Ola Borten Moe on declining teacher numbers: No crisis – VG

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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.

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– 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.

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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.

– Will we lack teachers if this trend continues?

– There will be fewer children and over time the need will decrease. On the other hand, quality requirements are constantly being linked in schools, with teachers. There is good reason to follow along, but it is not a crisis yet. But there has been a great deal of discussion about this.

– Do you have a strategy to get fewer unqualified teachers in schools?

Moe laughs heartily.

– We need to train more qualified teachers. Did you expect anything else? We have run a campaign over time to recruit more primary school teachers for grades 1-7. class. It is obvious that it is possible, so there is a ray of light.

Urgent to make the job more attractive

Mona Fagerås is a teacher and parliamentary representative for SV. She believes that it is urgent to make teaching studies and the teaching job more attractive.

– The government is blindfolded in the face of the staffing crisis in schools, and it can have far-reaching consequences, says Fagerås.

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She sends a message to the Minister of Education, saying that it is not enough to only remove the four-year requirement in mathematics.

– The teacher crisis is a national responsibility, and I expect the Minister of Education Tonje Brenna (Ap) not to push this onto the municipalities, and to introduce the measures that the Labor Party itself helped to promote last year.

– The time is overdue to equip Skole-Norge with more skilled employees. Our students need more teachers, environmental supervisors, health nurses and child and youth workers. Now everyone is at the pumps, says Fagerås.

– Strange that more people don’t choose the same

One of those who has accepted the teacher training course is 19-year-old Celina Lorentzen. After a gap year after upper secondary school, she has decided to take primary school education from grades 1 to 7. She graduated from Nesodden upper secondary school with an average of 56.

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She says that it was difficult to choose what she wanted to study. After a gap year, the choice finally fell on teacher training.

– I have had very good teachers even at school, and that has made me think that it can be a very nice job, she says.

Lorentzen says that she thinks it is strange that more people have not applied for the same study as her.

– It seems like a very nice and rewarding job to do. It also doesn’t hurt with the long holiday you get. I don’t understand why it doesn’t tempt people, she says.

Lorentzen thinks that some people might be intimidated by the fact that the education lasts a full five years. This is something she has also thought about.

– I think it is stupid that fewer and fewer are applying for teacher training. Teachers are so important, she says.

Can strike into the new school year

At the end of May, the parties reached a municipal settlement to agreement in the salary settlement, but with one exception: The teachers.

In June, the Education Association took 45 members out on strike in Bergen. The teachers believe they have been wage losers in the municipal sector for a long time.

However, the teachers in Oslo municipality, which is a separate negotiation area, accepted the offer from KS.

The education union has announced that an escalation of the strike will probably come after the summer holidays if there is no solution to the conflict.

Strike leader Bente Myrtveit in Bergen has previously said that she is one hundred percent ready to strike into the new school year.

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