Teacher Education in Norway

Abstract

AbstractThe public school system in Norway was strengthened in the nineteenth century. The teaching profession became a central vocation during the nation-building process. The need for teachers with adequate qualifications was met through short-term teacher seminaries. In the twentieth century, these seminaries were improved upon and renamed ‘teacher schools’. Teacher education has undergone frequent reforms in recent decades. In 1973, general three-year teacher education was introduced for primary and lower secondary teachers, existing alongside the teacher education programmes in the universities. Criticism of this three-year teacher education strengthened, and teacher education changed from a generalist education (with competence in many school subjects) to a specialist education (with competence in a few subjects). One further step was the introduction of more rigorous entry requirements for teacher education programmes for both the primary and the secondary level. Another step was a division of the former general teacher education programme into separate programmes for years 1–7 and 5–10. In 2017, these two programmes were converted into five-year master’s degree programmes that are completed with a master’s thesis. Universities train teachers for grades 8–13 through either a postgraduate certificate of education that takes one year to complete, or five-year master degree.