Norway - Administration, Finance, & Educational Research

Education is controlled and funded by the central government. Government regulations cover such issues as class size, length of school year, teaching obligations, and minimum number of lessons offered. Even teacher salaries are controlled by the central government as teachers are civil servants and, as such, must lobby public employee salary regulations to impact their pay. Of course, education is also effected by government regulations concerning safety, buildings, and work environment. On the other hand, local governments control the number and location of schools, the hiring of teachers, and the maintenance of their schools. All comprehensive and upper secondary schools are under the control of the Ministry of Church and Education. On a day to day basis, primary and lower secondary schools are administered by local community authorities, and upper secondary schools are administered by the county or region. Each of the 20 counties in Norway have a school board. Members of each board are appointed by the county council which must give each political party representation on the school board in the proportion to which that party is represented on the county council. County school boards are responsible for the teachers and principals, and the county council votes on the annual budget for the school.

The central government finances the bulk of education in Norway. About 40 percent of compulsory education, 60 percent of upper secondary education, and a full 100 percent of higher education is paid by the central government. Local municipalities cover the remaining expenses. Previously, primary and secondary schools had been funded by specific grants for clearly specified activities or projects. In 1985, in an effort to transfer decisionmaking in education from the central government to local municipalities, the financing of schools was altered. A lump sum is now given to local municipalities to fund all central government services, including education. Local governments must now decide how much to allocate to education. It is generally believed that education has received more funding from this method, not less, as education is a priority in local communities. For higher education institutions, the budgets provided by the central government are a frame for decision making.

In order to facilitate developments in education, a law in 1954 established the Council for Innovation in Education (Forsoksradet). This was the national center for research and development in education. Concerns had been raised that previous educational reforms had not been fully informed by research or testing. This council was charged with assuring educational leaders that any future innovations would be an improvement over what already exists. Experimental forms of schools and educational techniques were advanced and tested under the direction of this council, which served as a consultant to the Department of Church and Education and was responsible for a variety of reforms as described above.