22/11/2025
In recent years, Sweden has begun a remarkable shift in its education system: after a period of intense digitization in classrooms, the country is rediscovering the value of physical books, traditional reading, and handwriting.
The change doesn't mean eliminating screens entirely, but rather balancing their use and reducing their presence in the earliest years, where specialists have expressed concern about the impact on reading comprehension, attention span, and the development of basic skills.
The Swedish government has allocated funds for schools to purchase more textbooks and printed materials, while also promoting more reading time and less screen time. Many teachers have begun limiting tablet use and reintroducing activities such as handwritten notes, working with notebooks, and consulting encyclopedias and physical texts. This decision is supported by studies suggesting that children understand information better when they read it on paper, and by signs that rapid digitization has not always yielded the expected results.
Although technology still has a place in Swedish education, the country is moving towards a more balanced model, where digital tools are complementary rather than the central focus of learning.
Source:
- "Sweden Education Shift: From Digital Learning to Pen and Paper", The Think Academy
