Sweden decided to return to physical books, against SP – 08/05/2023 – Education

The decision of the Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republicans) to abandon physical books for part of the students of the state network of São Paulo does not align with the world trend and contradicts recent studies. Even countries that have more digitization of content maintain hybrid models and Sweden, which had advanced in this regard, recently announced that it has gone back.

One of the countries with the best educational results in the world, Sweden relied on the results of scientific research and the results of its students in international assessments to decide to return to paper textbooks. The country had been gradually replacing paper with digital materials over the last 15 years.

The Swedish minister of schools herself, Lotta Edholm, wrote an article in December in a Swedish journal in which she gathered conclusions about the damage caused by the absence of physical books. She cited studies gathered by the Swedish national agency for education.

In May, the plan was made official and there was an announcement of an investment in the year equivalent to R$ 315 million for the purchase of paper textbooks. Similar investment will be maintained in subsequent years.

“Those who read the printed text were better able to reproduce the main points, remembered more parts and had better overall reading comprehension,” wrote Edholm in “Expressen”, referring to one of the studies.

The Swedish national agency for education, linked to the government, reported in an article a series of scientific conclusions that show that there is better reading comprehension when reading printed texts. The entity cites nine studies that address the subject, from various countries such as the United States and Spain.

One example is a 2017 study by researchers at the University of Wurzburg, Germany, with about 3,000 students from 1st to 6th grade. They took a timed reading test, either on paper or on a computer.

“Students who solved the tasks on the computer screen worked faster, but also at the expense of reading accuracy”, says the text of the Swedish authority. “Those who read on the screen made more mistakes when answering the test than those who answered on paper.”

Sweden’s decision also took into account the results of Pirls, an international reading assessment. Even with still positive results compared to other countries, including Europe, the Swedish government identified a “reading crisis”.

In São Paulo, the Secretary of Education, Renato Feder, gave up using didactic works from the PNLD (National Textbook Program) for the final years of elementary school (6th to 9th grade), such as Sheet revealed. The PNLD is a federal program, led by the MEC (Ministry of Education), which buys and delivers works throughout the country.

Feder’s decision was not preceded by any study. There was also no dialogue with teachers and administrators, much less teacher training for the new model.

In Sweden, a highly digitized country, the discussion is centered on reducing contact with screens. In São Paulo, the experience in the pandemic has shown that student connectivity is low, and Feder has criticized the quality of the books (many are used by private schools) and, to the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo, he said that the teacher will pass a presentation and students will take notes.

A Sheet showed that, without a TV or computer in the rooms, teachers have to print a digital book from the government of São Paulo.

A recent study by Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) warned of the risks of cell phone use in the classroom and that there is little evidence of a positive impact of digital technology on education.

There is no information in the periodic reports of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) on which countries adopt physical or digital books. But the experience of experts with international education points to a widespread use of physical works, even as digital materials advance.

Instituto Reúna carried out research that addresses the experience of 11 countries that adopt digital textbooks. The study was motivated by evidence that the vast majority of Brazilian teachers have the textbook as their main work resource.

The entity’s executive director, Katia Smole, says that the decision of the São Paulo government “is not an international trend”. According to her, it was possible to identify that the movement of these countries to expand the supply of non-physical materials began with the very evolution of government digitalization of these places.

When analyzing experiences such as those in South Korea, Holland and Estonia, the institute identified, according to Smole, a predominance of gradual adoptions, with teacher training, maintenance of physical books (in hybrid models) and expansion of digital options —which did not it means putting up power point projections, as Feder suggested.

“Teachers are fully trained to work with students in this hybrid model and the results are permanently evaluated, so that publishers and edtechs that provide platforms can improve”, says Smole, who was once secretary of Basic Education at MEC.

She also points out that there is a need to look at the scientific evidence that has been accumulating that shows that the worst results are when students do everything on screen.

The study by Instituto Reuna presents a reflection on international experiences, without concluding that initiatives in this direction are always disastrous. The material considers that, “in addition to access to the internet and devices, it is necessary that curricula, teaching materials, teacher training and assessments work in an articulated and coherent way in the use of digital textbooks”.

Katia Smole goes along the same lines. “I can’t analyze the decision itself, but what was shown didn’t come with a comprehensive plan that supports the next steps. And we’re not seeing digital courseware in the light that the world is using,” she says.