– Based on the demand from last year, we notice twice as much demand for our offer. It’s really paradoxical now in expensive times, says Kari Madeleine Isaksen Gihle, who is the general manager of the Youth Academy (UNAK).
Ungdomsakademiet offers private tuition for children and young people, and has pupils from third grade onwards.
Gihle believes that the reason for the high demand is that Norway is following the international trend where private tuition is becoming more and more normal.
– Parents want to give their children the best conditions for adulthood and do not make contact randomly. They have often tried themselves, but struggle to balance the role of parent, teacher, driver, cook and coach. Many are worried about the children’s future, especially in view of tough competition for study places and challenges in collaboration with the school, she says.
– But why do we need such an offer, isn’t the public offer good enough?
– There is a reason why we get more customers. With approximately 30 students per class, we expect too much from a teacher. We have previously taken the floor for fewer students per class, and we still want that.
One of the subjects that several people want help to understand is maths.
– If you first have knowledge gaps in the maths in the eighth or ninth grade, then it is very difficult to get it right in the tenth grade. It is demotivating and contributes to little coping in the children. In classrooms with up to 30 students per teacher, students with knowledge gaps will quickly drop out and they have no prerequisites to fill these knowledge gaps themselves, she says.
Read the Ministry of Education’s and UDIR’s comments further down in the matter
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The goal is to get a diploma
Gihle says that several students who come to them have failed their subjects. Their goal is to get a diploma. Some of those who also apply for private tuition simply want to improve their grades in order to get into the school they want.
– If “Jenny” already has good grades, but needs a little push to get top grades to get to the school she wants, then the question becomes what the public sector should offer. But those who iron often fall between two chairs. Because it is clearly the public’s responsibility to help them get a diploma. That is what we pay taxes for, that we should have a school with equal opportunities for everyone, she says.
– Large local differences
– Another thing is that too few teachers are trained, and that we have a recruitment problem. Unfortunately, the teaching profession does not have the same status as it had before, many of the students prefer to opt out of the teachers.
In 2022 there was one rule change. Today, it is the case that those who want to become a teacher no longer need to have a four in maths. Instead, they must have at least 40 school credits and a grade three in maths and Norwegian. The aim is to recruit more people to the teacher training course.
According to Gihle, there are often large local differences in staffing at schools. When unforeseen staffing situations arise, schools can end up struggling with recruitment.
– The way school provision has developed in Norway, it is random what kind of follow-up students can expect from the public sector. After all, our aim is for the pupils to get the most benefit possible from the public schoolshe says and continues:
– Some schools even have their own offer of one-to-one tuition, such as homework help. While at other schools, they have no chance of making it happen. And these schools can be only five kilometers apart. So it is somewhat random what kind of follow-up students can expect from the public.
According to her, it is often wise to cover those knowledge gaps early, not least for the sake of motivation.
– The earlier the children feel mastery in their schoolwork, the better the conditions they have for success. But we encourage parents to take this role in the first years at school, she says.
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15 percent increase
Bjørn Kristian Haugerud is the general manager of MentorNorge, which also offers private tuition. He also says, like his colleague Gihle, that private tuition provides both motivation, a sense of mastery, and professional results.
– We have experienced approximately a doubling in demand since the pandemic. In the first half of this year, we have created 15 per cent more new customer relationships than last year, and we expect a similar or greater increase in the coming years. More and more of the teaching takes place online, which means that we can deliver a good offer to our customers to an even greater extent, regardless of where in the country they live, he says.
He goes on to say that everyone needs help from time to time, whether there are specific challenges with a specific subject, a difficult homework routine, a lack of motivation for school work or whether the family/parents find the situation around school work to be demanding – whether it is due to time constraints, or if even lack some of the professional basis to help the children with their school work.
– Each and every student has their own story, and their own needs, and through adapted, targeted private tuition, we at MentorNorge are making a big difference for many, he says.
But he is clear that MentorNorge is a supplement to schooling, not an alternative. Therefore, he does not take a position on how the public school does its job.
– Many of the parents who contact us are satisfied with the offer at the school, but that the children experience some challenges and may well need extra help or targeted follow-up for a period, he says.
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UDIR: – It is the school owner’s responsibility to ensure this
Dagsavisen has asked the Norwegian Directorate of Education (UDIR) if increasing demand for private tuition is a sign that more people are not satisfied with the public provision.
UDIR is the Ministry of Education’s executive body for kindergartens, schools and vocational training and must put the education policy into practice,
The directorate says that it is not natural for them to speculate on this. And this is how department director Cathrine Børnes responds:
– If you feel that the pupil is struggling to master the subjects, it is therefore important that you speak up about this and that there is good dialogue between pupils, parents and the school. The school has good opportunities to adapt the teaching. It is the school owner’s responsibility to ensure this, i.e. the municipality for primary schools and the county municipality for upper secondary schools.
She points out that the school has an obligation to provide all pupils with a training offer that is sufficiently adapted. All students must get a satisfactory result from the training, regardless of prerequisites, and all must be able to utilize and develop their abilities. The teachers must monitor the development of the pupils and also report to the headmaster if they have any doubts as to whether a pupil is getting satisfactory results from the training. If there is a need for it, the school must implement appropriate measures.
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Competence and career
Udir has recently been commissioned by the ministry to develop a comprehensive system for competence and career development for staff in kindergartens and schools. The system will contribute to ensuring that all teachers, managers and other employees have good opportunities for competence development throughout working life. The system will also contribute to making the teaching profession more attractive, so that more people stay in the profession and recruitment increases for teacher training courses and the teaching profession.
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Dagsavisen has also asked Synnøve Mjeldheim Skaar (Ap), state secretary at the Ministry of Education, if increasing demand for private tuition is a sign that more people are not satisfied with the public provision.
– All pupils in the school must receive adapted training, and those who need it must receive individual adaptation. If parents feel that their child is not receiving the education and follow-up that is required, academically or socially, the school should be contacted. Then there can always be parents who want their children to have more education, and who want to spend resources on services in addition to ordinary education. Parents are free to make such choices for their children, she says.
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