‘We have our lessons in Teams’ – Strategies chosen in Swedish schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and consequences for students in upper secondary education

In Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic, compulsory schools were generally kept open but upper secondary schools closed and turned instead to distance education for a time during the spring term 2020. This article investigates the strategies chosen in Swedish schools, with special focus on the consequences of these decisions for students in upper secondary education. The study, built on interviews with a group of 15- to 19-year-old youths, contributes through a student perspective on learning from home during remote education. The article analyzes the strategy in the Swedish education sector during the pandemic, and describes how a group of upper secondary students perceived the shift to digital and remote teaching during the pandemic with regard to the availability of the digital infrastructure and to studying under the new conditions of distance and remote education. Possible lessons to learn from the pandemic in Sweden could be that students are better technically prepared to work with computers, but less prepared to work independently.