School starts amidst Internet debate

Norwegian students were heading back to schools all over the country this week, most of them armed with portable computers and other high-tech gear. They rank tops in the world in access to the Internet at school, but a new study suggests it isn’t necessarily boosting their academic progress. “It happens that class hours are [...]

Summer school attendance doubles

The number of Oslo children attending relatively new summer school programs in the Norwegian capital has doubled in the past three years, reports newspaper Dagsavisen. Around 13,000 students from elementary through high school are taking part this year, and it’s popular with both them and their parents. The city’s education department offers summer school programs [...]

Language studies vary by region

A new survey of which foreign languages Norwegian students choose to study reveals marked differences depending on where in the country they live. Students in Oslo seem to favour French, while those in the county of Sogn og Fjordane sign up for German classes and those in Rogaland are keen on Spanish. The findings in the study [...]

Oslo keen to launch English schools

Politicians at City Hall in Oslo plan to apply for state permission to open two new international schools in the Norwegian capital where all teaching would be carried out in English. They cite rising demand for a more international education in an increasingly global society. Newspaper Aftenposten reported on Monday that the new English-language schools [...]

School evacuation an ‘over-reaction’

City orders to evacuate schools in Oslo on Thursday were unnecessary and an “over-reaction” to concerns that fire extinguishers might explode on contact. Importers of the extinguishers said they’d never suggested there was any imminent danger. City education officials,  however, didn’t want to take any chances. They ordered all junior high- and high schools to [...]

Officials evacuate schools in Oslo

Schools all over Oslo were under evacuation orders on Thursday, after education officials worried that some fire extinguishers installed at the schools could explode. Many schools were told to close immediately, while some classes were simply moved outdoors. “We’ve gone out in the fine weather and will spend the rest of the day outside,” the [...]

‘Bureaucracy ruining the schools’

The party led by Norway’s Education Minister Kristin Halvorsen, the Socialist Left (SV), has long enjoyed support from teachers but now it’s struggling in the polls and losing teachers’ votes. Just a week before upcoming municipal elections came news that nearly all teachers think schools have become more bureaucratized, and that it’s affecting students. A [...]

New courses to fight anti-Semitism

Norway’s minister for education, Kristin Halvorsen, has reacted to recent figures about increasing anti-Semitism in schools by introducing courses for teachers that will instruct them in how to fight hatred of Jews among staff and pupils. Halvorsen’s proposal will cost NOK 6 million (just over USD 1 million) and will focus on equipping teachers to [...]

Norway’s ‘russ’ – the good, the bad and the ugly

NEWS COMMENTARY: As the end of another school year draws to a close, the annual party season for graduating students known as “russ” is winding down as well. Many teachers are breathing a sigh of relief, after weeks of wild partying and sometimes dangerous stunts disrupted neighborhoods and worried not only parents but police as [...]

School shooting threat in Bergen

UPDATED 18.00 CET: A junior high school in Bergen, west Norway, was evacuated this Tuesday morning after a national newspaper received a message from a pupil claiming to have a weapon in their school bag with the intention of shooting others, “especially Muslims.” No-one is believed to have been hurt in the incident at Gimle [...]

Minister urges toddler testing

Norway’s education minister, Kristin Halvorsen, has released a new parliamentary report that seeks to reduce the number of Norwegian children receiving special education, including the controversial proposal that kindergarten pupils as young as three should have their language ability tested. The report, titled “Learning and community”, looks to address the increasing number of school pupils [...]

Halvorsen won’t bus students

Kristin Halvorsen, Norway’s government minister in charge of education, has turned thumbs down on proposals to bus students around town as a means of improving their Norwegian language skills. Halvorsen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Wednesday that she doesn’t support bussing, even though some members of her Socialist Left (SV) party do. “There must be [...]

Norwegian students tops in democracy

An international survey ranks Norwegian ninth-graders among the world’s best in their understanding of democracy and social studies. It’s the first time in a long time that Norwegian students placed well compared to their global peers. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study ranked the Norwegian students fifth, after Finland (often [...]

International schools expanding

Norway now has 13 international schools and they no longer cater only to children of diplomats or foreign business executives and military officers. They’re attracting record large numbers of Norwegian applicants, and waiting lists are growing. Never before have so many students attended international schools than now, reported newspaper Aftenposten over the weekend. Attendance is [...]

Teachers top satisfaction survey

Norway’s junior high school teachers can take off for their long summer holiday this week in the knowledge that they rank highest in the world, in terms of feeling they get along well with their students and do a good job. A new survey conducted by the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [...]