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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 describes the Swedish school’s 2019 results in the Timss Global Knowledge Survey as “a message of strength.”
Elsewhere, however, there are strong criticisms of development.
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.
At the same time, the report shows continued 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.
– 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.
A message of strength?
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 Timss poll that allows us to sit down. We must continue to strengthen the school and, above all, work even harder to break the lack of equality, says the minister.
The spokeswoman for the education policy of the moderates, Kristina Axén Olin, does not fully share the opinion of the minister on the result.
– I am amazed that we have a Minister of Education who is happy that we do not have a worse result than 2015 when we are below the OECD average in mathematics in the annual courses that he participated. In a digital world where more and more people are pointing to the value of digital with math as a foundation, it can be impossible to be rewarding, he says.
Inequality: a problem
Kristina Axén Olin believes, like the Minister of Education, that the increase in inequality is a problem.
– We see large differences in knowledge among children, which again shows that we do not have a school that is going in the right direction. This is due to several things, including the fact that we have very few hours in school, we want to see another school hour per day already in elementary school.
However, he does not believe that school choice is part of the problem of growing inequality within the school.
– If we had not had the option of school, we would have had an even greater school segregation. In Sweden we have widespread housing segregation and the choice of school is an opportunity to choose a different school than where you live. Instead, free choice should be widened so that it can persuade everyone to apply to the school, he says.
Teacher unions are critical
Teacher unions also see the 2019 results as part of a worrying development.
What terrifies me about this is that once again we have evidence that equality in school continues to deteriorate. It is proof that we have failed to do anything about it, says Åsa Fahlén, president of the National Union of Teachers.
TT: Why is this serious?
– In this survey, success factors are identified for countries that are successful in school and then it is important to access school segregation. If we want a successful school, we must take inequality very seriously.
TT: What do you think the development is due to?
– Lack of rigor in attempts to access the problem. There is no unity in the Riksdag, there are too many political contradictions between parties. It is depressing. We need all parties to be able to reverse this trend and we need it soon.
Contrary to the Education Law
Johanna Jaara Åstrand, president of the Swedish Teachers Association, also sees the development as worrying. Among other things, he criticizes the choice of school.
– Even though we have a clear mandate in the Education Law that we must compensate for the different conditions of students, we have a school system that blocks segregation, including through school choice, I think it is deeply concerning, says Johanna Jaara Åstrand.
– It is not worthy of a country like Sweden that equality continues to deteriorate in this way. School results are increasingly affected by the parents you have and your academic background. It is shameful and all politicians should take responsibility for it, he continues.
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