The government’s examination committee proposes to remove the current examination system in schools, and to study the effects if the pupils are allowed to choose which subjects they will take exams in.
The examination committee was set up by Education Minister Jan Tore Sanner (H) last year in connection with the introduction of new curricula from next year, writes Aftenposten.
In the committee’s second report, which was published on 15th August, it is proposed that the current system of random selection for examination be discontinued. Instead, the committee wants to identify consequences if the students choose their own subjects.
Today’s scheme, where only two out of ten students are selected for the exam, is unfortunate, says the head of the committee, director Sigrid Blömeke at the Centre for Educational Measurement (Senter for pedagogiske malinger) at the University of Oslo.
According to today’s selection scheme, it is random who has to sit the exam. In the 10th grade at the secondary school and through three years in high school, some can be selected several times, but others get away with fewer. Blömeke tells the newspaper that the committee has discussed ways to make the distribution fairer.
But not everyone in the committee agrees. Rita Helgesen, head of the Norwegian Lectoral Team (Norsk Lektorlag), believes that the draft scheme quality assures the ranking of applicants for higher education. She fears that students will strategically choose the subjects they are best in if they can choose what they want to be examined on.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
