“Take the chance to learn Swedish from day one”

Elpida was born and raised in Greece, where she studied her Bachelor’s in English Language and Literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. After graduating, she took a gap year and went to New York and China to teach English as a foreign language.

– My original plan was to do a Master’s in the UK. But while in China, I found the Master’s programme in International and Comparative Education at Stockholm University. I liked that it wasn’t that related to teaching, but more about making a difference in the educational world. That intrigued me most about applying.

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Busy years studying and working as a teacher

Elpida started the programme at Stockholm University in 2013. Soon she was busy with balancing studies and a job as a teacher.

– I got a job as a substitute teacher at an International English School my first year. As I was working full time, I couldn’t explore student life that much. But we were quite a tight cohort and I tried to be involved in different activities. I made lifelong friends as a student. I lived in the student area Lappis, which helped a lot.

During her second year, she was busy writing her thesis.

– It wasn’t very restricted what to write your thesis about, you could choose what you were passionate about. I also liked the fact that the teachers encouraged us to do an internship. After graduation, I did an internship for two months at UNESCO in Delhi, working as a communicator. That experience arose my interest in making a difference in the educational world and development in education.

After her internship, Elpida got a full-time job as an English teacher at the same school she had been working at during her studies.

– During that time, I decided I wanted to get a “lärarlegitimation” [qualified teacher status certificate]. I started VAL [professional qualification course for teachers] where they could evaluate my earlier credits. I studied VAL part-time while working full-time and took courses in Swedish. It was challenging considering I had only done SFI [Swedish for immigrants]* earlier. In 2017, I got my “lärarlegitimation”.

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From teacher to Deputy Programme Director

In 2018, Elpida switched jobs and started working as an English language teacher in a public Swedish school. But it didn’t feel like the right path for her anymore.

– It was quite exhausting to work as a teacher and not really how I had pictured it. But I still wanted to work within education and with something related to my master’s programme. I started applying for jobs – a lot of jobs. I didn’t have that much experience in administrative work, but at the same time, being a teacher does include a lot of administrative work. And working for eight years as a teacher helped me understand how teaching and academia works.

In 2019, Elpida got an offer from Stockholm School of Economics.

– I started working as a Programme Manager for the current Bachelor’s programme in Business and Economics while I was involved in the development process for the new programme starting from 2020. The purpose was to ensure the quality of the programme and I worked with the implementation of it. It also gave me the chance to work strategically. 

Elpida was recently promoted to Deputy Programme Director for the same Bachelor’s programme she has been working with for the past three years.

– We’re still in the process of discovering if things operate as we planned them. In 2019, we were working very strategically, but we didn’t know what to expect. I try to have follow-up sessions with the students to make sure they are satisfied with the quality of the programme. It’s exciting to be part of this development.

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“Show curiosity in the language”

Elpida highlights the importance of learning Swedish if you want to find a job in Sweden.

– I would have started studying Swedish from day one. It’s good to start while studying, because when you start looking for jobs, you can get disappointed when you realise you need Swedish. You don’t have to be fluent, but just show potential employers you are keen on learning.

Elpida started learning Swedish by taking courses offered by Stockholm University during her master’s programme, which gave her the basics of the language.

– It was a good foundation to help me apply to SFI. I then studied at SFI for six months, parallel to writing my thesis. I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the language and speak it fluently, because I had heard from different sources that it was important to know Swedish to find a job. Today, most of my daily work is done in Swedish. Try to dive into the language directly, I say to students. Show curiosity in the language. Many employers appreciate that. It shows openness and reflects upon your personality.

Today, Elpida can’t imagine moving back to Greece.

– I now have a lot of attributes making me closer to Swedish mentality than the Greek. I like the Swedish structure, here you can fix everything easily by logging in to a website. In Greece, everything is done manually, you need to go meet people. It’s so easy and comfortable in Sweden doing everything online. And I like the security, the health care, the environment, the culture, the country…It came naturally that I wanted to stay.

*SFI, Swedish for immigrants, is a beginners' course in Swedish organised by the municipality (kommun).

Read more about the Master's programme in Education with International and Comparative specialisation