Teaching qualifications in primary and lower secondary school, 1999:

Vast majority of teachers have formal qualifications

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Ninety-six per cent of primary and lower secondary school teachers in Norway have formal teaching qualifications. The percentage is somewhat higher in the intermediate and upper grades than in the lower grades. Seven in 10 nevertheless want to increase their competencies in the subjects they teach.

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The survey shows that nine out of 10 teachers want to continue teaching in their subjects. The survey covers teachers who teach math, science and the environment, social studies and a second foreign language (German, French or Finnish as a compulsory additional subject).

Compulsory education

Nine out of 10 teachers have graduated from a teachers training college or college. Among teachers aged 30 or younger, 19 out of 20 attended a teachers training college or college. If the trends continues, the percentage of teachers with a college education will climb at the expense of the percentage with a university education. The same applies to the percentage who have taken supplementary courses at universities. Among those who did not graduate from a teachers training college or college, nine out of 10 have a university degree.

Half of the teachers have a three to four-year teaching degree or general teacher training. A quarter have a similar two-year degree.

Continuing education/in-service training

Asked how they would like to do additional coursework/in-service training if they were to continue their education, half of the teachers said they were interested in using the Internet for this purpose. The percentage was the highest in Northern Norway and in Trøndelag. The percentage of men interested in continuing their education via the Internet was furthermore higher than the percentage of women, and younger persons were overrepresented in comparison to older persons. The percentage interested in taking in-service training/continuing education classes in the form of evening courses, correspondence courses, etc. was somewhat lower. Two in five said they were interested in such courses. More than one-third were interested in using part of their holiday to continue their education.

New Statistics
Teaching qualifications in primary and lower secondary school, 1999.
Further details will first be made available in Notater 99/30. For more information contact: Dag.Roll-Hansen@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 46 70.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 20, 1999