Now the classrooms are full of students again. Many are looking forward, but the proportion of pupils who are not looking forward is increasing, giving cause for concern. High numbers of bullying. Declining motivation. Lack of meaning. Violence in the classrooms. Bad results. Teachers roar. Teachers quit. The school can’t take much more now, before it collapses. A rescue package far beyond discipline is needed for the school to be declared healthy. Fewer students The number of students in the classroom must be significantly reduced, and the politician must stop hiding behind the argument that this has already been done, by pointing out that students divided among teachers agree with the policy. Teachers know that the map does not match the terrain. Most teachers have 30 students in their class, and most lessons the teacher is completely alone with these students. It is a calculation that cannot possibly add up. Much has been said about discipline. A reduction in class size is much more effective than taking students by the arm. State funding The funding of Norwegian public schools must be a state responsibility. As it is now, the school is at the mercy of the municipality’s priorities and the municipality’s finances. I myself live in a municipality that is on the ROBEK list, and cuts in the school budget are a constant threat. If the state does not take over the financial management of the school, there is no reason to call the school either a unified school or a joint school. It does not help that the curriculum and legislation are the same, when the economic conditions are so vastly different. Contact teacher The contact teacher position must undergo a complete renovation. This position is overburdened with work tasks, and one gets the impression that every time a new task comes into the school without addressed responsibility, the contact teacher is the answer. What hasn’t changed is the time contact teachers have to be just that, and the salary allowance is close to a travesty. Being a contact teacher has, in the years I’ve been at school, gone from being something you wanted, to something you do against your will. Failed policy Objective and results management must be discontinued with immediate effect. It has not worked as intended, quite the opposite. The school must spend more time on knowledge, instead of competence (applied knowledge). Pupils need knowledge to become competent and to exercise skills. In order to be able to discuss the causes of the Second World War, students must have knowledge of the war. In order to be able to discuss radicalisation, students must have (a lot of) knowledge about religion, historical lines, political ideologies, skewed distribution of resources etc. The alternative is for students to argue with “I think radicalization is stupid”. The students know that you should write on one side and on the other side, but do not know what to fill the pages with. And together with goal and result management, we can throw away all pointless testing. Testing does not promote learning. Now there must be enough teachers who have said this enough times for the message to reach the politicians. Because when the Conservative Party in Oslo claims that students have the right to know where they stand academically, they also have the right to have their decency and self-worth safeguarded. While we are in the process of dismantling things in schools that do not work, free school choice should be scrapped, also with immediate effect. This is, after all, outsiderness set into the system. Less theory The school as it is designed today is primarily adapted to the theoretically strong student. Practical and aesthetic subjects have been neglected for many years, and appear as a threat to the image of public schools as an arena for mastery, with room for the entire spectrum of pupils’ knowledge, skills and prerequisites. The dreams many students bring into school are shattered when they leave. The practical-aesthetic subjects must be given a boost. The student’s experience The student’s subjective experience weighs too heavily. We may have to wait until the discipline is reintroduced before the politicians see what happens when the pupil’s subjective experience meets the teacher’s discipline. Of course we should listen to the children, but without the guidance of wise adults, this goes wrong. There is actually a real danger that the number of subjectively experienced violations drowns out the most serious cases of bullying. We don’t have time to respond to one violation before the other takes us. Violence in the classroom Violence in the classroom is a huge challenge that threatens the security of both teachers and fellow students. Here we have a paradox. Because no one believes that 6-year-olds start school with the goal of committing violence against teachers or fellow students. What is certain is that the solution does not lie in the political debate, because it is pure ideology from people who have barely stood in a classroom. All children bring their dreams with them on the first day of school. Teachers throughout the country do their utmost to ensure that pupils reach their goals. It is the school system that is the problem. Then we have to adjust it so that the teacher is allowed to be good, and so that it takes greater account of the students’ requirements. In short, the system must be for the good of the people, not the other way around. Published 22.08.2024, at 09.43
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The school is not what it once was – Ytring
