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Sweden is restoring printed textbooks after years of expanding classroom technology, but the viral shorthand gets both ends of the story wrong: there was no documented national decision in 2009 to replace books with screens, and the country is not abandoning educational technology. The current policy is a rebalancing—more books, reading and handwriting, with digital tools retained when they serve a clear learning purpose.
What happened in 2009—and what did not
Sweden’s schools were using and expanding information technology in 2009, but that year was not a national switch from textbooks to screens. The Swedish National Agency for Education, Skolverket, published a report measuring IT use and competence in preschool, schools and adult education. It documented a growing role for technology; it did not announce that printed textbooks were being abolished. Skolverket’s 2009 report is better understood as a snapshot of a longer transition.
That transition was not centrally uniform. Municipalities and other school organizers had substantial responsibility for organizing and financing computers for pupils and teachers, as a 2009 parliamentary answer explained. Schools therefore differed in their resources and practices. A laptop or tablet in a classroom also does not, by itself, show that a printed textbook disappeared: computers can be used for writing, research, assessment, teacher presentations or digital learning platforms, alongside books.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →A clearer marker of national ambition came in 2017, when Sweden adopted a school digitalization strategy intended to use the opportunities of digitalization in education. The history is thus a gradual expansion of school IT, reinforced by national policy—not a single 2009 order to replace books. The government’s 2017 strategy announcement documents that commitment.
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Did Swedish schools get rid of textbooks?
There is no verified nationwide order that eliminated textbooks, and it would be inaccurate to say every Swedish pupil lost access to them. The government’s more specific concern is that access to appropriate teaching materials was not reliably guaranteed and varied between schools. It has framed that shortfall as an equality issue: a pupil’s access to the materials needed for learning should not depend on which school they attend.
From 1 July 2024, legal changes clarified that pupils must have free access to the textbooks, other teaching materials and teaching tools needed for good educational development. The Education Act’s definitions accommodate both printed and digital works; the change is not an analog-only rule. The government’s explanation of the legal change and the Education Act set out the access requirement and scope.
The government’s stated ambition is approximately one textbook per pupil per subject. That is a goal, not evidence that every school has already reached it. Nor does a textbook have to be a purely paper product: some teaching resources combine print with digital components.
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The timeline: from school IT to a print-and-digital balance
- 2009: Skolverket reports on IT use and competence; responsibility for computers rests substantially with school organizers. Neither fact establishes a nationwide textbook replacement.
- 2017: Sweden adopts a national strategy for digitalization in the school system.
- 2022: Sweden’s PISA reading score falls compared with 2018, while the country remains above the OECD average in reading, mathematics and science, according to Skolverket.
- 2023: The government introduces a grant for textbooks and teacher guides, allocating SEK 685 million, and promotes a goal of one textbook per pupil per subject.
- 2024: The government reports SEK 658 million for the textbook grant and a separate SEK 176 million literature initiative. On 1 July, the clarified legal right to necessary teaching materials takes effect.
- 2025: Reported allocations are SEK 755 million for textbooks and teacher guides and SEK 480 million for a separate printed-literature initiative. Preschool curriculum changes take effect on 1 July: there is no general requirement for children to use digital learning tools; analogue tools such as books are required for children under two, and non-analogue tools are restricted for older preschool children.
- 2026: The government reports SEK 555 million for the textbook and teacher-guide grant and continues broader reading reforms. A national policy to collect pupils’ mobile phones during the school day is expected before the autumn term of 2026.
The dated policy and funding details are in the government’s reading and screen-time summary and its 2026 account of reading reforms. A planned phone policy is distinct from a ban on school computers, digital textbooks or educational software.
What the €104 million figure does—and does not—tell you
Swedish government materials state the allocations in kronor, not euros. The figures also cover different programs: textbook and teacher-guide grants are separate from initiatives to supply printed literature. Adding selected annual amounts together and converting them at an unspecified exchange rate can produce a headline figure, but it does not establish an official €104 million budget for replacing screens with books.
| Year | Textbook and teacher-guide grant | Separate printed-literature initiative |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | SEK 685 million | Not stated for this year in the cited government summary |
| 2024 | SEK 658 million | SEK 176 million |
| 2025 | SEK 755 million | SEK 480 million |
| 2026 | SEK 555 million | Not stated for this year in the cited government summary |
These are reported annual allocations, not automatically a single cumulative book-replacement pot. The government’s summaries identify distinct purposes and years; a euro conversion depends on the exchange-rate date and on which grants a headline includes. The official figures are in the government funding summary and its 2026 reforms update. Neither supports presenting €104 million as an official euro-denominated figure.
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Why Sweden is changing course
Reading and foundational skills
Reading, writing, arithmetic, concentration and a stronger knowledge base are central to the government’s stated rationale. Sweden’s PISA 2022 reading score declined from 2018, but Sweden remained above the OECD average. The result is a reason for scrutiny, not proof that classroom screens caused the decline. Skolverket’s PISA results provide the country-level context.
Distraction is not the same as digital instruction
The government has cited OECD findings that many pupils are distracted by mobile phones and other devices during lessons, with Sweden above the OECD average in the cited comparison. That concern should not be collapsed into a claim that every school-managed laptop, digital textbook or tablet assignment is distracting. A personal phone used for messaging, a laptop used to draft an essay and a teacher-led digital simulation are different tools and behaviors. The government’s statement on classroom distraction concerns the distraction problem it cited, not proof that educational technology as a whole harms learning.
Print, sustained reading and early childhood
The policy emphasis on screen-free reading, handwriting and books reflects concern about sustained attention and foundational literacy, particularly for young children. But “paper is always better” is too broad: outcomes depend on age, task, text, device design, distraction, annotation and teacher guidance. The preschool rules that took effect in 2025 are an age-specific limit on non-analogue tools, not a blanket prohibition covering every school or every digital resource.
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Access, teaching practice and politics
The shift is also a response to uneven access to teaching materials and concern that technology adoption sometimes moved faster than evidence about how it was being used. The government’s back-to-basics emphasis—including reading time, libraries, handwriting and teacher-led instruction—is a policy judgment shaped by evidence and political priorities. It is not a scientific finding that all digital learning failed.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the evidence says about screens and learning
Skolverket’s analysis of Swedish 15-year-olds using digital tools in relation to PISA 2022 does not find a simple, one-directional link between learning-related digital-tool use and results. Its analysis is more consistently cautionary about non-learning use and distraction. That distinction matters: the evidence supports managing device use and instructional purpose, not treating every screen as equivalent. See the Skolverket Nordic comparison and its summary of the findings.
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Neither the PISA decline nor the observed associations establish that screens caused weaker reading performance. Test scores are affected by many influences, including socioeconomic conditions, teacher supply, curriculum, home reading, migration, school segregation, motivation and assessment conditions. Likewise, restoring printed books is not evidence that books alone will reverse national results.
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Print can be especially useful for extended reading, close annotation, teacher-led discussion around a shared page and low-distraction study. Digital tools can offer text-to-speech, magnification and translation; searchable reference material; updated content; simulations; coding and digital production; collaboration; and formative assessment. Pupils with disabilities may need digital accessibility features, while others benefit from predictable print. The practical question is which format serves the learning task and the student—not which medium wins in every situation.
What Sweden is changing in classrooms
The reforms are a mix of materials, age-specific rules and attention to distraction. They include grants for textbooks and teacher guides, separate support for printed fiction and nonfiction, a clarified right to necessary teaching materials, and preschool limits on non-analogue tools for young children. The broader program also emphasizes reading time, school libraries and mobile-phone restrictions.
That is not a plan to remove all computers or replace every digital resource. Digital tools remain compatible with the law and can serve accessibility, research, writing, assessment and other suitable purposes. A phone collection rule addresses personal-device distraction; it does not mean a school cannot use a computer for a lesson. The distinction is between purposeful educational use and screen time that is unsuitable, excessive or disruptive.
How to tell whether the policy works
Announced allocations and policy goals do not show whether books reached pupils or improved learning. A serious assessment should look beyond the budget totals:
- Access: How many pupils actually receive current, curriculum-aligned subject textbooks, and is access consistent across municipal and independent schools?
- Use: Are teachers and pupils using the books in lessons, or are print materials simply added alongside unchanged device practices?
- Reading outcomes: Do reading volume, comprehension and national assessment trends improve over time, without attributing any change to one intervention alone?
- Equity and accessibility: Can pupils with dyslexia, visual impairments or other support needs use accessible alternatives, and do schools have fiction, library access and specialist materials as well as subject books?
- Implementation: Are editions kept current, teachers given time to adapt lessons, and schools supported with the training and library capacity needed to use the materials well?
- Distraction: Do phone rules and clearer device expectations reduce interruptions while preserving digital tools that add educational value?
Those measures separate a genuine improvement in classroom provision from a policy announcement or a purchasing total. Sweden’s next test is whether the added materials are accessible, used well and matched to teaching—not simply whether schools buy more paper.
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