Ulf Kristersson pushes Sweden from screens to books in schools
sweden has reversed its digital learning push and now limits non-analogue tools in schools, with the Ministry of Education and Research saying only analogue learning tools such as books should be used for children under the age of two. The same rules say non-analogue tools should be greatly restricted for all other children.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who coined the phrase "från skärm till pärm," backed the shift by saying "computer-free lessons create better conditions for young people to thrive and gain cognitive skills."
Ulf Kristersson and Sweden
The rules were introduced last year after Sweden's right-wing coalition came to power in 2022. They were designed to "get back to basics and re-establish a strong knowledge-based school system with the focus of early grades being on basic skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic," according to the ministry.
That reversal came after years of wider digital adoption. By 2015, around 80 per cent of young Swedes at state-funded high schools had access to a digital device, and in 2019 tablets became compulsory in Swedish preschools.
Dr Sissela Nutley and classrooms
The change also followed a 2023 consultation involving academic researchers, teaching organisations and public agencies. Dr Sissela Nutley, a neuroscientist affiliated with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, raised concerns about technology in schools and pointed to research showing reading on a display is less effective than on paper.
She also pointed to evidence that screen use affects infant development, putting a sharper limit on the youngest children than Sweden's earlier edtech push did.
Bridget Phillipson and England
Sweden's reversal lands as Bridget Phillipson announced a £23million initiative last month to roll out AI tutoring systems across England's secondary schools as early as this summer. The contrast leaves Sweden as a live example of a country moving back toward analogue learning while another is expanding digital hardware, software and AI-driven platforms in education.
For Swedish schools, the immediate change is simple: books and other analogue tools now have priority for the youngest children, and non-analogue learning tools face tighter limits across the rest of the system.
