"Paper Books Instead of Tablets"... Sweden Returns to Traditional Education Methods

"Digital Devices Judged to Negatively Affect Learning Ability"
Emphasis on Acquiring Knowledge Through Paper Books and Face-to-Face Classes

Sweden, which had emphasized education using digital devices, is returning to traditional educational methods such as paper books, handwriting, and reading. This is because electronic devices like tablets are judged to have a negative impact on children's learning abilities.

According to foreign media including the British daily The Guardian and AP News on the 11th (local time), many schools across Sweden, which recently started the new semester, are emphasizing classes using paper books, reading, and writing practice with writing tools. On the other hand, the use of electronic devices such as tablets, internet searches, and keyboard typing practice has decreased.

Students are writing by hand at an elementary school in Stockholm, Sweden.
Photo by AP Yonhap News

Rota Edholm, Minister of Education, emphasized in March that paper books are necessary for learning, and last month announced that the government would reverse the previous decision to mandate the use of digital devices in kindergartens. The Ministry of Education also announced plans to completely stop digital device-based learning for children under six years old.

Instead, the Swedish government will invest 685 million kronor (approximately 82.3 billion KRW) this year for the purchase of paper books for each school. Additionally, it plans to allocate an extra 500 million kronor (approximately 60 billion KRW) annually for the next two years.

The background to this is research showing that overly digitalized learning methods have led to a decline in students' learning abilities, including literacy.

According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which assesses the reading ability of fourth graders worldwide, Swedish students' reading ability has significantly declined over five years from 2016 to 2021. The average score of Swedish fourth graders was 555 points in 2016 but dropped by 11 points to 544 points in the 2021 assessment.

Furthermore, last month, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden released a report on the digitalization of education in the country, stating, "There is clear scientific evidence that digital tools hinder rather than enhance students' learning abilities," and emphasized, "Focus should be on acquiring knowledge through printed textbooks and teachers' expertise rather than from unverified free digital sources."

Swedish elementary school student practicing handwriting
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

There are also supportive reactions to this trend in the educational field.

Katarina Brannelius, a third-grade teacher at Stockholm's Djurg?rdsskolan Elementary School, said, "(For students under 10 years old) time is needed to write by hand before writing on tablets," adding, "We use tablets in math classes, but not when writing."

However, Sweden's movement contrasts with trends in other countries. Germany is expanding the use of digital devices in education, and Poland has launched a program to provide laptops to fourth-grade students in elementary schools using public funds.

Some view the Swedish Ministry of Education's criticism of digital devices as political. Neil Selwyn, a professor of education at Monash University in Australia, pointed out that criticizing the impact of technology is "a popular move among conservative politicians," and "a neat way to show commitment to traditional values." He added, "The Swedish government says there is no evidence that technology enhances learning, but this is because there is no direct evidence on how education works with technology," and "Technology is just one very complex factor in education."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.