Sweden has already given its answer. After opting for 100% digital education fifteen years ago, the Swedes have now taken a 360-degree turn. In March, the Swedish government announced that it was investing SEK 685 million (around ?58 million) in the supply of paper textbooks. This was prompted by the results of an international study which warned of the harmful effects of excessive screen use, and showed a drop in the reading and reading comprehension skills of young Swedes.
This Scandinavian backtracking does not seem to go in the direction of the " digital strategy for education 2023-2027" announced on the website of the French Ministry of Education, which aims to generalize the transition to all-digital teaching in primary, secondary and high schools.
For the moment, paper textbooks are still in the lead!
Textbooks, whether paper or digital, are a publishing segment driven by a few historic brands such as Belin, Magnard, Nathan, Hachette... According to figures published in a 2021-2022 summary by the Syndicat national de l'édition (SNE), sales of 321.7 million euros put the schoolbook segment in 6th place in the overall publishing market. This represents a loss of four places compared with 2019-2020, as this segment had benefited from the reform of the new baccalauréat, with the publication of new textbooks before the covid period.
Digital publishing as a whole represents sales of 273.2 million euros, with school books accounting for 14%. This segment is financed by subscriptions and license renewals, and by the decision of certain regions to go 100% digital.
For both versions, the "payers" remain the same: the regions for high schools, the départements for middle schools and the communes for elementary school. As for the choice of textbook itself, whether paper or digital, it's up to the teachers of each subject in each school to agree.
What about the future?
Is the digital market likely to take a step backwards in the short to medium term, as it continues to grow slowly but surely?
Michel Desmurget, a doctor in neuroscience, reminded the Figaro last June that a 2015 study by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) had shown that "learning with a digital tool is no more effective than a normally delivered lesson" and added: "Very often, moreover, the tools are deployed without any prior pedagogical study" .
