On Tuesday, Minister of Education Anna Ekström (S) announced that the national tests in compulsory school, upper secondary school and adult education will be canceled during the spring term.
- The main reason why we cancel is the situation we are in, says the Swedish National Agency for Education's director general Peter Fredriksson and points out, among other things, that due to the effects of the pandemic, it can not guarantee that students receive the education required to be able to conduct national tests.
According to David Rosenlund, who is a senior lecturer specializing in educational science at Malmö University, this can have both positive and negative consequences for the students.
- The positive thing can be that teachers have more time to conduct teaching instead of spending time preparing for and then conducting the national tests.
Risk that the grades will be higher
- At the same time, there is a risk that the grades will be higher than they would have been if the tests had been completed.
It is definitely a negative factor, says David Rosenlund.
As an example, he takes that two students in different schools but with the same knowledge could get different grades.
Something that at a later stage could affect the student's ability to enter the high school program or education they want.
See David Rosenlund explain what canceled national tests entail for consequences in the player.