A study published in the International Journal of Educational Research earlier this month found that Swedish children, in stark contrast to their American counterparts, did not suffer any significant learning loss during the pandemic. The abstract from the study reads:
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to worldwide school closures, with a risk of learning loss. Sweden kept primary schools open, but it is unknown whether student and teacher absence and pandemic-related stress factors affected teaching and student progress negatively. In this study, reading assessment data from 97,073 Swedish primary school students (grades 1-3) were analysed to investigate potential learning loss. Results showed that word decoding and reading comprehension scores were not lower during the pandemic compared to before the pandemic, that students from low socio-economic backgrounds were not especially affected, and that the proportion of students with weak decoding skills did not increase during the pandemic. Study limitations are discussed. We conclude that open schools benefitted Swedish primary school students.
Sweden was widely pilloried in the early months of the pandemic for opting to keep schools and other public institutions open in lieu of lockdowns. But now, as the grievous toll that school closures took on American children begins to become more widely recognized, the Scandinavian country’s approach increasingly appears wise. All this could be a learning experience for our public-health bureaucracy, if they were capable of self-critical reflection. But don’t hold your breath.