“Here are the best and worst schools”. “These fifth graders are among those who scored the best.” “This school scored poorly in reading and maths”. The results of national tests often lead to newspaper headlines. Schools are ranked and pitted against each other, with some emerging as winners – others as losers. Hege Bae Nyholt (Red), head of the education committee at the Storting, wants to put an end to this. Rødt has therefore put forward a proposal in the Storting to stop the publication of the results from the national tests. – We believe it gives an incorrect picture of what the students can do and what the school is good at. It also leads to pressure and a rush between the various school leaders and the students, says Nyholt. Bad feelings after publication – Aren’t we good enough, are we? It’s clear that it does something to us when we get it right in the face. That’s what Hilde Klungsøyr, who is the principal at Flatåsen School in Trondheim, says. She says that the results from the national tests often make the front page of the local newspaper. Her school is not among the schools that score the best: – If you don’t belong to the top five, it is something that hits home with both students, parents and us who work there, she says. Klungsøyr wishes the results were not made public, and says bad results affect the staff at the school. – It’s not nice, you sit with a shame, she says. The headmaster says that it affects both pupils, teachers and parents to get bad results in the tests. Photo: Erlend Lånke Solbu / news Has changed the teaching The principal believes the results do not give a comprehensive picture of the school. For example, Flatåsen scores well on both well-being among pupils and trust in teachers, but this does not show up in the results. She says that a lot of time is set aside to prepare students for the national tests and that the school has changed the general way in which they hold tests to adapt to national tests. Klungsøyr is not critical of national tests, only of the publication of the results. – We can have the results ourselves and work with them internally, but we don’t have to compare ourselves to everyone else, she says. More stressed pupils Hege Bae Nyholt (R) believes that the publication of these results leads to increased stress among young people. She refers to this year’s Youth Data surveys, which show that Norwegian young people experience more stress at school than before. – How do we know that there is a connection between the publication of national results and increased stress? – That is not the whole picture. But the fact that you practice and train and that ordinary teaching is put aside to practice for these tests helps to increase the stress level, says Nyholt. The aim of Rødt is to remove the national tests. – We believe it is a start to turning the school away from a weighing and measuring regime and towards a more practical school, she says. The proposal has the support of Sp and SV. According to Nyholt, the Danish Education Association and the National Association of Schools also believe that the results should not be made public (CHECK). Hege Bae Nyholt (R) believes that the publication of results from national tests leads to stress among pupils. Photo: Marthe Svendsen / news Can experience shame Rødt’s proposal is supported by Cecilie Rønning Haugen, pedagogy professor at NTNU. She has researched how performance management has shaped the schools in Oslo. The researcher says that a lot of time is set aside to prepare students for the national tests, and that some students experience stress related to these tests. The research also shows that most of the principals and teachers interviewed are critical of the publication of results from these tests. – They describe a stress linked to getting good results and shame linked to getting bad results, says Haugen. It is also a problem that we don’t know what the tests are actually able to measure either, says the researcher. Because are good results proof of good teachers in the school, that the pupils come from well-resourced homes or that they have practiced a lot in advance of the tests? asks Haugen. Cecilie Rønning Haugen is professor of pedagogy at NTNU. Her research shows that a preponderance of principals and teachers are critical of the publication of results. Photo: Private Leads to stronger competition Schools in Oslo in particular are affected by the publication of the results, says Haugen. They are more marked by the market than other schools in the country, due to free choice of school and because the schools receive income based on the number of pupils. This has created strong competition between the schools and results from national tests are therefore influenced to a greater extent by what is prioritized in the schools, says the researcher. This tendency does not only apply to Oslo schools, according to Haugen. – There are more people who are now starting to look towards Oslo and think that they must do more like those schools, because they get such good results, says Haugen. Conservative Party: – No reason for secrecy Both the Conservative Party and the Labor Party are critical of the proposal. – I see no reason why the results should be kept secret, quite the contrary, I think it is important to be transparent. This is not about ranking schools, but about seeing how the results develop over time, says Jan Tore Sanner, school policy spokesperson for the Conservative Party. Høyre believes it is important for both school owners and national authorities to know schools’ results over time, among other things to be able to put extra resources into schools that perform poorly. Jan Tore Sanner, school policy spokesperson for the Conservative Party, is critical of Rødt’s proposal. Photo: Marte Garmann – This is information that is important for school owners, teachers and parents. Rather, our aim must be to improve the tests so that they provide correct and precise information, says Elise Waagen, education policy spokesperson for the Labor Party. A committee has now been set up to investigate how the tests can be made better and more accurate, says Waagen. The conclusions from the investigation should be ready in autumn 2023. Elise Waagen, education policy spokesperson for the Labor Party, says the party does not want to stop the publication of results from national tests. Photo: Bernt Sønvisen / Labor Party
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Rødt will remove the publication of results from national tests – news Trøndelag
