The School System of Norway

by David Allen Anderson

In all the cities and towns excellent educational advantages are provided. Usually their school year consists of forty weeks of six days each. Every provision is made for the welfare of the children; excellent instructors are secured, and the equipment for teaching purposes is of the best procurable. Furthermore, no pains are spared in guarding the children from physical discomfort and immoral conditions or associations.

Simultaneously with the development of the elementary schools secondary education moved along advance lines. In 1814, when Norway became an independent state there were but four of the higher classical (laerde) schools within her borders. These were the historic cathedral schools (Kathedralskoler) which had been established for centuries. As time passed, other secondary schools were organized. Higher education was reorganized in 1869 and again in 1896, when by act of the Storthing secondary education was made to include the middle school and the gymnasium. The enactment defines these schools and states their aim as follows: "The middle school is a school for children, which, in union with the primary school, gives its pupils a complete, thorough, general education, adapted to the receptivity of childhood. The gymnasium is a school for young people, which on the foundation of the middle school, leads on to a complete, higher, general education, which may also serve as a basis for scientific studies. Both middle school and gymnasium shall contribute to the religions and moral training of the pupils, and it should also be their common aim to develop the pupils both mentally and physically into competent young people."[4] The act requires that the middle school shall be no longer than four years, and that the gymnasial courses shall be of three years' duration.

The gymnasia of Norway take up the work where the middle schools leave off, and provide three years of instruction which concludes with the examen artium. The passing of this examination entitles the individual to become a student in the university. Previous to the time of entering the gymnasium the subjects of instruction are uniform for all; here they branch into two or three lines, any one of which may be selected by the pupil and followed to its completion. The main divisions of the work are represented in the names of the courses—the Real and the Linguistic-Historical. The latter of these is again divided in some schools, one of its two lines including Latin. The Real course of instruction is largely scientific while the Linguistic-Historical, true to its name, embodies a large amount of language and history. In case the course including Latin is offered, Latin replaces some of the work in modern languages and history.

The middle school, then, is the second step in the educational ladder and builds upon the work previously done in the primary school. No middle school is privileged to include work lower down than the sixth grade. In other words, the primary schools are the only ones which are authorized to present the work of the first five grades or years of school instruction. The courses of study are so arranged that a child may pass from the primary school after completing the fifth grade and enter directly upon the studies in the regular four year course of the middle school. On the other hand a pupil may continue in the primary school until its completion—seven years—and then enter a middle school and finish its requirements in three years. While nearly all middle schools present a four year course there are a few which offer only three years of instruction. In order to enter these latter schools the child must have finished the seven years of instruction in the primary schools. Middle schools are under the inspection of state officials and a uniform standard of work is required of all of them. The middle school examination which marks the completion of the middle school course is exactly the same for all pupils in the state. In any given year all who take the examinations write on exactly the same questions on a specified hour of a certain day.

The Royal Frederik University, established by King Frederik in 1811, furnishes the summit of educational endeavor. Its five faculties—(1) theology, (2) law, (3) medicine, (4) mathematics and science, and (5) history and philosophy—represent the best products of the country and maintain standards of efficiency paralleling the achievements of the day. Besides the five faculties already mentioned there are (1) The Practical Theological Seminary for the training of ministers and (2) The Pedagogical Seminary (affiliated) for special training of teachers. Through the endeavors of the faculties and seminaries enumerated, the necessary professions, scientific organizations, and philosophic societies are supplied with men of eminent qualifications. The state also is supplied from the same source with individuals capable of attending to the affairs of state in a dignified and competent manner.

To aid prospective teachers and to maintain high professional standards, Norway early established a Teachers' Seminary in each of its six dioceses (Stifter). Having made this ample provision for the training of teachers, they were in a position to require a certain amount of professional preparation of all candidates for appointment to teaching positions. Adherence to this laudable principle has saved the state from an overflow of incompetent instructors. While requirements were very low for a long time, the increasing supply of qualified candidates for positions warranted successive shiftings of them to higher and higher standards. At present, the teachers of Norway, as a body, rank among the best in educational equipment, professional training, and morality.

Technical, agricultural, military, and naval schools have been established in order to keep pace with the world's developments along these lines. The technical school in Trondhjem opened in 1910, sets the requirements for admission as high as those at the university. Its work promises to be of unquestioned quality and its prospects are very bright. The students at this school come chiefly from the scientific course offered in the gymnasia or from the several preparatory technical schools of Norway. There are many of these lower technical schools doing excellent work and some of them are modeled after American schools. The work of the agricultural college and of the military and naval schools is more or less technical along their respective lines and meets certain requirements not elsewhere provided for. When one notes the variety of schools maintained by the Norwegian state, it is evident that it is the intent to provide for its citizens a very wide range of educational advantages, and at the same time to develop the capacities of young people until they are able to perform the offices of state and nation.

III. DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOLS AND PUPILS

The laws of Norway are specific in their requirements regarding education, and the people are at hand to provide the essential means for carrying out the demands. It is required that in each city or district in the entire realm there shall be the necessary number of schools to provide instruction for all children of school age. This is in answer to the law which makes a requirement of a certain minimum amount of education of all such children.

The primary schools are distributed in the cities, villages, and rural communes to suit the convenience of pupils attending. Other and higher schools are provided where most needed. As is true everywhere the bulk of work is done in the primary schools. Rural and city schools have their own laws and government, and are admirably adapted to the needs of their respective constituencies. As would be expected, the rural schools and the pupils attending them far outnumber those in the cities and towns. There are in the country five thousand, nine hundred and seventy schools attended by two hundred seventy-five thousand, one hundred and fifty-five pupils, while there are but sixty-one city school systems having an enrollment of ninety thousand, one hundred and twenty-nine pupils.[5] It is seen that there are about three times as many pupils in the rural primary schools as are found in the city primary schools. The distribution and care of the city school pupils are, however, much larger tasks than providing for those in the rural sections. In order to show conditions in a given city we insert Table I which indicates the number of classes and pupils in the several grades in the nineteen primary schools of Christiania, and also gives the totals for the entire city. Boys and girls attend the same school, but in this particular city they are generally separated into different rooms where they are taught by themselves. The schools are co-educational but not generally coinstructional. As the table will show, some of them are coinstructional through a part of the course while only one follows this plan throughout its work.