Government must raise ambitions for digitalization in schools 

If Sweden is to become a world-leading technology nation, the government needs to raise its ambitions for school digitization instead of discouraging it.

In an article in Expressen on 21 December, Minister of Education Lotta Edholm describes digitalization in schools as an experiment. She is critical of the fact that tablets have replaced textbooks. "Unlike the Minister, we do not see any contradiction between physical and digital learning materials. On the contrary, we believe that access to both books and digital learning materials can help improve the quality of teaching and ultimately raise students' achievement.

The solution is not to discourage digitization, but to create goals for what it should achieve

On the other hand, we agree with the minister that digitization in schools has been done haphazardly. However, the solution is not to prevent digitization, but to create goals for what it should achieve. Appropriately enough, the National Agency for Education has recently submitted a proposal to the government for a new digitalization strategy for the school system. The strategy will point out the common direction for the school's continued work with digitization 2023-2027.
The strategy contains two overarching goals: one is to increase students' digital skills, and the other is to increase the quality of teaching with the help of digital learning materials. These are goals that TechSverige welcomes.

Digital skills are a matter of democracy

Students' schooling and future job prospects are affected by how well they understand the digital world around them. Schools need to be given the best possible conditions to equip students with the skills needed to live and work in a connected society.
There are many good examples of schools and teachers who have successfully used the possibilities of digitalization to develop pedagogy and teaching. There are also differences in how far different schools have come in their digitalization journey. This is shown by the Swedish National Agency for Education's follow-up of the previous digitalization strategy 2017-2022. The new strategy will play an important role in achieving equal digital development in Swedish schools.
Together with our member companies, TechSverige has submitted six proposals for the new strategy. The proposals have received a positive response and are included in the Swedish National Agency for Education's proposal for a new digitalization strategy. These proposals include, among other things, that:

• Strengthen the digital competence of both teachers and school management. If teachers and school leaders are to design learning environments that contribute to raising learning outcomes and digital literacy among students, it is essential that teachers and school leaders have the right skills.
• Ensure the appropriate use of digital learning materials in education. Learning materials should contribute to the achievement of school goals, not be an end in themselves.
• Increase awareness and interest in the tech industry and tech jobs. This applies to both girls and boys. Here, study and career counselors in schools have an important role together with us in the tech industry. The consequences of gendered study choices have already had major consequences for the supply of skills in the industry and society as a whole.
• Increase collaboration between the tech industry and schools. Collaboration is already taking place in areas ranging from information and cybersecurity to teacher professional development. It often takes place in areas where there is currently a lack of expertise in schools. We believe that collaboration needs to be given more space in the continued work on the strategy.

The minister needs to be in the driver's seat

Now it remains for the government to decide on the new strategy. The Minister for Education needs to make a choice here. Digitization is here and it will continue to increase. The Minister needs to be in the driver's seat and show the way instead of hindering development.