The purpose of the tests is to identify students who need extra support in these subjects as early as possible and increase the chances that they will receive help early in their schooling.
Today, one in three 15-year-olds in Swedish schools does not reach a basic level in reading and mathematics, according to the latest PISA survey. Last spring, one in six ninth-graders left compulsory school without a high school qualification.
Diagnostic tests are already conducted in preschool class and grade 1. But the assessment tools currently used have not worked well. They take up too much of teachers' time and are not sufficiently accurate, according to the government bill that forms the basis for the change.
New diagnostic tests are now being developed to be more precise and time-efficient.
A major change is that students will be tested five times instead of twice: three times in primary school and once each in middle school and lower secondary school.
It is simply because we want to strengthen the ability to identify students' support needs and, of course, then be able to provide support, says Jessica Jarhall, area manager at the Swedish National Agency for Education.
Left without support
The Education Act already requires that students who have difficulty with letters or numbers have the right to early intervention. But the reading, writing and arithmetic guarantee has not lived up to its name. Students have been left without support, received it too late or received the wrong kind of help, audits have shown.
So what points to an improvement?
The government proposal that the Riksdag passed this summer, in short, entails stricter requirements for schools to provide students with early and relevant support.
"The entire support system for students in school is being overhauled. For example, a requirement is being introduced to provide support teaching outside the classroom, individually or in small groups," says Jessica Jarhall.
Extra time
Support teaching will be provided in Swedish, Swedish as a second language and mathematics. The teacher will assess the need, and the support teaching will be provided in addition to regular teaching for a limited period. What is known as special support, for students with greater and permanent needs, will remain.
What are known as extra adaptations, however, are being abolished. Teachers have said that the requirement to adapt classroom teaching to meet the different needs of several students cannot be met. Another criticism is that extra adaptations have been used instead of more appropriate support.
How the changes will play out will only become clear in a number of years.
Primary school students will be tested at the beginning of the autumn term in five grades: 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8. In adapted primary school, the tests will apply to students studying subjects and will be conducted in the same grades as in primary school. In special schools, tests will be conducted in grades 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9, and in Sami schools in grades 1, 2, 3 and 5.
In the same year, 2028, preschool class will end and become grade 1 of a ten-year compulsory school system, with four grades in primary school. Middle school will therefore begin in grade 5.
Linnaeus University is responsible for designing the reading tests and Stockholm University for the mathematics tests. No decision has yet been made about who will be responsible for the writing tests.
The tests should be available in both digital and paper formats.
The results will be collected at the national level.
New curricula with a clearer emphasis on basic skills in the lowest grades will also be introduced in the autumn of 2028.
Source: Swedish National Agency for Education
