NITO on the Office of the Auditor General's school report: "The government must focus on arithmetic"
The Ministry of Education and Research's work for pupils' reading, writing and numeracy skills is considered "worthy of criticism" by the Office of the Auditor General. "For NITO, the findings are recognizable and serious," says Vice President Safina de Klerk.
"About three out of ten pupils leave primary and lower secondary school without good enough numeracy and reading skills. In mathematics, it has increased by 80 percent since 2015. The development in Norway is more negative than in the countries we compare ourselves with. The Office of the Auditor General makes a serious verdict on many years of school policy," says Safina de Klerk, Vice President of NITO.
Arithmetic has been given lower priority
"Norway has spent large sums of money on school without improving its numeracy skills. It affects the individual student. In turn, this means that too few people choose science subjects and that working life struggles to get hold of the right skills," explains de Klerk. "We need a clear prioritization of arithmetic in primary school, with clear progression from step to grade. The new curriculum in mathematics is an important step, but it must be followed up with systematic work all the way into the classroom.
"The Office of the Auditor General shows that the state has spent a lot of money on continuing and further education of teachers without strengthening arithmetic, reading and writing. In the natural sciences, these schemes have not met the need. The science teachers need to be replenished with science didactics – how the science subjects should be taught in the classroom – and more academic specialization, de Klerk elaborates.
The Great Crisis in Science
"The report of the Office of the Auditor General does not address the fact that there is a complete crisis in the learning of science subjects in lower secondary school. 43 percent of ninth graders perform at the lowest level in science. Norway has significantly fewer science lessons in lower secondary school than our neighbouring countries, and science teachers receive very little continuing and further education. We cannot live with this in a society that is to be transformed with technology and knowledge," says de Klerk.
Clear content and progression
NITO believes that the Office of the Auditor General's report emphasizes the need to see subject curricula and teaching hours coherently.
"We need more content-based curricula with clearer competence objectives, less material overload and a clearer progression between the grades. Arithmetic and algebra must be given clear priority in primary and lower secondary school. In science, the number of hours must be increased in lower secondary school, and a new technology subject must also be considered. Many school leaders find today's competence goals to be vague and extensive," says de Klerk.
Great expectations for the science strategy
"The government will present a new technology and science strategy in 2027, and NITO has great expectations for a real investment in mathematics, technology and science in schools. It must lift learning in mathematics, science and technology – with measures that actually change everyday life in the classroom," concludes de Klerk.
