The Norwegian Education Mirror 2022

In order for pupils to be able to develop basic skills and academic knowledge in a more digital school-day, teachers must have professional digital competence (PDC). Professional digital competence is about integrating digital learning technology with the pedagogical, subject didactic and administrative work at school (The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training 2021).

Both school owners and school leaders have been asked to what extent they prioritise strengthening the PDC of their teachers (Bergene and Vika 2022). 6 out of 11 county municipalities say that they prioritise this to a great or very great extent, and 71 per cent of municipalities say the same. Just over half of school leaders say that teachers' PDC is prioritised to a great or very great extent. Very few school leaders say that PDC is not prioritised at all.

National efforts to increase teachers' digital competence

There have been many national efforts to increase teachers' digital competence over the last few years. In 2021, 137 teachers took part in further education in professional digital competence through the Competence for Quality strategy. About a quarter of the teachers who applied entered this further education. 261 teachers, equivalent to a third of those who applied, entered further education in programming through this same scheme. Surveys show that the vast majority of teachers who participated in this further education thought the studies were relevant and practical (Gjerustad et al. 2021).

Another measure to improve professional digital competence in schools is the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training's digital competence packages: Digital Skills, Professional Digital Competence, Programming and Algorithmic Thinking, and Digital Teaching at School and at Home. In the 'Spørsmål til Skole-Norge' survey in spring 2022, school leaders were asked if their schools use these digital competence packages as a part of the school's work with digitalisation (Bergene et al. 2022). Over half of school leaders say that they do not use these competence packages much or at all. Just over 10 per cent say that they do not know whether the competence packages are used, or that they are not aware of them.