1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NORWAY – 13 Chapter 1 School education in Norway While Norway’s results in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are at or above the OECD average depending on the subject, these outcomes are not considered satisfactory given Norway’s high levels of spending on education. There are also indications that the quality of education provided varies between municipalities with otherwise similar characteristics. The first publication of PISA results in 2000 was described by stakeholders in Norway as a “PISA shock”, which has helped focus attention on the monitoring of quality in education. Over the past ten years, there has been a strong focus on building up national tools and procedures to monitor quality at different levels of the system with a view to improve practices and raise performance. This national agenda is coupled with efforts to build up capacity at all levels and support networking among schools and school owners to strengthen collective learning. This approach reflects Norway’s well-established tradition of local autonomy, with individual schools being “owned” by municipalities and counties and accountable to them rather than more distant national bodies. OECD REVIEWS OF EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION: NORWAY © OECD 2011 14 – 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NORWAY This chapter provides background information that will help readers not familiar with the Norwegian education system understand the context in which evaluation and assessment takes place. The chapter provides a brief overview of the current national demographic, political and economic context as well as a description of the key features of the Norwegian education system. National context Demographic context Norway has 4.9 million inhabitants, with about one million living in the three main cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. The country’s population density is one of the lowest in Europe, with just 13 inhabitants per km2 (compared to 128 in Denmark with a roughly similar population). While Norway is a demographically rather homogenous country, there are two forms of the Norwegian language (nynorsk and bokmal) that are both official languages. There is also a Sami minority population of around 20 000 individuals with its own language and culture. Immigration to Norway has increased rapidly in recent years. In 2009, 10.6% of Norway’s population had an immigrant background (including those born in Norway to immigrant parents), with the largest groups coming from Poland, Pakistan, Sweden, Iraq, Somalia and Germany (Taguma et al., 2009). Political context Norway is a Constitutional Monarchy with a parliamentary form of government. It is a unitary state subdivided into 19 counties and 430 municipalities. The electoral system is based on proportional representation. Both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party have played leading roles in the multi-party system. The current government is a coalition formed by the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. Similarly to other Nordic countries, there are a number of features that have a positive impact on the political culture and governance of the public sector in Norway. These include a high level of education of the population, powerful traditions of consultation and participation in the public policy process and a strong concern for equity as an important value in the Norwegian society (Clark et al., 2005). Norway is not a member of the European Union but has traditionally close ties with the EU and its member countries. Economic context The impact of the global financial crisis has been less severe in Norway than in most other OECD countries. The recession in Norway was relatively short lived and the rise in unemployment – though significant by Norwegian standards – remained moderate (OECD, 2010). Prior to the crisis, Norway had been experiencing one of its strongest periods of economic growth, with average annual growth over 4% and very low unemployment in the years between 2003 and 2008. A distinctive feature of the Norwegian labour market is its high degree of salary compression, with relatively little differentiation of salary levels across different levels of educational qualifications. The female labour force participation in Norway is among the highest in the OECD. Like other Nordic countries, Norway continues to operate a comprehensive welfare system and has high levels of public social expenditure. OECD REVIEWS OF EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION: NORWAY © OECD 2011 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NORWAY – 15 Main features of the school system Structure Levels of education The Norwegian school system is organised in three levels: • Pre-primary education (typical ages 1-6). Pre-primary education is provided in public and private day-care centres. The national government sets goals and provides earmarked funding for the day-care sector and the municipalities are responsible for operating and supervising institutions. While participation is voluntary, in 2008, 75% of 1- to 2-year-olds and 96% of 3- to 5-year-olds attended pre-primary institutions (Eurydice, 2010). The day-care centres are financed by a mix of public grants and parental fees. • Compulsory education (typical ages 6-16). Students begin their school education in the year of their sixth birthday. Compulsory education is provided in single-structure comprehensive schools. It lasts for ten years and comprises two levels: the primary level from Years 1-7 and the lower secondary level from Years 8-10. • Upper secondary education (typical ages 16-19). Upper secondary education comprises three or four years and is organised into 12 educational programmes (three general programmes and nine vocational programmes). Participation is voluntary and free of charge. In 2008, 91% of students aged 16 to 18 participated in upper secondary programmes. Private schools While the number of private schools has risen in the last decade, the sector remains very small compared to other OECD countries. In 2009/10, only 2.5% of compulsory school students and 5% of upper secondary school students were enrolled in private schools. Private schools applying for accreditation must generally be based on a religious affiliation or an acknowledged pedagogical philosophy. Accredited private schools receive state funding of 85% of what operating expenses would cost at a state school. Distribution of responsibilities Norway has a long-standing and well-established tradition of school autonomy, with a strong feeling of individual schools being “owned” by their local communities and accountable to them rather than more distant national bodies. This decentralisation is especially marked in the case of primary and lower secondary education, where, with the exception of a small private sector, schools are run by the 430 municipalities. Many of these, particularly in the more rural areas, are very small and are only responsible for a handful of schools each. In the case of upper secondary education the schools are run by the 19 counties with the only exception being Oslo, the largest local authority, which runs both primary and both levels of secondary schools. Private schools are “owned” by the school’s board. OECD REVIEWS OF EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION: NORWAY © OECD 2011 16 – 1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN NORWAY The Parliament (Storting) and the government define overall goals for education, adopt the legal framework and determine structures and organisation. The Ministry of Education and Research formulates national education policy including acts, regulations and curricula. Within this framework, the school owners (counties, municipalities and private providers) are responsible for implementing education activities, organising and operating school services, allocating resources and ensuring quality improvement and development of their schools. Municipalities may have two or three administrative levels. “Two-level” municipalities have a flat organisational structure where school principals report directly to the chief municipal executive. In “three-level” municipalities, principals report to a separate municipal education officer. Municipalities typically delegate a range of tasks including budget allocation, recruitment of staff and development of pedagogical plans to the school level. At the central level, the Ministry of Education and Research is supported by the Directorate for Education and Training. The Directorate was established in 2004 as the executive agency of the Ministry. It is responsible for supervising quality and governance of primary and secondary education. It ensures the implementation of acts and regulations and assists the different levels of the school system in the implementation of national education policy. The Directorate has operational responsibility for curriculum development, educational research, the National Quality Assessment System (NKVS) and ICT in education (Eurydice, 2010). At the regional level, the state is represented by County Governors. The County Governors’ offices ensure the link between the central education authorities (the Ministry and the Directorate) on the one hand and the municipalities and counties on the other. The County Governors’ role is mainly one of supervision, inspection and reporting. They ensure implementation of the national education policy at the regional level, process complaints and appeals relating to the acts and regulations, and hold responsibility for inspecting public schools. Funding The counties and municipalities are responsible