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Have your say: What’s your experience of schools in Norway as a foreign parent?

Whether you're a parent who's moved to Norway, or you've had a child here, we'd like to hear your thoughts on the school system.

Published: 7 October 2021 12:15 CEST
Updated: 15 October 2021 11:42 CEST

Have you say on education in Norway in our readers survey. Pictured is a classroom setting.

Have you say on education in Norway in our readers survey. Pictured is a classroom setting. Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Maybe you’re a parent who’s moved to Norway, or you’ve had a child here. Whatever the case, we’re interested in finding out what you think about the school system.

How have you and your child/children found school life? What are the good points? And what would you like to see done better? Please let us know your thoughts, and we’ll aim to include them in an upcoming article or series of articles looking at education in Norway.

In the meantime you can catch up on all our articles related to education in Norway here.

Thank you for taking part.

Frazer at The Local Norway.

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Norway among countries with lowest proportion of women in vocational studies

Norway lags behind other OECD countries when it came to women on vocational subjects. Photo by cetteup on Unsplash

Norway is one of the OECD, or Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, countries with the lowest proportion of women studying vocational subjects at upper-secondary level. This is according to the OECD’s Education at a Glance report for 2021.

Vocational careers are those which apply trained practical skills related to broad areas including business, engineering, IT or health and social care. Examples of such professions include plumbing, hairdressing and catering.

In total, women make up less than 40 percent of students on vocational courses—this is more than five percent below the OECD average.

Among Norway’s Nordic neighbours Finland has the highest proportion, 51 percent, of women studying vocational subjects followed by Denmark, 43 percent, and Sweden, 41 percent.

However, depending on the subject, the gender disparity could vary massively. For example, women made up just 8 percent of people studying electrical engineering. This is around half the OCED average.

The report indicated that the gender differences in vocational programs could be attributed to traditional perceptions of gender roles.

For example, women made up the overwhelming majority, 83 percent, studying social sciences and health-related subjects.

“The gender gap is equally striking for students in health and social sciences. In Norway, as many as 83 per cent of students were women in 2019,” Statistics Norway said about the report.

Another reason for the potential disparity is that vocational occupations traditionally associated with men, such as carpentry or plumbing, are taught at upper-secondary school, whereas jobs such as nursing are taught at higher education.

“In Norway, many-male dominated vocational educations are taught at upper-secondary level, while women-dominated educations such as in the health care system are primarily at university and college level,” Statistics Norway said of the OECD report.

READ ALSO: Cost of living: What do workers in Norway spend their salaries on?

When it came to more general studies, women made up the majority of those graduating from upper-secondary level, with 57% of all graduates being female.

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