By Lina Krauß and Mara Balaita
One might remember going to school with the burden of a heavy school bag on the shoulders. A school bag stuffed with books, notepads, pens and folders. Many Swedish children cannot relate to this. Many of their teaching materials are available online, including homework. What they mostly carry in their backpacks: laptops and tablets, which they get from their schools. In Klaghamnsschool in Malmö, for example, every student gets a Chromebook to use from year one to nine, according to Christin Stigborg, principal of the school. Even pre- and primary school students in Sweden were taught a lot digitally for years. Only six years ago, the school authorities recommended using digital teaching aids such as laptops or apps in a national guideline.
Not just Sweden, many European countries aim for more digitalization in their educational systems. But the Scandinavian country always served as an example of that. But suddenly there is a turn in Sweden’s approach to the use of digital tools in schools. In March 2023 Sweden’s school minister Lotta Edholm said, “Sweden’s students need more textbooks.” The plan of going back to basics and reducing digital tools in Swedish schools raised a big discussion in Sweden and beyond.
Focus: pre- and primary school children
The starting point of Edholms approach was that researchers from Karolinska Institute, a highly esteemed medical research school, stated, “There is clear scientific evidence that digital tools hinder rather than improve student learning.” They believe that students should get knowledge through printed textbooks and teacher expertise rather through free available digital sources. In 2023, Sweden’s government therefore, made more than SEK 650 million available to bring the books back. From 2024 on, every year SEK 500 million will be allocated to purchase non-digital material for especially younger children in preschool or compulsory school. “One gets the best conditions for developing basic skills in reading and writing in analogue environments using analogue tools. It’s therefore important that pupils get to work with pen and paper and, not least, have access to textbooks and staffed school libraries,” said Edholm.
Moreover, the government emphasizes that screen-free environments support children in developing relationships, concentrate and learn to read and write. “The digital tools our students have can be a distraction in many ways,” warns also Daniel Andersson, ICT-teacher from Djupadalsschool in Malmö. But he also emphasizes that digital tools can be very helpful for teachers and students.
In Sweden, children enter the school system around the age of six. Until last year one of the first items that they got was a device like a Chromebook, which becomes the core part of their students’ learning. “At our school we have one to one Chromebook from the first grade, and it varies a lot how much and for what the teachers use it,“ explains Andersson. “From grade three and upwards the students get most of their assignments on Google classroom and it’s there, where they normally hand in their tasks,” adds Andersson. According to him, the school uses it also to teach pupils in grades one and two writing and reading, to play pedagogical games and more. Digital tools at Djupadalsschool are also used for multi modal assignments (create pictures, podcast, movies etc.) and to work with programming (Scratch, LEGO WeDO and Mindstorm, etc.).
A need for media literacy
Some experts fear that the discussion does not touch upon the fact that children will live in a world where digital tools become more and more a part of day-to-day life. “The people who grew up with a smartphone in their pocket are still very young, so we don’t actually know what it means in a whole life perspective,” says Anna-Lena Godhe, professor of pedagogy at Jonköping University. “Probably they grow up in a society, where you have to have digital competence to be an active citizen.” Therefore, she thinks they still need to be teached in school how to handle digital tools. Godhe emphasizes that schools are a place where all children can experience the use of digital tools and experiment with them in different ways: they can research, they can create digital products and they can learn how to be critical as well.
Olof Sundin, professor of Information Studies at Lund university, points out something similar, “The idea of making everything analog, print based, throughout everything, could also lead to spend less time on understanding.” According to him, this should be implemented in all subjects. Children should learn how search engines work, where information comes from and if for example, Google is giving them the truth. “I think the general approach is to make visible for us what tends to be invisible. And to make what is taken for granted, to be less taken for granted.” Especially, now with the upcoming of AI, it becomes even more important. Schools play an important role in educating children in the use of media, because some parents don’t have the knowledge. Sundin emphazises, that also older people need a lot of education surrounding media.
Curricula shall be changed
He, as well as Godhe, think that there has to be a way to include both: digital tools and classic tools like textbooks and handwriting. The Swedish National Agency for Education just handed over some proposals on changes in the preschool curriculum, where they exactly address that. “With the proposal, the use of digital tools will decrease in preschool. At the same time, pre-school teachers are given increased responsibility for choosing among working methods and learning tools,” said Pernilla Sundström, head of unit at the Swedish National Agency for Education. The Agency proposes strengthening reading aloud, physical activity and motor skills. But besides that children must have given “the conditions to develop a basic understanding of the technology development they encounter in everyday life”.
A good balance
The balance between the use of digital tools and textbooks is already established in some schools. Children are aware of both: digital literacy and the tactile skills of handwriting, thereby encouraging a comprehensive understanding of reading and writing.
Christian Stigborg says that the changes will not have such a big impact on children, due to the balance of use regarding analog books and digital tools: “Next year we are starting a new reading project in year one to three and will only have 30 Chromebooks per year. This will not give less time with the Chromebook.” The school hopes to improve the student’s ability to read and write by hand. “We have seen that students’ ability to learn depends on the student’s ability to read and write. Reading and writing improves faster if students get to do it in books and on paper,” says Stigborg. The upcoming transition of the ways of teaching shall also focus on the different levels of abilities students have. Every student shall keep up with the tasks and the amount of work given.
School libraries becoming mandatory
Another part of the Swedish governments initiatives is to strengthen school libraries all over the country. They plan to make amendments to the Education Act to ensure students have access to staffed school libraries. The government wants to promote analogue learning environments for developing skills like relational skills, attention, concentration, reading and writing. In Sweden school libraries are an integral part of the primary school experience, supporting student learning, literacy development, and intellectual growth. The Government has proposed to allocate SEK 216 million in 2025, followed by an estimated SEK 433 million annually.
The school library serves as a valuable educational resource for the students. It provides access to a wide range of books, reference materials, and educational resources that support the curriculum and encourage reading habits among students.
“To some extent, all schools have some kind of library. It differs a lot how they look and how they work,” explains Malin Lundqvist, coordinator of the school libraries in Lund. The school libraries in the city in the south of Sweden work mainly with physical books. “But when it comes to information practices, it’s more a digital way of working, for example with databases and other digital material,” says Lundqvist. She welcomes the planned amendment by the Swedish government. “I think that is wonderful news. It’s been long awaited.”
Other countries’ schools reduce digital tools, too
The Swedish educational system served as an example for other European countries regarding their digitalization strategy. Going back to basics and finding an essential balance between the use of technology and to actually flip through the pages of a real book is also considered by schools in other countries.
Marieskolen, a Danish School in Tønder, decided last year that there should no longer be phones and computers in the classes, because they sensed that there had been a blind use of these things in the teaching. Moreover, they wanted to create more variety, more presence and participation. “The pupils in the oldest classes immediately reacted with a slightly worried expression when they were told. But now, after almost a year, they are happy about it, and they describe that they talk to each other more,” said Birgitte Klippert, principal of the school. Also, the teachers see a difference in the behavior of their students. According to Klippert, they find that students are more involved and engaged in the lessons when there is no screen between them. “They show empathy in a different way than before – directly because they see each other in a different way now.”
The school aims to just use digital tools when it is necessary. “For example, when they have to learn about Excel in mathematics, they have to use Excel as a tool – otherwise they cannot learn it. If, on the other hand, they are to learn about plants in science, they naturally have to go out and experience the plant kingdom on their own – not through Google,” Klippert explains. Marieskolen does not want to abolish digital tools completely and aims like Sweden for a combination of digital and non-digital tools.