The Norwegian Education Mirror 2022
Out-of-school care (abbreviated as SFO in Norwegian)
Over 150,000 children participated in SF) in 2021-2022. SFO is an important recreational arena and therefore has the potential to work as a means for social inclusion for e.g. minority-language children and children with special needs.
Many children go to SFO, especially in the youngest years
In total, 6 out of 10 children in Years 1-4 go to SFO, and this proportion has been quite stable for the past ten years. Participation decreases as pupils get older. 83 per cent of Year 1 pupils participate, while the number of Year 4 pupils has gone down to 30 per cent. Over half of all pupils in Year 1 have full-time SFO places. The proportion of pupils with full-time places also decreases as pupils get older. Just 12 per cent of pupils in Year 4 have full-time SFO places.
Out-of-school care (abbreviated as SFO in Norwegian)
Municipalities must offer out-of-school care (SFO) before and after school hours for pupils in Years 1-4, and for pupils with special needs in Years 1-7. The scheme must provide care and supervision and facilitate play and cultural and leisure activities for the children.
From 1st August 2021, SFO follows a new national framework plan. The aim of this framework plan is to ensure that provision is equal across the whole country.
SFO participation is highest in Oslo and lowest in rural municipalities
Oslo has the highest proportion of Year 1 pupils participating in SFO: nearly 96 per cent. This figure is lowest in Innlandet, at 73 per cent. However, the variation within counties is high, and in Nordland, participation varies from 96 per cent to 14 per cent between municipalities.
The municipalities with the lowest SFO coverage are mainly small municipalities. In municipalities with over 50,000 residents, more people take up the offer of SFO than in smaller municipalities. There are also more people in the smallest municipalities who stop SFO after Year 2. Oslo has the most Year 1 children in SFO, which is related to the fact that the municipality offers free part-time places to all Year 1 pupils. Furthermore, ten city districts offer free part-time places to pupils in Year 2, and eight city districts also offer free part-time places to pupils in Year 3 (Oslo municipality 2022).
The proportion of children with SFO places has increased in all counties from 2020-2021 to 2021-2022. One reason for this could be discount schemes such as reduced parental payment in the case of low income, and free SFO places for children in Years 5-7 with special needs.
Finances are crucial for SFO participation
There are many reasons why parents do not make use of SFO. In an evaluation from 2018, most of the parents who had taken their children out of SFO said that they no longer have need for the provision. A third mentioned cost as a reason to not make use of SFO. This proportion is higher in Oslo than in other municipalities. Many also said that their children don't wish to be in SFO (Wendelborg et al. 2018).
Some parents cannot make use of the SFO provision because travel costs from SFO are not covered, only to and from school. For parents in rural municipalities, this becomes a barrier.
Large price differences
The price of an SFO place is decided locally, but it cannot be higher than the expenditure that the municipality actually has for SFO. In the 2021-2022 school year, the average monthly parent payment was NOK 2,300 for a full-time place and NOK 1,600 for a part-time place, but this price varies from NOK 0 to nearly NOK 4,000 a month for a full-time place. It is difficult to compare prices directly, as opening times and offers can vary.
In autumn 2022, the government decided that all Year 1 pupils will get 12 hours of SFO for free each week. In addition to this new arrangement, the government will also give 60 municipalities the opportunity to give full-time SFO places to Year 1 pupils who come from low-income families (Government 2022).
36 per cent of SFOs offer free places
Free places and discount arrangements ensure that SFO is available to more people. Many municipalities have arrangements for sibling discounts, income-graded rates and free places. In the 2021-2022 school year, 36 per cent of all SFOs had free places, as opposed to 15 per cent in the 2015-2016 school year.