ERIC Number: EJ1086717
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1443-1475
EISSN: N/A
Teacher Perspectives of Challenges within the Norwegian Educational System
Anderson, Sarah K.; Terras, Katherine L.
International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, v14 n3 p1-16 2015
This research examines teacher perspectives' of educational challenges in Norway. Norway is one of the most well-resourced, prosperous, social welfare states in the world, yet the OECD (2011) recognized students' weak basic skills and insufficient teacher ability in content and pedagogy, along with engagement and imbalanced resources as points for educational improvement. An open-ended questionnaire was administered to 138 teachers practicing in Norway to explore challenges from their perspective. Teachers reported the following challenges: completing government paperwork with competing pedagogical demands, adapting teaching to each student due to large class sizes, motivating students, managing social and emotional problems of students, and meeting society's increasingly unrealistic expectations. Teachers perceived their challenges to be a result of a poorly built educational system, not from deficits in their teaching skills. We concluded from this study that teacher voice and participation in improvement decisions are needed, given some discrepancy in perceived challenges among these findings, international surveys, and policy-related reports.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Teacher Attitudes, Problems, Teaching Load, Class Size, Student Motivation, Social Problems, Emotional Problems, Expectation, Outcomes of Education, Elementary School Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Questionnaires, Qualitative Research
Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society. ANZCIES Secretariat, Curtin University, Box U1987, Perth, WA Australia. Tel: +61-8-9266-7106; Fax: +61-8-9266-3222; e-mail: editor@iejcomparative.org; Web site: http://openjournals.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/IEJ
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Norway
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A