Seen from the outside, the Norwegian school in the 00s appears as a laboratory, where overzealous school bureaucrats have carried out the wildest experiments with our children as guinea pigs. There has been no shortage of literary reports of concern about everything from the excessive use of screens to increasing school absenteeism. Vague wording Many of these books have come from people who do not have the classroom as their daily workplace. Andreas Stien-Leenderts has the great advantage that he is a primary school teacher, and thus has seen all the madness from the inside. The observations he has made from his position behind the catheter correspond to an almost astonishing degree with the impressions I myself have received as a generally oriented and interested observer on the outside. As the general teacher that he is, Andreas Stien-Leenderts covers a wide variety of topics. Mapping tests, school violence, excessive emphasis on oral activity in class, absenteeism, piece rate funding, i.e. that the schools are paid per pupil, and dilemmas related to free school choice are some of the things we have to go through before the bell rings. He got his first job in 2006, i.e. at the same time as the Conservative government and Education Minister Kristin Clemet launched a new curriculum for the school, the so-called “Kunnskapsløftet”. THE BIG PROMISE: Work on the reform was started under the red-green government Stoltenberg with SV’s Øystein Djupedal as minister of knowledge, but completed by the Conservative government and minister of knowledge Kristin Clemet. Photo: Knut Falch / NTB The change was radical. We went from a knowledge-based curriculum (L97), penned by then Minister of Knowledge Gudmund Hernes, to a series of general competence targets, where any concrete reference to exactly what Norwegian school pupils should be able to do in the individual subjects was removed. Stien-Leenderts clearly shows the practical consequences these changes had for teachers and pupils – something that was not least visible in the Norwegian subject. From being a typical education subject, where children learned about Norwegian and Nordic languages and literature and authors, the students have been drilled in reading comprehension and reading speed in the last twenty years. Mislykkes The book opens by telling about a boy in the sixth grade, who has failed a so-called “Oslo test” in reading, where he was asked to figure out the meaning of one text extract after another. The paradox, we learn later, is that the same boy devoured thick books, which many his age would find demanding: This boy would therefore probably have asserted himself in the old education subject Norwegian, but failed when speed was to be measured – along with a superficial understanding. Here it would have been useful if we had also received a concrete example of an Oslo test, so that I would have avoided spending a day getting these tests out from the Norwegian Education Agency in Oslo. MULTIPLE CHOICE: The “Oslo test” was written by the “Unit for qualitative education analyses” at the University of Oslo. The test has been developed according to the same model as the national reading tests and says something about reading as a basic skill in all subjects.” Source: Norwegian Education Agency in Oslo. Photo: Norwegian Education Agency in Oslo Testing and the accelerated measurement and assessment regime (Oslo tests, transition tests and national tests) is Stien-Leendert’s central point of appeal against the school he entered in 2006. We are talking about a test regime where the student can have the opportunity to to feel like a failure. One of the consequences is that the lessons become an eternal training camp for the countless tests. A so-called “Training to Test mentality” arises, where all teaching that cannot be directly linked to the tests is given lower priority. He describes how he himself felt guilty for taking the children to the art museum, because he really knew that they should use every free moment to study for one of the countless tests. There is enough to do here for the committee which will now look at testing and assessment in the school. Stien-Leenderts writes about all this with a pleasant inner voice, and also with a watchful eye for everything that works after all. Concrete curricula A lot has certainly gone wrong, but there is nothing that cannot be fixed. Where to start? The way I read this book, it’s about ending the excessive testing and assessment regime. The curricula must become concrete again, but at the same time also take up something of the dialogical, investigative attitude to learning, which many researchers have pointed to in recent years. In any case, I find little to use the red pencil on here. “School is not for everyone” has become a useful book. It gives a good indication of what the school should not do, and also what should be done more of in the years to come. news reviewer Photo: Cappelen Damm Title: “School is not for everyone – but it can be” Author: Andreas Stien-Leenderts Genre: Nonfiction Publisher: Cappelen Damm Number of pages: 298 Date: 24 Apr. 2023 Hello! I read and review literature in news. Please also read my review of “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, “Details” by Ia Genberg, or Franz Kafka’s “The Process” translated by Jon Fosse.
ttn-69
“School is not for everyone – but it can be” by Andreas Stien-Leenderts – Reviews and recommendations
