Debate and opinions | Yes to more practical and varied teaching!

There was news this week that the government will allocate 120 million in next year’s state budget to be able to give Norwegian pupils practical and diversified training.

Norwegian schools today are overloaded with theory, and we have to shift teaching in a more practical direction. Learn more using your head, body, and hands instead of sitting in a classroom and reading a book for six hours a day. If we are to achieve anything with this, more equipment and hands-on learning grounds are needed.

The government is therefore now creating a dedicated grant scheme from which Norwegian municipalities can apply for funds. The program targets grades 5 to 10. This could be e.g. go to the:

• Reconstruction, extension or development of existing areas (they can be special rooms such as school kitchens, technical rooms, laboratories, modern libraries, workshops or other common areas)
• Developing outdoor areas and establishing permanent outdoor school areas (such as school gardens, marine schools, and agricultural schools).
• Kits of equipment contain everything from tools or concrete to be used in various subjects such as laboratories, school kitchens and various workshops
• Strengthen cooperation in equipment and learning areas between primary and secondary schools and with local companies.

The Center Party will work to make the school more practical. Not all teaching needs to take place in school. We must use the local environment, cooperate with companies, and do everything we can to make training more diverse and practical.

I have worked as a teacher myself, and once we took a science lesson to a farm to watch sheep being slaughtered. After that, the students were able to see the different parts of the animal in a practical and close-up way. The alternative was to read about it in a book. A good example of how hands-on learning happens.