From spring, those who want to become teachers no longer need to have a 4 in math. Instead, they must have at least 40 credit points and a grade of 3 in Maths and Norwegian. For those who do not have a high enough score, the current math four requirement system is maintained. In this way, the government will train more qualified teachers than today.
- Today too many teachers in Norwegian schools lack teacher training. We also need more teachers in many places around the country. We are now introducing new and more precise requirements for those who wish to become teachers. In this way, we open ourselves to more good candidates. Not excluding anyone because of the grade in one subject - says the Minister of Science and Higher Education Ola Borten Moe.
We expect more qualified candidates
Thanks to the new requirements, around 330 more people who chose teacher training first this year would qualify for a place of study. This is shown by the calculations made by coordinated releases.
- Thanks to the new recruitment requirements, we can expect a greater number of highly qualified candidates competing for each place of study. We need to recruit our future teachers from a wider range of candidates with different professional strengths. Both students and schools will benefit from this, says Borten Moe.
More precise requirements
In 2016, the Solberg government introduced a requirement of at least a grade 4 in mathematics to enter education teachers and lecturers in schools primary and lower secondary education. The introduction of this requirement has been strongly criticized by most teachers' organizations and teacher education.
Now the government wants to change the admission conditions. The aim is to attract more good candidates for teacher education programs. Therefore, they introduce the requirements of at least 40 school credits and 3rd grade in mathematics and the Norwegian language.
For the sake of candidates who have adapted to the current admission requirements and do not have 40 school credits, the current requirements are kept as an alternative. This means they can have 35 school credits, a grade of 4 in Maths and 3 in Norwegian.
The background is that today's requirements exclude candidates with high grade point averages, those who do not have at least a C in math. Under the current rules, for example, a candidate with a grade of 4 in Norwegian and Social Studies but a 5 in Mathematics will not be selected. At the same time, there were too few qualified candidates for several types education in northern Norway and in districts. There is a possibility of educating more teachers in the future.
In line with the government's proposal, the new recruitment conditions will apply from autumn 2022.
The changes will be available for consultation at the turn of the year.
Source: regjeringen
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