For the third year in a row, the number of students who have been given a study place at teacher training courses in Norway is falling. The Norwegian Confederation of Education despairs, but Higher Education Minister Ola Borten Moe says there is no crisis.
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It has been a national challenge for several years to recruit for teacher training courses. The applicant numbers from those last years have been gloomy, at the same time as SSB has heralded a coming teacher crisis.
And that trend continues in 2022:
A quarter of the study places that were available this year after the main admission were places for the teacher’s course, figures from Samordna admissions show.
Almost every fifth teacher in the school, measured in teacher-years, lacks teacher training, figures from Statistics Norway show.
In addition, approximately 40,000 teachers have opted out of a job in the school in favor of something else, according to The Education Association.
Big fall for kindergarten teachers
– There are more first-choice applicants for those who teach grades 1 to 7, but for kindergarten teachers there is a very large drop. For teacher education as a whole, there is a downward trend over several years.
This is what the director of the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, Sveinung Skule, told VG on Monday.
He says that they have sent out approximately 1,000 more offers because of the new admissions rules for teacher training. Before, you had to have a 4 in mathematics to get in, but now you can have an average of 4.
But the number of applicants is still not good enough.
– Statistically speaking, 60 per cent of those who receive an offer actually accept the course, so it is a big drop, says Skule about the teacher’s course.
The table shows how many people have been offered the various teacher training courses this year and last year. There are over 1,000 fewer people who have been offered to become kindergarten teachers in 2022.
Primary school teacher 1.–7. has had an increase in the number of applicants this year, but still a decrease in the number of offers made.
The type of education “subject teacher education” is a three-year education for 1st-13th graders. steps. It is being discontinued and will be replaced by a five-year education. Some institutions advertise teacher training in practical aesthetic subjects for grades 1–13. steps. All must have transferred to the five-year education in practical aesthetic subjects before 2023.
– Terrible situation
Steffen Handal, head of the Education Association, fears that the declining trend will weaken Norwegian children’s education.
– I think this is simply dramatic, especially for kindergarten teacher training. It is an absolutely terrible situation. I can’t quite understand how this has happened, he says to VG.
– When it comes to teachers, it is alarming. Almost every fifth teacher lacks teacher training. Many consider leaving the profession. We have an employer who makes us wage losers in the collective bargaining agreements, says Handal resignedly.
He is calling for action from the authorities.
– There have been enough celebratory speeches and sermons. We need concrete measures, and we can start with the salary. We’ve tried just about everything else. The course has been made longer and the admission requirements have been tightened. We have had recruitment campaigns in the past, and now it is time to see if pay cannot have an effect. You cannot make us wage losers year after year. It is clear that young people also think about their salary when they apply for studies, says Handal.
He also believes that other measures are needed.
– We can also ensure that the working conditions for the teacher are better and the group sizes are smaller. The situation as it is now is desperate.
The Minister of Education: – Not a crisis
Research and Higher Education Minister Ola Borten Moe (Sp) says he is happy that there is an increase in the number of applicants who are offered their first choices, and that it is good that we are back to the 2019 level in the number of applicants.
– Are we facing a teacher crisis?
– The decline within teaching subjects is not much more than one might expect. We need to look more closely at the numbers, but there is no reason to characterize this as a crisis.
The Minister of Education says the gross number has decreased between 12 and 15 per cent for all subjects and disciplines.
– It is not surprising that there is this type of decline for teachers as well. There is a significant decrease, especially within kindergarten teacher training. For primary school teachers, the picture is better, he says.
He highlights the change in the admission requirements for teachers, and says over 1,000 new qualified applicants were admitted, who would not have done so under the old regulations.
Borten Moe believes the figures would have looked worse if the four-person requirement had not been removed.