The Decrease of School Related Reading in Swedish Compulsory School – Trends Between 2007 and 2017

Figures & data

Table 1. Statistics from t-test of differences between schools in the 2017 cohort that participated (A) and schools that that opted out of participation (B).

	Means (SD)
	A	B	t	df	p
Students’ average merit points in Grade 9	218.6 (23.6)	212.9 (20.9)	0.704	48	.485
Proportion of students in Grade 6 meeting the minimum requirements in all subjects	78.9 (16.8)	81.4 (18.2)	0.626	98	.533
Proportion of students in Grade 9 meeting the minimum requirements in all subjects	73.1 (14.2)	69.3 (10.6)	0.790	48	.433
Proportion of students with foreign background^a	21.7 (13.3)	25.9 (21.6)	1.243	114	.216
Proportion of students with parents with post-secondary education	48.8 (13.0)	46.8 (13.8)	0.861	158	.390
Proportion of students eligible for studies at vocational upper-secondary level programmes	84.2 (13.2)	84.1 (10.7)	0.021	48	.984
Number students enrolled	201.8 (128.4)	196.3 (139.8)	0.244	161	.810

Note: Proportions are in percentages. ^aThe student or both parents are born outside Sweden.

Table 2. Description of the 2007 and 2017 cohorts, compared to the national average.

	2007 cohort	2007 nationally	2017 cohort	2007 nationally
Students average merit points in Grade 9 (min. 160, max. 320)	208	207	209	223
Proportion of students in Grade 6 meeting the minimum requirements in all subjects^a	–	–	76	78
Proportion of students in Grade 9 meeting the minimum requirements in all subjects	82	76	70	74
Proportion of students with parents with post-secondary education	50^c	50^c	48	58
Proportion of students with foreign background^b	9^c	18^c	22	25

Note: Proportions are in percentages.

^a Not measured in 2007.

^b The student or both parents are born outside Sweden.

^c Data from 2009 when these measures were first introduced.

Figure 1. The proportion of students grouped according to the number of pages of nonfiction read in middle school in 2007 and 2017.

Figure 2. The proportion of students grouped according to the number of pages of nonfiction read in lower secondary school in 2007 and 2017.

Figure 3. The proportion of students grouped according to the number of pages of fiction read in middle school in 2007 and 2017.

Figure 4. The proportion of students grouped according to the number of pages of fiction read in lower secondary school in 2007 and 2017.

Figure 5. The proportion of students grouped according to the number of pages of nonfiction read in middle school compared to lower secondary school in 2007 and 2017.

Figure 6. The proportion of students grouped according to the number of pages of fiction read in middle school compared to lower secondary school in 2007 and 2017.