Amid declining test scores, the country has pivoted away from screens and invested in back-to-basics school materials.
In 2023, the Swedish government announced that the country’s schools would be goingback to basics,
emphasizing skills such as reading and writing, particularly in early
grades. After mostly being sidelined, physical books are now being
reintroduced into classrooms, and students are learning to write the
old-fashioned way: by hand, with a pencil or pen, on sheets of paper.
The Swedish government also plans to make schools cellphone-free throughout the country.
Educational authorities have been investing heavily. Last year alone, the education ministry allocated $83 million to purchase textbooks and teachers’ guides. In a country with about 11 million people, the aim
is for every student to have a physical textbook for each subject. The
government also put $54 million towards the purchase of fiction and
non-fiction books for students.
These moves represent a dramatic pivot from previous decades, during which Sweden — and many other nations — moving away from physical books in favor
of tablets and digital resources in an effort to prepare students for
life in an online world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Nordic country’s
efforts have sparked a debate
on the role of digital technology in education, one that extends well
beyond the country’s borders. U.S. parents in districts that have
adopted digital technology to a great extent may be wondering if
educators will reverse course, too.
So why did Sweden pivot? In an email to Undark, Linda Fälth, a
researcher in teacher education at Linnaeus University, wrote that the
“decision to reinvest in physical textbooks and reduce the emphasis on
digital devices” was prompted by several factors, including questions
around whether the digitalization of classrooms had been evidence-based.
“There was also a broader cultural reassessment,” Fälth wrote. “Sweden
had positioned itself as a frontrunner in digital education, but over
time concerns emerged about screen time, distraction, reduced deep
reading, and the erosion of foundational skills such as sustained
attention and handwriting.”
Fälth noted that proponents of reform believe that “basic skills —
especially reading, writing, and numeracy — must be firmly established
first, and that physical textbooks are often better suited for that
purpose.”
In a country with about 11 million people, the aim is for every student to have a physical textbook for each subject.
Between 2000 and 2012, Swedish students’ scores
on standardized tests steadily declined in reading, math, and science.
Though they recovered ground between 2012 and 2018, those scores had
dropped again by 2022.
Though it’s unclear precisely how much of the decline is due to
digitization, there is some evidence that analog teaching materials for
reading may be superior to screen learning. However, this applies to expository as opposed to narrative texts. Narrative texts tell a story,
whether fiction or non-fiction, while expository texts are designed to
inform, describe, or explain a topic in a logical, factual manner.
Swedish officials emphasize that digital technology isn’t being removed from schools altogether. Rather, digital aids “should only be introduced in teaching at an age when they encourage, rather than hinder, pupils’ learning.” Achieving digital competence remains an important objective, particularly in higher grades.
Historically, the technology industry has pushed for more use of digital learning, seeing itself as a transformer of education.....
