"In Sweden, toddlers are exposed to screens from nursery"

5/26/2023, 5:40:11 PM

Highlights: The Swedish government wants to reduce the time spent by students online. The country bet on all-digital technology in schools 15 years ago. Young Swedes are equipped from the nursery where many activities on screens, including tablets, are offered to them, including surfing the internet. In Sweden, pupils write little by hand. This uncompromising policy has not been without consequences on students' ability to concentrate, as demonstrated by The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) published in mid-May.

INTERVIEW - Carole Bienaimé Besse, essayist and audiovisual specialist, sees the Swedish government's desire to reduce the time spent by students online as a consequence of a dangerous educational policy of overexposure to screens.

LE FIGARO. - Relying on the advice of doctors, the Swedish centre-right government wants to reduce the time spent by students in front of screens and bring textbooks back into classrooms. Is this an admission of failure of the "digital school" projects?

Carole BIENAIMÉ BESSE. - What is happening in Sweden is very interesting. Fifteen years ago, this country bet on all-digital technology in schools and recently on an acceleration of this policy. Young Swedes are equipped from the nursery where many activities on screens, including tablets, are offered to them, including surfing the internet. In Sweden, pupils write little by hand. This uncompromising policy has not been without consequences on students' ability to concentrate, as demonstrated by The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) published in mid-May. In particular, the report pointed to the fact that the reading and comprehension skills of Swedish pupils are declining. They are more...

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