Civic Education in Norway

For Meredith, Vivian, and me, our project will examine how civic education is taught in Scandinavia. We each decided to focus on a specific country within the area and compare and contrast our findings. I will discuss my country, Norway. 

We were all fascinated by the happiness levels present in Denmark and other parts of Scandinavia. We also all have some heritage residing from there and thought it would be interesting to learn more about their ways of life. 

We will unpack the styles of government and types of schooling, and then we will discuss how this contributes to the success of active citizenship. We want to understand how their residents are so happy and if their mental health correlates with education and citizenship.  

So far, while researching Norway, I have learned about their style of government and the primary school system. The Government in Norway is a constitutional hereditary monarchy, meaning a constitutional monarch is a hereditary symbolic head of state who mainly performs a representative and civic role but does not exercise policymaking power. With “hereditary,” this means that the role of the monarch is passed from one member of the ruling family to the next. King Harald VZ has reigned since January 1991, succeeding his father, Olav V. He is 87 years old! The next in line is Crown Prince Haakon, son of King Harald V and Queen Sonja; he was, from birth, the heir to the throne. The King’s constitutional role is mainly representative and ceremonial. “When the Constitution states that: “the executive power is vested in the King,” this now means that it is vested in the government” (Royal Court), which means that the King handles the formal opening of the Storting (Norwegian parliament) every fall. He lives in the royal palace, travels to other countries, and hosts foreign heads of State, and newly appointed ambassadors must present their credits to the King. The king is the commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces and holds the rank of general in the Army and Air Force and admiral in the Navy. 

The educational system is also different from that of the United States. Their system is 13 years long, with Kindergarten, Primary and Lower Secondary Education, and Upper Secondary School, quite similar to the states, but their “accredited higher institutions are free of charge with 33 options. Also, during the Upper Secondary Education (years 11-13), teen students are divided into 12 programs: four general studies and eight vocational programs. Another option is Folk high schools, which are boarding schools with no examinations. School is free of charge and mandatory. The overarching people in charge are the Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service (NUCAS). The running and administration are municipal responsibilities. Compared to the United States, the Norwegian approach to education philosophy emphasizes equal access to higher education. Additionally, some recent reforms and challenges facing the Norwegian education system include curriculum revision in 2021, which aims to promote deep learning rather than “fragmented and surface-level learning.” They will promote, with increased focus, 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. 

I am incredibly fascinated with how students learn and have a future career goal of becoming an elementary school teacher. In order to teach and have a strong background, learning about other cultures and their school style is vital! 

Citations:

https://www.royalcourt.no/seksjon.html?tid=29977&sek=27300

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11191-022-00399-z#:~:text=In%20Norway%2C%20a%20new%20curriculum%20reform%20was%20recently%20implemented%20(2020,critical%20thinking%2C%20problem%20solving%2C%20and

https://www.britannica.com/place/Norway/Government-and-society

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_V