Fact sheet

Report to the Storting No. 28 (1998-99), presented 19 March 1999: A national strategy for evaluation and quality development in Norwegian schools

Concerning the comprehensive school, equivalent educational facilities for all, and a national strategy for evaluation and quality development in primary and secondary education

In this report, the Norwegian Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs follows up previous decisions by the Storting concerning

• analysis of school facilities at the primary and lower secondary levels in the light of the aim to provide equivalent educational facilities for all pupils (part 1)
• development of a national strategy for evaluation and quality development in the school (part 2)

Major perspectives

The report focuses on quality and equivalence in education. Schools need to cooperate with many resource groups, and they need a degree of autonomy at the local level. Pupils and parents/guardians must be drawn into work on school evaluation and play an active role in this work. It is also important that the school derives valuable stimuli from open cooperation with the local community and with society at large. The aim is not to test or rank schools and teachers or to impose the use of a bureaucratic evaluation system, but to stimulate and support local self-development in the schools.

In binding cooperation with the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, teachers’, parents’ and pupils’ organizations and the social partners, measures will be implemented to encourage creative thinking and innovation through development work and experiments carried out on the statutory basis provided by current legislation and by the new Education Act.

PART 1

Equivalent education in the light of the principles underlying the comprehensive school

The Report to the Storting includes a review of major framework conditions, resource inputs, learning results and the learning environment in the school. This part of the report must be viewed in conjunction with Report No. 32 (1998-99) to the Storting on upper secondary education.

The situation in the primary and lower secondary school

The main principle underlying the comprehensive school is that all pupils and groups should participate in a working community rooted in common values and professional and cultural traditions and objectives. To ensure that pupils are offered equivalent facilities for learning and development, the law lays down requirements that must be met by the owner of the school as provider of the educational facilities. The municipalities are free to provide facilities in excess of those prescribed by law and to define a higher level of ambition for the local school.

In the assessment of the Ministry, there are three primary causes of the variations in the investments made by municipalities in school resources: income, structural factors and priorities. High operating costs per pupil in a municipality do not necessarily derive from high prioritization of the primary and lower secondary schools. School operating costs can also be increased by factors such as the pattern of settlement.

In the assessment of the Ministry, the analyses presented in the report do not provide a basis for proposing changes in the financing system for the municipal sector. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development sent out for consideration by the appropriate bodies a report that assesses new settlement criteria in the incomes system. The Ministry feels that this should be viewed in connection with concerns relating to schools in rural neighbourhoods.

It is difficult to find any clear connection between financial investments in the school and the pupils’ learning yield. The most significant factor for learning yield appears to be the relationship between pupil and teacher.

· Adaptation of teaching is one of the main challenges in the effort to provide all pupils with equivalent education. Differentiation and adaptation of teaching will be a major area of development in further work on a national strategy for school evaluation and quality development. In order to stimulate greater flexibility in the organization of teaching, experiments will be made with different models for allocation of resources to the lower secondary level.

· School premises for 6 year-olds are mainly satisfactory and adapted. In many places, a general upgrading of premises has also been carried out. However, the Ministry takes a serious view of the fact that many school buildings have still not been approved as complying with the Regulations relating to environmental health care. This matter will be raised via the supervisory authority of the Chief County Medical Officers in the municipalities.

• There are considerable variations between the municipalities as regards the number of teachers without approved qualifications. Almost all teachers and head teachers have taken part in supplementary training associated with the introduction of the new curriculum for the 10-year primary and lower secondary school. In a separate Report to the Storting, the Ministry will shortly present an action plan for the recruiting of teachers.
• A majority of pupils and parents are relatively satisfied with the situation in the primary and lower secondary school. The average level of problem behaviour is viewed as being moderate, although it takes somewhat stronger forms. The Ministry is developing many different measures to improve the learning environment in the school. There is a particular need for a systematic review with a view to reinforcing the resources and practical measures aimed at preventing and dealing with negative behaviour in the school.
• The classes that have so far begun using the new curriculum have a satisfactory supply of textbooks. The strengthening of IT as an educational tool in the classroom will also be a major priority. The situation as regards the availability of equipment has improved. The Ministry will consider ways in which the state can encourage investments in this area, and is working on a new action plan for IT in Norwegian education.
• Some municipalities and schools practise a degree of cost-sharing by parents in the provision of educational materials and equipment. The Ministry emphasizes that no payment shall be demanded for educational materials and equipment that are necessary for teaching according to the curriculum. This matter will be raised with the municipalities concerned via the supervisory authority of the National Education Office.

PART 2

The national strategy for evaluation and quality development in primary and secondary education

Targeted work on quality development

In order to satisfy requirements and expectations concerning improved quality, primary and secondary education must give priority to targeted work on quality development. Many schools have already developed good models for assessing their own activities through school and enterprise-based evaluation. It is intended that the work on a national strategy for evaluation and quality development will be founded on the development that has already been started. The Ministry will help to strengthen work on school and enterprise-based evaluation by

• focusing on research and development
• implementing educational research
• qualifying student teachers for systematic school and enterprise-based evaluation

Open classrooms

Cooperation with the community outside the school can provide valuable stimuli in the work on evaluation and quality development. Classrooms will therefore be open to parents/guardians and other resource persons. The Ministry will encourage external resource groups to take part in local evaluation work by

· initiating a national three-year research project concerning evaluation and quality development with external contributors and resource persons from schools, municipalities and county authorities. The groups will be composed of persons from different backgrounds, both with and without teaching qualifications.

The Ministry will also strengthen the role of the National Education Office as contributors to discussions and as advisers for the municipalities and county authorities.

Reliable information - not ranking or bureaucracy

Work on quality development must be founded on reliable knowledge of factors that promote and inhibit learning. Systematic evaluation work must therefore be the point of departure for schools when attempting to characterize a sound learning environment and satisfactory learning processes.

Knowledge concerning learning and working processes in classrooms and workshops is inadequate and poorly systematized. In order to improve the structure of information and make it more easily available, the Ministry will further develop an Internet-based electronic resource bank to provide access to relevant information and practical aids useful for systematic, local self-evaluation. The resource bank will enable different user groups to exchange ideas and experiences.

Evaluation must not result in unnecessary use of resources and increased

bureaucratization or be used as a basis for ranking of schools. To counteract

bureaucratization, the Ministry will simplify and coordinate its own routines

for gathering statistics and other types of reporting. Cooperation on statistics

within the OECD area will continue.

Learning environment and learning yield

The purpose of evaluation is to increase our knowledge of the effect on motivation, learning aptitude and learning yield of the learning environment, the educational setup and the school and corporate culture. The Ministry will carry out thorough and systematic reviews in each area. The organization and content of teaching at the lower secondary level, information technology as an educational tool in classrooms and workshops, differentiation and adaptation of teaching and preventing and dealing with negative behaviour are examples of areas for such a review. Continuous evaluations will also be made of other areas where amore systematic reviews are needed.

The Ministry also aims to set up a trial arrangement involving obligatory use of diagnostic tests in reading proficiency at the second and seventh class levels.

Where assessment of pupils and apprentices is concerned, the Ministry advocates

• systematic analysis of examination answers
• further experimentation with alternative forms of examination
• local experiments with assessment without grading at the lower secondary level in the primary and lower secondary school
• further development of guidance and support material for local and central examinations
• further development of grading and learning support tests
• experiments with obligatory use of diagnostic tests
• continuation of Norwegian participation in international surveys and cooperation in this area

National development centre for primary and secondary education

The Ministry advocates the establishment of a new national development centre from 1 august 2000 to coordinate development and evaluation activities for primary and secondary education. The centre shall have responsibility for tasks currently carried out by the National Centre for Educational Resources, the National Examination Board and parts of the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs.

The Report to the Storting can be found on the Internet at http://www.dep.no/repub/98-99/stmld/28/