The digital tests that were to be rolled out widely next year will be stopped for a number of years, according to Sveriges Radio's Ekot .
The project has been plagued by major technical problems. Last spring, students' personal data was leaked to other schools, and this fall there was a major technical glitch with a test.
Now the government is pulling the emergency brake. When asked if it shouldn't have been done earlier, Lotta Edholm replies:
"It was important to carry out these latest tests before we made the decision. Because this is not a decision taken lightly," says Lotta Edholm, admitting that it is a fiasco.
You have to say that. We've been doing this since 2017.
“A lot of money”
The project has cost nearly a billion kronor so far. It is unclear what years of additional development work will cost.
It's too early to say, but it's clear that it's a lot of money, says Lotta Edholm.
One of the reasons for replacing paper-based exams with on-screen exams was to reduce the workload for teachers. Now teachers can continue to mark by hand indefinitely.
"I understand that teachers are frustrated both at having to deal with a system that is clearly not working, but also at the fact that there will not be digitalized national exams in the near future. But I still believe that this decision will be seen as the right one," says Edholm.
And the Swedish Teachers' Union welcomes today's announcement: "We want digital exams - but not under these dysfunctional circumstances," comments union chairwoman Anna Olskog.
Shared responsibility
Both Edholm and the Swedish National Agency for Education's Director General Joakim Malmström say that the responsibility for the now stalled project lies with both politicians and the authority.
I think it is beyond doubt that the challenges that this project entails have been underestimated along the way, both by the client and by the Swedish National Agency for Education. It is about a tight timeframe, the complexity of the project and how the Swedish National Agency for Education has approached it. Therefore, a re-examination is needed, says Joakim Malmström.
Neither Lotta Edholm nor Joakim Malmström can currently say how much more time the Swedish National Agency for Education needs. But they note that a new grading system, with national digital final exams, is intended to be introduced from 2028.
