Norwegian students' skills: "I'm concerned, but not surprised," says professor
"The reason may be as simple as teachers no longer having textbooks," says the professor.
Norwegian students in both primary and lower secondary school are not reading well enough, according to a recent report from the National Audit Office of Norway.(Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB)
The National Audit Office of Norway recently released a report on Norwegian students' reading, writing, and mathematics skills.
The findings show that they are not good enough.
The National Audit Office of Norway believes that the Ministry of Education has failed, and that the Norwegian school system has failed to ensure that more students develop strong basic skills.
"I am concerned by the findings of the National Audit Office of Norway, but I am by no means surprised," Marte Blikstad-Balas tells Science Norway. She is a professor at the University of Oslo.
Why has the school system failed to teach children to read, write, and do maths? Is the answer simply that they need more practice?
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What does research say about why Norwegian students are performing so poorly?
Everything points in the same direction
Blikstad-Balas researches reading, and she is well aware that Norwegian students’ reading skills have steadily declined.
"Additionally, the national reading tests show that far too many students struggle to read well enough," says Blikstad-Balas.
Given too little priority in schools
Why has this happened?
According to Blikstad-Balas, research points to several contributing factors.
One of them is that reading and writing receive too little priority in many schools.
"Schools probably spend too little time working systematically on these skills," she says.
Although there is a great deal of reading and writing in Norwegian schools, there is not necessarily clear progression and systematic instruction everywhere.
"We also fail to identify students who struggle with reading and writing early enough, which means many go too long without receiving the extra academic support they need," says Blikstad-Balas.
Marte Blikstad-Balas is head of the Norwegian Reading Commission, which will give the government recommendations on how preschools and schools should work with reading.(Photo: University of Oslo)
Read too little on paper
Digitalisation has happened rapidly in Norwegian schools, and many students now do much of their reading on screens.
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94 per cent of all 10-year-olds in Norwegian schools had their own digital device at school, according to the 2023 screen use survey (link in Norwegian).
"We know from research that reading on screens is demanding," says Blikstad-Balas.
In 2023, the Screen Use Committee said that students should read more on paper, and that screen use in schools should not come at the expense of reading on paper.
"Both adults and children simply understand more of what they read on paper. Numerous studies from many countries, including Norway, have shown this," says Blikstad-Balas.
A recent study from the University of Stavanger shows that both reading comprehension and attention improved when reading on paper, even when the screen they would otherwise have used was disconnected from the internet.
"One reason is that we're more likely to skim-read on a screen instead of reading carefully, slowly, and thoroughly," says Blikstad-Balas. "It's quite possible that many Norwegian students have too few opportunities to read on paper during a normal school day."
Not good news for writing
Children learn to write at different rates. Some quickly master forming letters and combining them into words, while others need much more time.
For some children, using a keyboard can actually help.
"Many children experience success writing on a keyboard from a fairly young age," says Blikstad-Balas.
At the same time, she notes that many assignments which once required students to write answers in their own notebooks have now been replaced by tasks where they simply click on the correct answer.
As a result, students get less practise writing out their own answers, either on a keyboard or by hand.
"Digitalisation is not necessarily good news for students' writing skills," says Blikstad-Balas.
Long texts are a challenge
Another possible explanation for declining reading skills is that Norwegian students read much shorter texts than students in other Nordic countries.
"The texts are often only one or two pages long, even in lower secondary school. The reason may be as simple as teachers no longer having textbooks," says Blikstad-Balas.
Another report from the National Audit Office of Norway shows that Norwegian teachers do not have access to the teaching aids they need.
"Reading is time-consuming work. It requires schools to make it a priority and to have students read longer, continuous texts," the researcher says.
She points out that reading a book is very different from the kind of reading we do while scrolling on our phones.
"Perhaps, as a society, we spend too little time reading demanding texts, both at school and at home," she says.
Parents read less
Parents also play a role.
"We know that fewer parents read to their children every day than they did in the past," says Blikstad-Balas.
She believes that good habits and positive reading role models are especially important.
"When we read to young children, they are exposed to language not only through the book itself, but also through the conversation with the person reading to them," she says. "Reading books is a wonderful way to show children that reading is enjoyable, fun, and important, while at the same time helping them develop their language skills."
What is the solution?
"How can we help children to read and write better?"
The answer is quite simple, according to Blikstad-Balas.
Children need to read a great deal, preferably on paper, in longer texts, and throughout their entire time at school.
"They should grow up seeing that reading is something people actually do, whether on the bus, at home, or at school. When it comes to writing, it's important that they spend a lot of time writing continuous texts and have the opportunity to revise and continue working on what they have written," she says.
