What the Pisa world education rankings tell us about schools in Norway
The performance of Norwegian students has plummeted in several subjects, according to the latest Pisa world rankings.
Norwegian teenagers have declined considerably in maths, science, and reading between 2018 and 2022, according to the latest figures from OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Norwegian ninth-graders (15-year-olds) scored an average of 468 for Maths, 477 for reading and 478 for science. Students in Norway scored close to the OECD average in mathematics and reading, and below average in science.
Overall, Norway ranked 32nd out of 80 countries for maths, 32nd out of 80 for science and 25h out of 80 for reading. In all three categories, Norway finished behind the other Nordic countries, excluding Iceland.
The recently released 2022 results mark the lowest scores Norway has recorded. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the number of students at the lowest level. This development was something that worried Minister for Education Kari Nessa Nordtun.
"I am particularly concerned about the large increase in pupils at the lowest level. We have high ambitions for the pupils' learning, and this is a development we have to reverse," she said.
Nearly a third of students were at the lowest level for mathematics, while 27 and 28 percent were at the lowest level for reading and science.
Norway was only one of eight countries where the gap between the best and worst students increased since 2018.
The report also highlighted the increasing performance gap between the richest and poorest students.
In a separate report, UNICEF criticised the Norwegian government for not doing more to lift children and families out of poverty.
The report found Norway was one of the worst-performing countries in Europe when it came to reducing poverty. Child poverty in Norway increased by 10 percent between the financial crisis and 2021.
Despite the increase in poverty, Norway was still one of the countries with the lowest levels of overall child poverty.
READ ALSO: How much poverty is there in Norway?
Testing wasn't the only area where Norwegian schools struggled. In the classroom, a large number of pupils have been left dissatisfied.
Just under a quarter (23 percent) said that they were unable to work well in most or all of their lessons. Furthermore, 31 percent said that using digital aids was distracting, and a quarter said they found digital aids used by other pupils distracting.
Researcher Fredrik Jensen from the University of Oslo told broadcaster TV 2 that the students tested would have had their education disrupted by the pandemic. However, he said he wasn't sure how much of the dip could be explained by Covid-19.
"But we cannot say for sure how much is due to the pandemic and how much is due to other factors, he emphasises," he said.
Pisa said that while the pandemic had an effect, there were signs of long-term decline within Norway's education system.
"The education figures were negative before the pandemic hit us. This indicates that long-term problems in education systems are also to blame for reduced performance. Not just because of Covid-19," the report read.
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Norwegian teenagers have declined considerably in maths, science, and reading between 2018 and 2022, according to the latest figures from OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Norwegian ninth-graders (15-year-olds) scored an average of 468 for Maths, 477 for reading and 478 for science. Students in Norway scored close to the OECD average in mathematics and reading, and below average in science.
Overall, Norway ranked 32nd out of 80 countries for maths, 32nd out of 80 for science and 25h out of 80 for reading. In all three categories, Norway finished behind the other Nordic countries, excluding Iceland.
The recently released 2022 results mark the lowest scores Norway has recorded. Additionally, there was a significant increase in the number of students at the lowest level. This development was something that worried Minister for Education Kari Nessa Nordtun.
"I am particularly concerned about the large increase in pupils at the lowest level. We have high ambitions for the pupils' learning, and this is a development we have to reverse," she said.
Nearly a third of students were at the lowest level for mathematics, while 27 and 28 percent were at the lowest level for reading and science.
Norway was only one of eight countries where the gap between the best and worst students increased since 2018.
The report also highlighted the increasing performance gap between the richest and poorest students.
In a separate report, UNICEF criticised the Norwegian government for not doing more to lift children and families out of poverty.
The report found Norway was one of the worst-performing countries in Europe when it came to reducing poverty. Child poverty in Norway increased by 10 percent between the financial crisis and 2021.
Despite the increase in poverty, Norway was still one of the countries with the lowest levels of overall child poverty.
READ ALSO: How much poverty is there in Norway?
Testing wasn't the only area where Norwegian schools struggled. In the classroom, a large number of pupils have been left dissatisfied.
Just under a quarter (23 percent) said that they were unable to work well in most or all of their lessons. Furthermore, 31 percent said that using digital aids was distracting, and a quarter said they found digital aids used by other pupils distracting.
Researcher Fredrik Jensen from the University of Oslo told broadcaster TV 2 that the students tested would have had their education disrupted by the pandemic. However, he said he wasn't sure how much of the dip could be explained by Covid-19.
"But we cannot say for sure how much is due to the pandemic and how much is due to other factors, he emphasises," he said.
Pisa said that while the pandemic had an effect, there were signs of long-term decline within Norway's education system.
"The education figures were negative before the pandemic hit us. This indicates that long-term problems in education systems are also to blame for reduced performance. Not just because of Covid-19," the report read.
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