What is this? The second and third graders at Byafossen School in Steinkjer look at the picture of a red pencil on their tablets. Experimentally, they move their finger between the boxes where rubber, pencil and glue are written. GLOSER: Pupils at Byafossen school use tablets to learn English. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news Here, all students from first to fifth grade have their own tablet. The rest have PCs. This has been the case since the pandemic. But the investment has paid off. According to the principal, Margrethe Hestad Kavli, the school cannot afford updated textbooks in all subjects, neither digital nor physical. The old school books were created before new curricula came in 2020. The changes mean that the books are now useless in many areas, she says. – The consequence is a worse offer for students. The teachers have to “cut and paste” and stitch together schemes themselves, so it won’t be as good. FRUSTRATED: Principal at Byafossen School, Margrethe Hestad Kavli, feels that the offer they give the students is not enough. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news She says the teachings extend far and spends a lot of time finding relevant material online. – But I fear they will get bored and look for other professions, says Hestad Kavli, who is also the county leader of the School Leaders’ Association in Trøndelag. Costly investment in tablets Tablets and PCs have fully entered Norwegian classrooms. Homeschooling during the pandemic was a catalyst. An estimate made by news shows that screens and necessary accessories cost the municipalities around 1.7 billion each year. This is how we calculated: Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news news has taken figures from a report Oslo Economics made for the Directorate of Education in 2022. The consultancy company has spoken to school owners and principals and reviewed municipal accounts, budgets and digitization documents. The report emphasizes that mapping these costs is challenging because many school owners do not have a full overview. Therefore, it is difficult to find exact figures. news has also carried out its own surveys among players in the market. The information we have received builds on the findings in the report. The figure of 1.7 billion includes expenses for: Tablet/PC/Chromebook Licenses for digital teaching aids Login solution Feide. Operation of the network Digital board Several expenditure items are not included in the calculation. This applies to, among other things: Software as an administration system and learning platform. Skills development Any additional ICT resources Robots, VR glasses etc. Work to meet requirements for quality, privacy and universal design for each individual digital learning tool. The figures represent actual costs, not necessarily what is needed to achieve the desired degree of digitalisation. In addition, there are a number of expenses that are more difficult to quantify. According to KS and the Directorate of Education, each individual municipality spends large sums on ensuring that the apps comply with requirements for privacy, security and universal design. The municipalities must make a new assessment for each individual app they use. COSTLY: It’s not just the iPads that cost money when schools go digital. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news – When each municipality has an average of 140 apps or other digital teaching aids, and we are talking about tens of hours per assessments, this is a comprehensive job, says Asbjørn Finstad, department director for strategic ICT and digitization at KS. According to KS, there is a backlog in this work in the wake of the pandemic. Their preliminary calculations show that it is about a billion when the municipalities do this individually. DIFFICULT: Head of department in KS, Asbjørn Finstad, says new curricula and the pandemic have demanded a lot from the school and that the subsidies have not necessarily been sufficient. Photo: KS – Disappointed The principal in Steinkjer, Margrethe Hestad Kavli, wants both digital and physical textbooks, but the money is not enough. – I have NOK 1,000 per student annually to digital teaching aids and books. A physical textbook quickly costs NOK 500 and a digital license NOK 700. It doesn’t go up. Unlike physical books, licenses must be renewed every year. The principal at Byafossen is calling for more money for teaching materials – the school budget is tight, she says. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news This autumn they are involved in a project where they get to try out several apps for free. From January, the school must once again finance all learning materials itself. – I have never worked so much with priorities. Digitization has such a high additional cost, and the politicians are probably not aware of it since no more money has been allocated. It is disappointing. She says the school budget has been scrapped and that there is no more money to take. – Are tablets in school worth the price? – Yes, if we had received enough transfers so that we could actually choose digital teaching works that we think are appropriate and at the same time have a budget for printed teaching materials that are updated according to the new curriculum. The pupils will learn to read and orient themselves in both digital and printed texts. Screen in school Photo: Ingvild Edvardsen / news Almost all pupils in primary school have access to their own digital device. In the 2022-2023 school year, the figure was 94.4 percent. 42 percent of these have a tablet, 29 percent have a laptop PC or Mac and 23 percent have a Chromebook. It varies whether the pupils bring the screen home, or whether it is primarily used in teaching at school. The goal of the Norwegian Directorate of Education is 1:1 coverage throughout the country. In recent years, there has been a great debate about the consequences of tablets in school, and many teachers and parents are asking for more physical books. Source: Norwegian Directorate of Education Many lack teaching aids In 2020, completely new curricula entered schools. More focus on in-depth learning and collaboration across subjects are some of the changes. A survey by the Norwegian Directorate of Education shows that only 2 out of ten municipalities have purchased new teaching aids in all subjects. The main reason is tight finances. SCREEN IN SCHOOL: There is great disagreement about the effect of tablets in school. Photo: Tariq Alisubh / news The Norwegian Association of Lecturers believes that digitization is underfunded. – Our members say that funds are tied up for the purchase of digital devices such as PCs and iPads at the expense of printed textbooks and relevant digital teaching aids, says leader Helle Christin Nyhuus. Helle Christin Nyhuus of the Lecturers’ Association believes that digitalization in schools has been implemented without clear educational policy goals. Photo: Ksenia Novikova / news She thinks the pendulum may have swung too much towards digital devices. – Now we see that more teachers are both demanding printed teaching aids and demanding back autonomy in the classroom. – Must prioritize Gisle Almlid-Larsen, sector manager of schools in Steinkjer municipality, agrees that the school should have had more funds to purchase textbooks. – The cost of buying new textbooks is high and therefore we have to take it over a few years. That’s how the reality is in the municipal economy, so it’s about priorities. We must prioritize having employees with the right skills so that we create safe and good school days. He says that Steinkjer municipality is involved in projects that will improve the financing of digital solutions.
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1.7 billion are used on screens a year – digital books are missing – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
