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From: TT
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February 1 | Photo: Henrik Montgomery / TT
Education Minister Anna Ekström (S) comments on the Swedish results at Timss 2019 at a digital press conference in Rosenbad.
Education Minister Anna Ekström believes that the unchanged results for Swedish students in the Timss 2019 global knowledge survey is a message of strength.
– The descent that the results of Swedish knowledge made for many years is definitely broken.
Sweden scores basically the same points in Timm’s 2019, where the knowledge of math and science students in grades 4 and 8 is tested, as in the most recent survey in 2015. It was then that the development of negative knowledge from the beginning was broken from the 2000s.
– Now we see in all the international polls and polls that the negative trend regarding the knowledge results of Swedish students is definitely broken. It is a message of strength for a Swedish school and overall very rewarding, says Anna Ekström (S) at a digital press conference.
TT: The results have not changed, is it really a message of strength?
– It is a sign of strength that the negative trend breaks. But it is not a Timms measure that allows us to sit. We must continue to strengthen the school and, above all, work even harder to break the inequality that puts the Swedish school at risk of falling apart.
Big differences
The report continues to show differences in results between different groups of students, in both math and science, for both fourth and eighth grades. The differences have increased since 2011.
The socioeconomic environment is more important, according to the National Education Agency, and inequality must be broken if results are to improve, says Ekström.
– That the school is collapsing is alarming. As far as I know, no country has been able to sustainably increase its knowledge outcomes without improving equivalency. All students must climb higher, both those who have it easy and those who have it a little more difficult.
Judge the school system
In addition to specific investments in schools with the most difficult conditions, such as the equivalency grant, the root cause of school segregation must be addressed, says Anna Ekström.
– I therefore hope that the well-researched proposals being debated to improve the school and increase equality, such as making the choice of school fairer, will be taken seriously by all parties in the Swedish Parliament. In the long term, we cannot have a school system that both researchers and professionals judge increases the differences between students.
TT: In the context of the pandemic and cuts in many places in Skolsverige, what indicates that there will be no deterioration in the next international study?
– My assessment is that future international measurements will show the effect of the pandemic in Sweden, but at least as much in other countries. Compared to other European countries, the Swedish compulsory school has managed to stay open for much of the spring and autumn term, says Ekström.
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