8 to fail
For some of the subjects, it doesn’t take
much to reach the 10% limit.
For example, Geography in the first grade
of upper secondary school, is run over 74
sessions per year (of 45 minutes each).
Miss more than 7 of those, and you fail.
The view of Norwegian Minister of
Education and Research, Torbjørn Røe
Isaksen (The Conservative Party) is that
making demands of the pupils means
caring about them. It may not be an invalid
point. But is the classroom necessarily the
best place to learn about, say, geography
or social studies?
Those of us who ply our trade within
non-formal education (NFE) would be
inclined to say no.
The Minister is also countered by the
School Student Union of Norway (SSUN),
which holds that the individual teacher
knows best if a pupil has merited being
marked in a given subject.
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