The Swedish National Agency for Education (skolverket) announced today that they are looking to reformulate the current descriptions for what knowledge is required for each school subject grade. The Agency’s general director, Peter Fredriksson, made clear that the actual knowledge requirements (kunskapskrav) were not going to change, but that the wording was going to be reworked to make it easier for students, teachers and parents to understand. Another part of the reform aims to focus more on students’ factual knowledge, letting the current emphasis on analysis wait for later studies ().
In what would be truly light speed in parliamentary proceedings, the National Agency hopes to be able to roll out the changes by this time next year. The reason is not just that the current grading system has racked up complaints from all corners, but that the government is already in agreement with its coalition party the Greens, and its two cooperating parties, the Liberal and Center parties. The Liberal party has been gunning for taking on the school portfolio for a long time, though their hand in the previous curriculum was deemed to be fairly disastrous and an impetus to the fresh changes needed now. Schools were a priority for the previous Liberal Party leader Jan Björklund, but Sabuni’s view on the matter is unclear.
At any rate, no one thinks this is going to turn school results around, but it might make the grading system easier to understand, making happier students and voters.
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