"Pisa is a disaster - but nobody understands the grades"
Sweden's meager results in the Pisa survey are discussed in Wednesday's editorial pages. DI's Tobias Wikström describes the results as "catastrophic". and states that the seriousness requires taking responsibility.
"No one in a position of responsibility should blame anyone else. No one should look for extenuating circumstances. Don't settle for the fact that other countries have also had worse results. There are also countries that have gone up," he writes.
Expressen's Ann-Charlotte Marteus sees the Pisa results as a result of schools setting satisfaction ratings because this benefits their own brand.
"The fraud is facilitated by the fact that no one really understands the grading criteria and that there is no normal curve that must be followed. You can hand out as many A's as you like," she asserts.
Pupils' reading comprehension worries: "Everyone should be afraid"
Over 70 percent of Swedish teachers in upper secondary school express a concern for their students' reading comprehension, according to a survey conducted by Demoskop on behalf of Utbildningsradion. The teachers fear that the reading comprehension is so low that the students will find it difficult to pass upper secondary school.
- Everyone should be afraid of what the future holds, says Karin Herlitz, who has worked as a high school teacher for 20 years.
Mats Tegmark, reading researcher at the university in Dalarna, believes that one of the explanations for the reduced reading comprehension is that fewer and fewer students read longer texts in school. It can limit “vocabulary and understanding of concepts.”
Student Isabel believes that many students only read if they're told to, not because they think it's fun.
- The eyes read but the brain doesn't, she tells Vetenskapsradion.
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