The Oslo students score high on national tests. Oslo is the county where the most pupils perform at a high level at all levels. – It is simply formidable, said school councilor Sunniva Holmås Eidsvoll (SV) when the results of the previous school year were clear. Bjørnetjeneste But the statistics from the Norwegian Directorate of Education reveal big differences between the schools. – I understand that politicians emphasize that Oslo is the best in Norway. The city council does that no matter what color it is, says head of education in the district of Grorud, Jarle Dukic Sandven. He is a former principal at two Oslo schools and has followed developments closely for 20 years. Jarle Dukic Sandven is head of education in the district of Grorud. Photo: Olav Juven / news – I believe that Oslo can do itself a disservice if we constantly focus on Oslo as a whole. – To a much greater extent, we must focus our attention on individual districts, sub-districts and individual schools, and set concrete targets for what we want to achieve there, he says. Four to five years’ difference news has looked at the results from the national tests in reading, arithmetic and English in the last school year. At district level, it is Stovner and Alna in Groruddalen and Søndre Nordstrand in Oslo south that score the worst. The districts in the west top the list. The differences are also large within the districts. If we look at reading in the 5th grade, there is a difference of 18 points between the average at the weakest and strongest school. This corresponds to between four and five years’ difference in literacy. At several schools, around half of the pupils are at the lowest mastery level. This shows the scale points The results of national tests are recalculated to a separate scale where the national average is 50 points. As a rule of thumb, the Norwegian Directorate of Education (Udir) says that development during one school year corresponds to 3-4 scale points. This is based on actual data from grades 8 and 9, where the national tests are the same at each grade. Udir tells news that they cannot determine with certainty what the actual progression is throughout the school year, but operate with one school year per year. 3-4 scale points on a general basis. Dropouts For the weakest pupils, this is dramatic, according to Jarle Dukic Sandven. – The biggest problem is alienation. Even though these students are at school, they experience so little coping that they do not feel part of life at school. – Then we know that in the transition to upper secondary school, it is these students who drop out. There is a great risk that more people will go straight into an outside world which can mean drug addiction, problems with mental health and crime. – Difficult to find tools He says that a lot is about living conditions, such as living conditions and the parents’ level of education, but also about quality in school. – We haven’t quite managed to find the right tools to compensate for the challenges of living conditions. He believes that there is also much to be done in the interaction between the school and the education sector, such as child protection, the municipality’s leisure facilities and volunteering. – In the district of Grorud, in collaboration with the Education Agency, we have taken the initiative to create an agreement that “forces” us to take joint responsibility for achieving key goals in the school, child welfare and the leisure sector, says Jarle Dukic Sandven. Want to give teachers more pay – Deeply worrying, says school policy spokesperson in Oslo Høyre, Mehmet Kaan Inan. – These schools must retain and recruit good teachers. That is why we want to give the teachers and head teachers at these schools higher salaries. He says that the Conservative Party will introduce a teacher specialist scheme and employ more teachers so that schools that are struggling meet the teacher standard. And they want to open the schools in the evening so that the students have a safe arena to be in after school as well. Høyre’s Anne Lindboe and Mehmet Kaan Inan are deeply concerned about the differences in the Oslo school. Photo: Tom Balgaard / news Høyre’s mayoral candidate Anne Lindboe says that the poor school results reinforce differences in living conditions. – Schools are the most important area we have for leveling social inequality. We see that we have a vulnerable group of children in disadvantaged areas who do not get the basic skills they need in reading, writing and arithmetic. – It is clear that this increases the risk of school dropout and exclusion, says Lindboe. Mehmet Kaan Inan says that the case is not only about money, but also school policy. – We have a city council that goes to the polls to remove exams, homework, free choice of school and quite a lot of other things that are quite important for students to do well at school or not, he says. – Our most important issue City council leader Raymond Johansen (Ap) is fighting back. – The Conservative Party has never actually fought to reduce social differences. That is our most important issue. He lists a number of measures the city council has implemented. – We have several people who go to kindergarten. We have employed more pedagogues in the kindergarten so that more people actually know Norwegian when they start school. We distribute resources unevenly so that we have more teachers in schools where the needs are greater. – We have a free activity school which has increased the number of pupils who use the activity school, become socialized and improve their Norwegian. And later, we provide summer jobs and youth jobs so that many more people get a foot in the door and earn money in a good way, says the city council leader. Raymond Johansen and Oslo Aps school leader Eivor Evenrud say that the city council does a lot to equalize social differences. Photo: Olav Juven – Make teachers suspicious Party member and school policy spokesperson Eivor Evenrud says that it is not surprising for the Labor Party that there are differences in Oslo. She says that the party has clear ambitions to improve the results. – We want to have more employees in the school and strengthen the team around the school right from kindergarten, in contrast to the Conservative Party which wants to push on with more hours in maths and Norwegian, she says. About Høyre’s measures, Evenrud says that there are already evening schools in many places in Oslo. – When it comes to higher salaries, there is an implicit suspicion that the teachers are not doing as well as they can, but that they will do better if they get a higher salary. We disagree with that, says Eivor Evenrud.
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National tests show big differences in the Oslo school – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
