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SWEDEN SLIDES IN PISA RATING

EDUCATION

‘Sweden is letting its school boys down’

Scientists in Sweden have reacted to the country's slide in global education ranking Pisa, pointing out that Swedish boys are now under-performing not only their female peers, but are less apt than male teens in other OECD countries.

Published: 4 December 2013 13:19 CET
'Sweden is letting its school boys down'
Swedish teen girls now outperform boys in all three Pisa categories.

"We're seeing a societal betrayal of boys," Swedish brain researcher Martin Ingvar told the TT news agency on Wednesday.

While Swedish boys and girls scored roughly the same in the latest Pisa ranking for maths, girls have now sped past the boys in natural sciences. Girls also continue to outperform boys in reading, and the gap between the two genders has widened since the Pisa review published in the year 2000. 

"All school systems that perform badly punish pupils who have the hardest time," Ingvar said. "The Swedish school is organized for pupil-led learning, (which benefits) high-performing middle-class girls." 

Education Minister Jan Björklund touched on the difference between girls' and boys' maturity levels as he met the press on Tuesday following the unveiling of the OECD's latest Pisa report. He said that boys were often less mature than girls, who had an advantage when it came to independent study. Brain scientist Ingvar agreed, claiming that boys trail girls in maturity by up to one year. 

The average gap between boys and girls among OECD countries was 38 points in the Pisa test which looks at 15-year-olds across several countries. In Sweden, this figure widened to 51 points. And while boys generally outperformed girls in maths and natural sciences in the OECD nations, the trend was inverse in Sweden. 

"It is important to remember that there is nothing wrong with the children, the fault lies with the grown ups," brain researcher Ingvar said.

He took a different view on issuing grades to younger pupils than the government, which has touted grades in third grade as one of the cornerstones of a wide-range of education reforms launched two years ago. Instead, Ingvar argued, it was important for teachers to make the boys understand the importance of education. 

"Grades are trivial compared to feedback in the classroom," he said. 

Girls' ability to dedicate themselves to their studies without adult input was also noted in a 2010 report entitled "Gender difference in school performance". 

University West professor Inga Wernersson said the girls not only spend more time on their studies than boys, but do so "more systematically and more effectively". 

"Those who belong to the smarter group can't pretend they need to make an effort," she commented on the boys' behaviour. "Girls have no reason to assume that they'd get good results without putting the effort in." 

Education officials said they were nonplussed when it came to explaining the gap.

"We don't really have a good explanation," said Anita Wester, spokeswoman at the Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket). 

The latest edition of the Pisa test for the first time included digital tests for the maths and reading components. The boys got better results in the digital rather than the analog exams.

"In 2015, the entire test will be digital for those countries that have access to the technology," Wester noted. "It will be interesting to see what effect that has on the results." 

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EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Published: 29 November 2022 15:54 CET
Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod. 

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

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