The Swedish government is promoting the use of physical books, paper and pens in classrooms in a bid to stem the decline in literacy rates. But the increased use of analogue tools has drawn criticism from technology companies, educators and computer scientists who say it could affect students’ job prospects and even damage the Nordic country’s economy.
At a high school in the town of Nacka near Stockholm, graduates pull laptops out of their backpacks and bags – and things they say they used far less often a few years ago.
“I often come home from school now with new books and papers,” says Sophie, 18.
She notes that one teacher has “started printing all the texts we use in class” and the digital learning platform in maths classes has been replaced by textbook-only teaching.
This contrasts with Sweden’s reputation as one of Europe’s most technologically advanced societies, thanks to its high levels of digital skills and thriving ecosystem of tech startups.
Laptops became mainstream in Swedish classrooms in the late 2000s and early 2010s. By 2015, about 80 per cent of students in municipal public high schools had individual access to a digital device, official figures show.
Compulsory tablet use in kindergartens was included in the curriculum in 2019 as part of the previous Social Democrat government’s mission to prepare even the youngest children for an increasingly digitalised working and private life.
However, the current centre-right coalition, which came to power in 2022, is taking the curriculum in a different direction.
“We are trying to get rid of screens as much as possible,” says Joar Forsell, education speaker for the Liberal Party, whose leader is Sweden’s education minister.
“In high schools they can be used a bit more, but with younger children or in school in general, I don’t think we should use screens at all,” he adds.
The government often uses the slogan “från skärm till pärm”, which is distinctly Swedish and translates to “from screen to folder”. He argues that lessons without screens create a better environment for children to concentrate and develop their writing and reading skills.
Author photo, Maddy Savage
From 2025, nurseries are no longer required to use digital tools and tablets are no longer provided to children under two. Later this year, a ban on mobile phones in schools, even for educational purposes, comes into effect.
Schools have already been given more than 2.1 billion Kroner ($200 million) in grants to invest in textbooks and teacher manuals. The new curriculum, designed to consolidate learning from paper textbooks, is due to come into effect in 2028.
“Reading real books and writing on real paper and counting with real numbers on real paper is much better if you want children to get the knowledge they need,” Forsell reassures.
The change in approach follows a consultation in 2023 involving academic researchers, pedagogical organisations, government departments and municipalities.
“There has been an increased awareness of the disruptions that technology is causing in classrooms,” says Dr Sissela Nutley, a neuroscientist who works with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and was among those who expressed concerns about the use of digital tools.
Nutley notes that students can lose concentration when they see on screens what other children are doing. She also draws attention to a growing body of international research suggesting that reading text on digital devices can make it harder for children to process information, and heavy use of screens can even affect the brain development of younger students. The government hopes that a return to more traditional teaching methods will help improve Sweden’s position in the PISA rankings, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) benchmarking of key educational subjects.
When one of the most successful, Sweden suffered a sharp drop in results in 2012, and after a short recovery, another significant drop in maths and reading in 2022.
Although still slightly above the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development – 38 countries with high human development) average, the country has worse literacy results in 2022 than the UK, US, Denmark and Finland, among others. Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of 15 or 16-year-old pupils did not reach a basic level of reading comprehension.
“We know that children who have gone through the whole school system with lots of screens are lagging behind in international surveys,” says Forsell.
A report on education in Sweden released by the OECD in January this year concluded that Swedish students benefit from access to digital tools. At the same time, it highlights the high prevalence of digital distractions in Swedish classrooms and notes that heavy use of digital devices in maths lessons correlates with lower results – although, remarkably, they are still higher than those who did not use digital devices at all.
Andreas Schleicher, director of education at the OECD, urges caution in establishing “causality”, but suggests that the more “extreme” adoption of technology in Sweden compared to other countries has probably had an impact on results.
“A lot of devices and technology have just been put into classrooms without clear pedagogical goals, without clear guidelines,” he notes.
In Sweden, however, the government’s strategy of returning to books has led to heated discussions in the business community. A new report from industry association Swedish Edtech Industry warns that more analogue education risks not adequately preparing students for future professions.
“Everyone needs basic digital skills to enter the labour market,” argues Gianni Jeppesen, the association’s CEO and a former teacher.
She refers to a recent EU report which estimates that 90 per cent of jobs will soon require digital skills.
Jeppesen is also concerned with the impact on entrepreneurship and innovation. Sweden is now Europe’s leading “factory” of technology “unicorns” – companies valued at $1bn or more – given its population. These include music streaming service Spotify and Legora, an artificial intelligence platform for the legal sector.
Such companies will “move to other countries” if they can’t find the right IT competences in Sweden, Eppesen argues.
Author photo, Maddy Savage
There are also issues of the growing global use of artificial intelligence (AI). The Swedish government wants secondary schools to start outlining lessons on the opportunities and risks of using AI, but some critics say AI should be part of the curriculum for younger children too.
Without such interventions, younger children from wealthier families, whose parents are more likely to be able to help them understand the use of AI tools, will gain an advantage, creating a “digital divide”, warns Professor Linnea Stenliden from the University’s Department of Behavioural Sciences.
Meanwhile, education spokesperson Yoar Forsell insists children should not be taught AI before they have learnt other basic skills, and rejects the idea that the government’s more traditional approach to education will widen inequality.
“Only by giving people a proper education can you give them the opportunities that inequality takes away from them,” he says.
At the same time, Jeppesen, CEO of the Swedish EdTech industry, calls this a “populist” stance. Such a government focus diverts attention from other factors potentially affecting outcomes, she says. Among them is the unequal distribution of educational resources and pedagogical capacity, as pointed out by a March report from the Swedish Education Authority.
At the Natske, graduates’ views were also divided. “It’s like the Internet has taken over the younger generations, and I’ve noticed that it’s easier for them to lose concentration,” says Alexios, 18, who doesn’t want his younger siblings to use digital tools at school as much as his generation.
But others, like 19-year-old Jasmine, are in favour of digital education, even for primary school-aged children.
“Let’s focus more on computers. To be realistic, the whole world uses computers,” she says.