Recently, the Minister of Education announced that the government is tearing up the National Education Agency’s digitization plan. Now the government is also stopping the introduction of digital national tests in primary school.
– If you have a digital national test in grade three, we risk children not reading in books and not learning to write by hand. Digitization is being forced, says Lotta Edholm.
The decision to make the national exams digital was made in 2017 by the then government. The purpose was to make it easier for schools to administer the national tests and to contribute to a more equal assessment of students’ knowledge through central correction of the tests.
The National Board of Education is planning for the transition
For several years now, schools and relevant authorities have been working to get the right technology and skills in place to be ready for the transition, which will take place gradually starting in 2024.
But now the government announces that the primary school will not switch to digital tests.
What are you afraid will happen?
– That we accelerate the reading crisis we have in Sweden today, where many children read far too poorly, says Lotta Edholm.
But how much of a difference does a digital test make?
– In order to be able to take the digital test, you have to be able to write digitally, and we don’t want to force the development where young children have to use screens at a very early age instead of writing by hand.
Digital correction can provide more fair assessment
Despite the fact that digital tests are expected to lead to more fair assessment of the tests, according to the Minister of Education, this is not an argument for digitizing the tests for primary school students.
– This applies above all in the older grades, where national tests are also linked to grading. In year three, there are no grades, so there is no such problem, she says.