The Swedish government is battling declining literacy rates and has focused on bringing back physical books to schools and encouraging handwriting, the BBC reports.
However, the return of analogue devices has drawn criticism from technology companies, teachers and computer scientists, who say the approach will limit students’ future employment opportunities and even harm the country’s economy.
At a high school in Nacka, near Stockholm, final-year students are removing computers from their bags, along with other items they have rarely used in recent years. Sofia, 18, said she has often been coming home from school with new books and worksheets. Her teacher has started printing out all the texts used in class, and in maths, the digital platform has been replaced with books. The scene contrasts with Sweden’s image as one of Europe’s most technologically advanced nations.
Laptops became a common sight in Swedish classrooms in the late 2000s and early 2010s. According to official statistics, in 2015, around 80% of students in public schools already had access to their own digital device. In 2019, the use of tablets was made mandatory in preschools. This was part of the previous Social Democrat-led government’s mission to prepare even the youngest children for an increasingly digitalized life.
The right-wing coalition currently in power is looking in a different direction.
Liberal Party spokesman Joar Forsell said the government was trying to get rid of screens as much as possible. The party’s leader, Simona Mohamsson, is currently Sweden’s education minister. Forsell added that digital devices could be used more in older grades, but that younger children don’t need screens at all.
The Swedish government uses the slogan “from screens to binders” (från skärm till pärm), and has stated that screen-free lessons create better conditions for children to concentrate and develop reading and writing skills.
From 2025, preschools will no longer be required to use digital tools, and children under the age of two will not be given tablets. This year, a ban on the use of mobile phones in schools will come into force.
Schools have already allocated more than 2.1 billion kronor (almost 200,000 euros) to buy new textbooks. The new curriculum, which will be based on learning from books, could be ready in 2028. Forsel said that reading real books and writing on real paper is better if you want children to gain real knowledge.
The change in approach was chosen after discussions with researchers, educational organizations,
civil society organizations and local governments. Karolinska Institute neuroscientist Sissela Nutley said there was a growing awareness of the disruptions that technology is causing in the classroom. She is among those who have raised concerns about the use of digital tools. Nutley said students may be losing their ability to concentrate, and she pointed to growing research showing that reading on digital devices makes it harder to comprehend text, and that increased use of technology can affect the brain development of younger students.
The government hopes that the return to traditional teaching methods will help improve Sweden’s position in the “Pisa” rankings, a survey of students’ performance in core subjects by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Sweden was once the leader in the rankings, but its scores fell in 2012, and after temporary improvements, its scores in maths and reading deteriorated significantly again in 2022.
While Sweden’s scores are still slightly above the OECD average, the 2022 ranking showed that almost a quarter of 15- and 16-year-olds have poor reading and reading comprehension skills. Forsell said it is a known fact that
children who spend their entire school years using devices lag behind their peers in international assessments.
The OECD’s January report on Sweden’s education system also found that Swedish students are benefiting from the use of devices. However, the report highlighted high levels of disruption caused by devices in classrooms and concluded that extensive use of devices in math lessons was correlated with lower performance.
OECD Education Director Andreas Schleicher urged caution in applying the principle of causality, but noted that Sweden’s relatively extreme approach to introducing digital tools into schools was likely affecting results. He said that Swedes were introducing a large number of devices and technologies into classrooms without a clear pedagogical purpose and without clearly defined goals.
Meanwhile, in Sweden, the government’s strategy to return to books has sparked heated debate in the business community. A report by the Swedish Association for Educational Technology warns that analogue education risks leaving students underprepared for their future jobs. Jannie Jeppesen, the association’s executive director, said that everyone entering the workforce needs digital skills. She referred to a European Union report that said that 90% of jobs will soon require digital skills.
The issue of the increasingly widespread use of artificial intelligence is also a concern. The Swedish government wants to introduce subjects in secondary schools that explain the benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence. Critics have suggested that younger students should also be taught about artificial intelligence.
Read also: European civil servants must abandon WhatsApp
Follow us on Facebook and X!
