Oslo Municipality lacks 340 teachers

Teacher Norm OsloTeachers wanted. Photo: Pixabay

Oslo municipality must employ 340 new teachers to reach the new teacher’s mandate that Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) passed before Christmas.

 

Several major cities must work to reach targets, while Finnmark will hardly need a single new teacher, wrote Aftenposten newspaper.

The new teachers’ standard will be fully implemented in 2019, meaning that there should be no more than 16 students per teacher up to 4 grade, and 21 students per teacher from 5th to 10th grade.

Formidable task

There is a need for 340 teaching positions in Oslo, as well as the approximately 450 new teachers who may be employed due to student growth and retiring teachers, said communication officer, Trine Synøve Lie Larsen at the Education Board in Oslo Municipality. She denoted the task as ‘formidable’.

Despite the teaching difficulties in many schools, there are also schools where the learning density is higher than the norm requires.

The Ministry of Education has stated that it will return to funding the norm in connection with the revised national budget in May.

The question is whether the municipalities receive funds that cover up the need, or whether municipalities like Oslo will have to transfer teachers from schools where the
teaching density is too high already. The Education Authority had not taken this into account.

Consultation

The proposal for amendments to the Regulations to the Education Act was sent for hearing on Thursday this week. It was stated that the problem could be solved, either through new appointments, or by moving teachers between schools within the same municipality.

There are also several exemptions: possibility of hiring unqualified teachers, as well as exceptions from the norm for two and four years respectively.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today