Due to the coronavirus, high school students in Sweden have had to study at a distance during the spring - something that many were worried about. For example, many teachers have flagged that they find it difficult to give fair grades without national tests, which have been canceled, and without physical contact with the students.

Difficulties in carrying out practical steps at a distance have also been pointed out as a problem area.

More competent

Preliminary statistics from the final grades now show that more graduating students in upper secondary school graduated within three years from national programs than last school year. The proportion of students who graduated has increased from 76.6 percent to 78.1 percent.

The proportion increased in all programs except for the children and leisure program, the HVAC and real estate program and the nationally recruiting educations with their own degree objectives.

According to the National Agency for Education, the fact that more graduating students pass upper secondary school is due to various initiatives that the schools have made.

- We have not studied this in detail, but what we have seen in previous years is that students have better prior knowledge and that schools invest in the courses required for degrees to a greater degree now than they have done before, that has been our main explanation so far, says Christina Sandström.

Are more prepared

One explanation that the National Agency for Education points out is the prior knowledge that students bring to high school.

- There are more students who have had a higher merit value when they start, they are better when they enter upper secondary school and therefore more who pass it, that is what we have generally seen in recent years.

Can fair grades be set at a distance? 

- It is difficult to say whether it is possible to set fair grades ever. One question has been whether the canceled national tests have affected the grading during the spring. Many teachers think that they are a good support in the assessment, says Christina Sandström, unit manager at the National Agency for Education. 

As for the proportion of graduating students with university eligibility, the figure is almost unchanged. In the spring of 2019, 73.4 percent of the students were eligible, in the spring of 2020 it was 73.2 percent.