Schools fail to help losers

Norwegian schools appear to have accepted that a certain portion of their students become losers. They're not doing as good a job at prodding them along as schools in other countries, claims an international expert.

Recent surveys conducted by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicate that Norwegian students aren't doing as well as their counterparts in the 30 countries that are members of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.) Those countries include the US, Canada and most of Europe.

The PISA test is aimed at 15-year-olds in all 30 countries. It's designed to assess how well students are prepared to meet challenges, by measuring their ability to analyze, reason and communicate their ideas effectively.

PISA leader Andreas Schleicher of Germany told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Friday that the Norwegian schools aren't contributing to social equality in the country. "I won't say that the Norwegian schools are creating losers, because that would sound like it's something they want to do, but I will say that the Norwegian school system accepts that some students are losers," he said.

Schleicher claimed that the schools aren't identifying problem students early enough, nor are they managing to offer enough help early enough. He further claimed that the education level and income of students' parents play a decisive role in the students' own development. That's not supposed to happen in a country like Norway that prides itself on being a social welfare state.

Earlier help needed
Anniken Huitfeldt of the Labour Party, who leads the Parliament's education committee, admits that Nowegian schools haven't succeeded in helping the weakest students.

"We probably have accepted that some students lose out," she said. "Other countries have been more demanding that all students must reach a certain level."

Most special education resources are allocated at the junior high school level, and she now says she wants to see more used for younger students.

Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund/NTB

Source: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1693419.ece