During a meeting on Monday, the National Union of Teachers decided that the current grading system in compulsory school and upper secondary school should be investigated.
According to the union, the current system, where students can be rejected, does not work with the grade F.
- We want to investigate whether we should return to the relative grading system 1 to 5. We see that the current grading system leads to stress among both teachers and students, says Åsa Fahlén, chairman of the National Union of Teachers, in the press release.
Increased mental illness
The current grading system may be part of the reason for both increased pressure on teachers and increased mental illness among students, according to the union.
- We are willing to look at the possibilities if there is another system, which may reduce the negative effects, says Åsa Fahlén to SVT Nyheter.
However, simply removing the lower grade F is not as easy as it sounds.
- In a goal-oriented school system, one can consider that there must be requirement limits, but if one wants to make a change, perhaps we can go back to a relative grading system.
This must be investigated, says Åsa Fahlén.
In addition to the grading system itself, curricula and syllabi must be reviewed so that the requirements are age-appropriate and follow the students' development and knowledge progression, the press release states.