2018年-世界发展银行全球_Norway_Teachers___SABER_Country_Report_2015_20页_755kb

Summary of SABER-Teachers and Norway's Teacher Policy System

Overview of SABER-Teachers

SABER-Teachers is a component of the World Bank's SABER initiative, aimed at collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating comprehensive information on teacher policies in primary and secondary education systems globally. It focuses on policy design rather than implementation, analyzing the formal teacher policies adopted by education systems to help countries improve their education quality.

The tool evaluates teacher policies based on eight core policy goals, which are identified through empirical research and analysis of high-performing education systems. These goals include:

1. Setting clear expectations for teachers
2. Attracting the best into teaching
3. Preparing teachers with useful training
4. Matching teachers' skills with students' needs
5. Leading teachers with strong principals
6. Monitoring teaching and learning
7. Supporting teachers to improve instruction
8. Motivating teachers to perform

Each goal is associated with specific policy levers (actions governments can take) and indicators (measures of progress). SABER-Teachers classifies the progress of education systems towards these goals using a four-tiered scale: latent, emerging, established, and advanced.

Norway's Teacher Policy Context

Norway has a strong tradition of decentralization and school autonomy, with most primary and lower secondary schools run by municipalities. The Ministry of Education and Research sets the national curriculum, which includes the Core curriculum, Quality Framework, subject curricula, and teaching hours distribution. The 2006 Knowledge Promotion Reform restructured the curriculum and emphasized early literacy and competence goals.

The teacher policy system in Norway is governed by the program "Promotion of the status and quality of teachers - a joint effort for a modern school of knowledge." This program sets high entry requirements, including a bachelor's degree (ISCED 5A) and, from 2017, a master's degree for all teaching positions. It also promotes professional development and school-based collaboration to support teachers.

Key Teacher Policy Areas and Goals in Norway

Goal 1: Setting clear expectations for teachers

Status: Established

• Norway has clear national standards for student learning outcomes and subject content.
• Teachers are expected to spend 44% of their working time on direct teaching, with the rest allocated to lesson planning, meetings, grading, and parent communication.
• Instructional improvement activities such as curriculum design and school evaluation are not officially mandated but are generally interpreted as part of the teacher's role.

Goal 2: Attracting the best into teaching

Status: Established

• High entry requirements (bachelor's degree, master's degree from 2017) are used to attract top candidates.
• Starting salaries are relatively low compared to per capita GDP, but competitive with other professions at the same level.
• Working conditions are considered attractive, with a low student-teacher ratio (10:1 at primary and secondary levels) and moderate class sizes (16.8 students per class).
• Career opportunities include both vertical (promotion to principal) and horizontal (academic leadership) paths, with promotion linked to performance.

Goal 3: Preparing teachers with useful training and experience

Status: Established

• Initial teacher education is at the ISCED 5A level, with a mandatory 100 days of classroom experience (increased to 110 days in 2017).
• Mentoring programs are widely implemented at the local and school level, with experienced teachers receiving formal training to become mentors.
• Compared to other high-performing systems like Japan and Singapore, Norway requires less classroom experience for new teachers.

Goal 4: Matching teachers' skills with students' needs

Status: Established

• Incentives exist for teachers to work in hard-to-staff schools, including monetary bonuses and student loan reductions.
• Critical shortage subjects (e.g., English, mathematics, Norwegian language) are supported through salary incentives and professional development programs.

Other Policy Goals

Goals 5–8 (Leading teachers with strong principals, Monitoring teaching and learning, Supporting teachers to improve instruction, Motivating teachers to perform) are also assessed, though the document primarily focuses on Goals 1–4. These goals emphasize the importance of school leadership, ongoing monitoring and evaluation, support structures, and motivational frameworks in ensuring teacher effectiveness.

Key Findings

• Norway has a highly developed teacher policy system, with strong performance in several key areas.
• The system is decentralized, allowing for local flexibility in policy implementation.
• High education expenditures (US$15,500 per student) and a high percentage of tertiary-educated adults (42%) support a well-prepared teaching workforce.
• Despite the high entry requirements, there are concerns about a potential shortage of primary school teachers due to lower grade point averages among applicants.
• Mentoring and professional development are key components of teacher preparation and support in Norway.
• Policy implementation can differ from policy design, and additional data is needed to fully understand how policies are applied on the ground.

Conclusion

SABER-Teachers provides a valuable framework for evaluating and improving teacher policies. Norway's system is well-structured and established in key areas, with clear expectations, high entry requirements, and supportive mechanisms for teacher development. However, ongoing challenges, such as teacher shortages in primary education and implementation gaps, highlight the need for continuous monitoring and adjustment of teacher policies to ensure they effectively support student achievement.