Back to books - Sweden's schools give up digital learning

Back to books - Sweden's schools give up digital learning9 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleMaddy SavageBusiness reporter, Nacka, SwedenMaddy SavageThe Swedish government hopes that a return to pens and paper will improve literacy ratesSweden's government is championing a renewed focus on physical books, paper and pens in classrooms, designed to reverse falling literacy levels.But doubling down on analogue tools has drawn criticism from tech companies, educators and computer scientists, who argue it could impact pupils' employment prospects, and even damage the Nordic nation's economy.At a high school in Nacka just outside Stockholm, final-year students are unpacking laptops from rucksacks and tote bags, alongside items they say they used less frequently a few years ago."I now go home from school with new books and papers often," says Sophie, 18. She says one teacher "has started printing all the texts that we use during the lesson", while a digital learning platform in maths lessons has been swapped out for textbook-only teaching.It's an image that clashes with Sweden's reputation as one of Europe's most tech savvy societies, thanks to high levels of digital skills, and a thriving tech start-up scene.Back to books: Sweden's digital backlashLaptops became mainstream in Swedish classrooms in the late 2000s and early 2010s. By 2015, around 80% of pupils at municipal state-funded high schools had individual access to a digital device, according to official data.The compulsory use of tablets in pre-schools was included in the curriculum in 2019, as part of the previous Social Democrat-led government's mission to prepare even the youngest children for an increasingly digital work and private life.But the current right-wing coalition, which came to power in 2022, is moving teaching in a different direction."We're trying, actually, to get rid of screens as much as possible," says J...