Programme subjects are special subjects for the education programme and programme area you choose. 

Common programme subjects

• For vocational education programmes the programme subjects are common for all pupils within the same programme area.
• For education programmes for sports and physical education, art, design and architecture, media and communication, music, dance and drama, certain programme subjects are common for all pupils on Vg1, Vg2 and Vg3.
• For education programmes for specialization in general studies you yourself choose which programme subjects from your own programme area you wish to specialize in. There are specific requirements for choice and combinations of subjects.

Elective programme subjects

For programmes for general studies, a certain number of hours have been reserved for elective programme subjects. These are programme subjects from your own programme area or from other programmes for general studies. You choose these subjects in accordance with established rules. The number of hours you may use on elective programme subjects is specified in the distribution of periods and subjects for each programme area.

Rules for choice of programme subjects 

You can find information about the rules for the choice of subjects on the pages for the distribution of periods and subjects for each programme area:

• Sports and physical education
• Dance
• Drama
• Music
• Natural science and mathematics
• Languages, social sciences and economics
• Arts, crafts and design

Programme subjects that are based on each other 

Some of the curricula say that one programme subject is based on another programme subject, e.g. that Chemistry 2 is based on Chemistry1. This means  that you should have the academic competence described for the programme subject at the lower level in order to start the subject at a higher level.  

If you, in the opinion of the head teacher, have sufficient competence, you may take a programme subject at a higher level without having taken the programme subject at a lower level first. However, you must still meet the requirement for in-depth specialization; that is to say, that at Vg3 you must continue with two programme subjects that you have taken at Vg2. If you for example only take Chemistry 2 and not Chemistry 1, you do not have an in-depth specialization in chemistry.