The Norwegian Education Mirror 2022

In 2021, work carried out by pedagogical leaders and other core staff members in kindergartens equated to 63,900 full-time equivalents. Core staff members include all employees who work directly with the whole child group. In addition to core staff members, there are also directors and staff responsible for special education support, enhanced Norwegian lessons, administration, caretaker services, cleaning and kitchen services.

The number of kindergarten teachers has increased in recent years

The government wants to increase the proportion of kindergarten teachers to 50 per cent and the proportion of child care and youth workers to 25 per cent (Government 2021).

In 2021, 44 per cent of the core staff was kindergarten teachers, and 22 per cent was child care and youth workers. The number of employees who are kindergarten teachers or equivalent has increased by 4 percent points since 2017. This development can be seen in relation with the fact that teacher-to-child ratio requirements were tightened in 2018 (see the fact box below).

The number of employees with kindergarten teacher education is equally high in private and municipal kindergartens, while the number of child care and youth workers is significantly higher in municipal kindergartens. Nearly a quarter of these employees do not have higher education or specialised worker education, and this figure is highest in private kindergartens.

Approved qualifications are only required for pedagogical managers and leaders. They must have a kindergarten teacher qualification or equivalent. The law does not specify how high the proportion of child care and youth workers in kindergartens must be.

1 in 4 kindergarten teachers have relevant additional education

Over the last few years, it has been an aim to strengthen further education for kindergarten teachers. The proportion of kindergarten teachers with relevant further education at secondary school or university level increased from 21 to 23 per cent from 2017 to 2021.

In the ‘Spørsmål til Barnehage-Norge i 2021’ survey, nearly a quarter of kindergartens say that they have employees with master’s qualifications, and this proportion increases with kindergarten size (Naper et al. 2022).

More full-time equivalents for children with additional requirements

The number of full-time equivalents for children with additional requirements has increased by 325 since 2020. Over the past 5 years, the number of full-time equivalents for children with additional requirements has increased by over 1,000. This increase is probably related to the fact that more children are receiving special education support, but could also indicate that children who receive special pedagogical help are getting more hours. 

 1 in 10 kindergarten employees are male

The proportion of kindergarten employees who are male has remained fairly stable at around 10 per cent for the last 7 years. The job categories with the highest proportion of men are pedagogical leaders and core staff members, and directors have the lower proportion. In all, a larger proportion of men work in private kindergartens, with 12 per cent in private kindergartens compared with 9 per cent in municipal kindergartens. A long-standing goal has been for 20 per cent of kindergarten employees to be men.