad course...boo hoo!

I have heard horrific things about finding jobs and accommodation in Sweden, is this true? What are the job prospects like for English speakers? I have tried to learn Swedish, but finding it very difficult!
Basically I would be back in Stockholm like a flash, if I knew the score!

Can anyone tell me stories of their experiences, or any helpful info!
cheers Jan x

[Carolyn]

Welcome to the board, Jan. I wish I could give you lots of positive encouragement, but the real truth is, places are hard to find in Stockholm of almost any description. I know of people being on waiting lists for 2 or more years.

As to work with no Swedish, you can find manual labor type jobs, dishwasher, etc., but the competition is pretty rough for those jobs too. Of course, depending on what your post-grad degree is in, that might change things as well.

I myself love living here, but as an older person, I had to create my own work and I am not living that close to Stockholm. I did pass the basic Swedish language classes and can read it fairly well after 4 years and I do speak it quite often, but I can tell you, my grammar sucks!

[jannybabes]

My post-grad is in Community Education which is a big thing in Scotland, but doesn't really exist as an entity in Sweden. It combines Adult Education, Community Development and Youth Work.

I have fallen in love with the place! and finding it really hard to settle at home, as I know I would really enjoy living there and have made so many good friends!!

What about teaching English? Or working for English speaking nursery schools etc?

ps. this is a nice and cheery board!TEXT

[Carolyn]

There are several international schools in Sweden and one of the board members here, debbie, works at one in Malmö. We also have one here in Örebro and they occasionally advertise for teachers. I'll see if I can find you a website. I don't know about the ones in Stockholm, but they DO exist. Maybe debbie can give you a clue on that as well. I'll e-mail her and see if I can get her attention and she can perhaps give you better advice than me!

[Aussie]

Hi Jenny,

As Carolyn said, work and a place to stay are very hard to find. I most people find jobs by networking with other expats or thtough people their Swedish partner knows etc.

As for the International Schools, you will need to be a qualified teacher of course. The ones I know of in Stockholm are:

There is the big one in Johannesgatan www.intsch.se
Katrinebergs Förskola www.vittra.se
Johannes Skola w1.867.telia.com/~u86702761/
British Primary School www.britishprimaryschool.se
Engelska Skolan Norr www.engelskanorr.com
Engelska Skolan Söder www.engelska.se
Edbergsskolan www.edu.sollentuna.se/eds/
International School in Nacka www.internationalschool.se
Kungsholms Gymnasium www.cois.org/Directory/Directory_Page.asp?School_ID=KUNGSH
Tanto www.tantoschool.org/
Planet Kids www.planetkids.se/
Bellmanskällan Montessori Nursery School
www.bellmanskallan.se
Mother Goose www.mothergoose.nu
Humpty Dumpty Nursery School in Karlaplan, I'm sure there are others. And there are others in locations around Sweden.

Other places that take English speakers are
www.languageservicesgms.nu (teaching English to Swedish businessmen) and TBV www.tbv.se/meny/ram_om.html on Söder. I spent a couple of years teaching at TBV. These were adult classes. When I was there, there were a few teachers who didn't speak any Swedish, although it certainly helps teaching English in Sweden if you can speak the language. When teaching adults, they often want to ask something complicated, and it is then that a grasp of Swedish comes in handy. I taught some classes at the school (courses for unemployed
Swedes, which I found a challenge, because basically they were paid to attend, and some of them had an attitude problem). But the majority of the TBV courses I taught were those they sent me to at companies
around Stockholm. I found this highly enjoyable, and the students were great.

I hope you find something!

[Debbie]

jannyybabies, I have pm'ed you