Education in Norway

The Global Education First Initiative is governed by the United Nations

and strives to ensure that every child around the world has an equal
opportunity to education. The purpose of the initiative is to provide
sufficient funding for education and to put [quality] education at the heart
of the social, political, and developmental agendas (The Global Education
First Initiative). It began in 2012 and still has an active role in advocating for
better education across the world. The initiative is centered on three goals:
make sure every child is in school, to increase the quality of education in
schools, and to promote involvement on a global level (The Global
Education First Initiative). Norway is a country that values these three goals
and is continuously working towards a higher value of learning in accordance
with the United Nations initiatives.
Norway makes it a large priority to make sure every child is in school,
connecting back to the UNs first initiative. To begin, Norway has laws in
place that make it mandatory to be in school between the ages of 6 and 16.
It is very similar to America in this way; elementary school spans from ages 6
to 13, a lower secondary school from 13 to 16, and in an upper secondary
school from 16 to 19 (Waquar 2015). This ensures that every child has the
opportunity to an education and stays on the right track developmentally.
During their time in lower secondary school, they are given the choice to
take higher education, or college, preparatory classes, or choose to take
vocational courses (The European Education Directory). This allows for an
extremely effective use of the students time; they are either prepared for
college or are provided with skills they can use in the work force. In addition,
college is also free, allowing it to be an option for absolutely every student.
As a result of the productive time spent in school, Norway is successful in
keeping most children in school.
To address the second initiative, increasing the quality of education,
Norway spends 0.7 percent more of the GDP on education than most other
countries. They take education very seriously, and the government is even

required to check on people aged 16-21 who are not enrolled in college or
active in the work force (Education).

(Facts About Education in Norway 2015)

These actions exemplify how important the quality of education is in the
country. They are willing to put in the time and money it takes to produce
successful students who will then become productive members of society.
Norway is one of the few countries in the world with a 100% literacy rate, so
their quality of learning must be extremely high (Waquar 2015). People are
now more likely to attend higher education.

(Facts About Education in Norway 2015)

The governments efforts are paying off, and Norway will end up with a
highly educated society because of all their efforts to improve the quality of
education.
The third initiative, involvement on a global level, is also of extreme
importance to Norway. They held the Oslo Summit on Education
Development, where the UN thanked them for being 1 of 5 countries who
were apart of starting a commission on financing of global education (The
Global Education First Initiative). Therefore, Norway is not only interested in
bettering themselves, but they also want to share their success and
techniques to improve education worldwide. Norway is a model for many
countries around the world for its education system. Many countries around
the world can benefit from looking at what they have achieved and use their
ideas to make a similar educational model.
Norway strives to have one of the best educational systems in the
world, and they are well on their way to doing so. They have used the three
goals of the Global Education First Initiative by requiring education for every
child, by spending the money and time to improve the system, and by

serving as a model for other countries to follow to find their own educational
success.

References
Education - from Kindergarten to Adult Education. (n.d.). Retrieved October
24,

2015, from
http://www.udir.no/Upload/Brosjyrer/5/Education_in_Norway.pdf?

epslang

uage=no

The European Education Directory. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015, from
http://www.euroeducation.net/prof/norco.htm
Facts About Education in Norway 2015. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015,
from https://www.ssb.no/en/utdanning/artikler-ogpublikasjoner/_attachment/211355?_ts=14a393592e0
The Global Education First Initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015,
from http://www.globaleducationfirst.org/about.html
Waquar, A. (2015, September 17). Top 10 Countries with 100% Literacy Rate.
Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://www.top10listonline.com/top10-

countries-with-100-percent-literacy-rate/