Norwegian subject curriculum (NOR1-04)

Established as a Regulation by the Ministry of Education and Research on 24 June 2010

Gjelder fra: 2010-08-01T09:26:04 +2

Gjelder til: 2013-07-31T00:00:00 +2

Purpose

Norwegian is an important school subject for cultural understanding, communication, education and development of identity.

Through active use of the Norwegian language when working with their own texts and in the encounter with the texts of others, children and young people are introduced to culture and social life. The Norwegian subject curriculum opens an area where they can find their own voices, learn to express themselves, be heard and receive feedback. Thus the subject represents a democratic public arena that equips pupils with the necessary background for participation in social life and working life. More than ever before, society needs individuals who master language and texts. Norwegian shall help the individual pupil develop his or her language and writing skills based on the pupil's own abilities and capabilities. Competence in reading and writing are objectives in themselves, but they also form the basis for learning and understanding in all school subjects at all year levels.

A major aim for learning Norwegian throughout the 13 years of schooling is linguistic confidence and a belief in one's own culture as the basis for development of identity, respect for other cultures, active social participation and lifelong learning. The Norwegian subject curriculum establishes itself in the field of tension between the historical and the contemporary, and the national and the global. Seeing Norwegian language and culture in a historical and national perspective can provide the pupils with insight into and understanding of the community they are a part of. Including international perspectives in the Norwegian subject curriculum can help to develop cultural understanding, tolerance and respect for individuals from other cultures. The international situation today is dominated by cultural exchange and communication across former borders — linguistically, culturally, socially and geographically. In this context, Norwegian cultural heritage offers a great store of texts that may find new and unexpected importance precisely in a situation where communication takes on new forms and perspectives are expanded. Hence, cultural heritage is a living tradition that changes and is recreated, and the Norwegian subject will encourage pupils to become active contributors in this process.

In Norway there are three official languages, "Bokmål", "Nynorsk" and Sami, in addition to many dialects and sociolects, and other languages than Norwegian. Norwegian language and culture are developing in a situation characterised by cultural diversity and internationalisation in interaction with the neighbouring Nordic languages, other minority languages in Norway and with impulses from English.

It is within this linguistic and cultural diversity that children and young people develop their linguistic competence. Bearing this language situation in mind we must lay the groundwork so that children and young people can acquire awareness of linguistic diversity and learn to write both the official forms of the Norwegian language, "hovedmål" (the first-choice language, which can be either "Bokmål" or "Nynorsk") and "sidemål" (the second-choice language, which will then be the opposite of the first choice).

The Norwegian subject deals with a wide range of texts, spoken, written and composite texts, where text, sound and pictures interact. A Norwegian subject curriculum for our time is based upon an extended text concept that includes all these types of text. The subject is meant to help pupils orient themselves in the diversity of texts and provide them with the opportunity to experience, reflect and assess. Good learning strategies and the ability to reflect critically should also be stimulated, in addition to motivating the desire to read and write as well as developing and instilling good reading and writing habits. Through reading and writing, children can learn to develop clear ideas, explore new worlds and dare to speak their mind and use critical assessment. After a while, children will acquire the ability to understand the differences between fiction and non-fiction from the past and present; they will learn to interpret the information from these texts and to reach deeper understanding in subject matter they choose on their own. Thus they will have the opportunity to develop their own perspectives on the long development lines, breaks in and conflicts of the history of texts.

Main subject areas

The subject has been structured into main subject areas for which competence aims have been formulated.

These main subject areas supplement each other and must be considered together.

The subject is a common core subject for all the education programmes throughout upper secondary education. Learning in the subject shall therefore be made as relevant as possible for the pupils by adapting the subject to each different education programme.

Norwegian has competence goals after the second, fourth, seventh and tenth years in primary/lower secondary school and after Vg1, Vg2 and Vg3 (the first, second and third years) in upper secondary programmes for general studies. In vocational education programmes the competence aims come after Vg2 and after the supplementary studies qualifying for higher education.

Competence aims concerning the second-choice official Norwegian language do not apply to vocational education programmes after Vg2.

For pupils that have Sami as their first or second language, or Finnish as a second language, the right to an exemption from instruction and assessment in the second choice variant of Norwegian.

Overview of main subject areas:

Year of school	Main subject areas
1.–10. Vg1-Vg3	Oral texts	Written texts	Composite texts	Language and culture

Oral texts

The main subject area oral texts focuses on spoken communication, i.e. listening, speaking and exploring spoken texts. A key element is developing various linguistic roles and genres and understanding how language and form are adapted to the recipient and to the purpose of the text. Listening and speaking are part of day-to-day socialising and are key elements for social and cultural competence and for aesthetic development and appreciation.

Written texts

The main subject area written texts focuses on written communication, i.e. reading and writing Norwegian. Reading and writing are parallel processes in each pupil's learning process. The pupil develops writing competence by writing and reading and develops reading competence through reading and writing. This is accomplished through work in various genres in both official languages, and the pupils are met with increasing demands as to their understanding of the relationship between the form and function of the text. Pupils are stimulated to enjoy reading and writing and to developing their reading and writing strategies in continuous progression throughout the 13 years of schooling. Attention is also paid to the pupils' own ability to read the different texts in different ways for purposes of learning and personal experience, and for the pupil's understanding of his or her own development as a reader and writer.

Composite texts

The main subject area composite texts focuses on an extended text concept where texts may be composed of writing, sound and pictures in a composite expression. This means working with texts such as picture books, cartoons, newspapers, advertising, web sites, lyrics, film and theatre. This main subject area includes pupils' text production and perceptions, critical assessment and analysis of composite texts. Being able to read in composite texts deals with finding meaning in the entirety of the different forms of expression found in the text.

Language and culture

The main subject area language and culture focuses on Norwegian and Nordic language and text culture but with international perspectives. Emphasis is placed on enabling the pupils to develop an independent understanding of Norwegian language and literature and an insight into how language and texts have changed over time and continue to change. The pupils must acquire knowledge about language as a system and the language as used in a number of old and new text forms. They are given the opportunity to explore and experience good Norwegian authors and other authors from around the world. They must also relate to the traditions in Norwegian textual history in a comparative perspective where the present and the past are also viewed in relation to external impulses.

Teaching hours

Teaching hours are given in 60-minute units:

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Years 1 to 4: 931 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as their second language

Years 5 to 7: 441 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language

Years 1 to 4: 642 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as their second language

Years 5 to 7: 312 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as their second language

LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION

Years 8 to 10: 398 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as their second language

Years 8 to 10:

Alternative 1: 335 teaching hours – applies to pupils with Sami as a second language, but who do not choose to study a foreign language or in-depth language study

Alternative 2: 278 teaching hours – applies to pupils with Sami as a second language who choose to study a foreign language or in-depth language study

Years 8 to 10: 258 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Finnish as a second language

PROGRAMMES FOR GENERAL STUDIES

Vg1: 113 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as a second language

Vg1: 103 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as a second language

Vg2: 112 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as a second language

Vg2: 103 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as a second language

Vg3: 168 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as a second language

Vg3: 103 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as a second language

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMMES

Vg1: 56 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as a second language

Vg1: 45 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as a second language

Vg2: 56 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as a second language

Vg2: 45 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as a second language

SUPPLEMENTARY STUDIES QUALIFYING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMMES

Vg3: 281 teaching hours - applies to pupils who do not have Sami as their first or second language or Finnish as a second language

Vg3: 219 teaching hours – applies to pupils who have Sami or Finnish as a second language

Basic skills

Basic skills are integrated in the competence aims where they contribute to development of the competence in the subject, while also being part of this competence. In Norwegian, basic skills are understood as follows

Being able to express oneself orally in Norwegian means having the ability to listen and speak and to evaluate the elements in a complex verbal situation, which is a requirement for communicating with others when it comes to socialising, working and participation in public life. Conversations about texts are of decisive significance for hte pupils' learning and development. Speaking and listening are essential human activities that are developed in the subject of Norwegian through systematic training in different oral genres and activities.

Being able to express oneself in writing in Norwegian is also a goal of the Norwegian subject curriculum, from the initial writing lessons to the development of writing skills throughout the 13 years of schooling. The use of written language in society is increasing, not least through the development of digital communication forms, and the demand for the mastering of written production in various genres has increased. Writing is a way of developing and structuring ideas and thoughts, but is also a form of communication and a method of learning.

Being able to read in Norwegian is a basic skill that the Norwegian subject curriculum takes special responsibility for, through initial reading training and continuing this training throughout all the 13 years of schooling. Reading is both a skill and cultural competence. Being able to read covers the ability to locate information in different texts, learning subject matter and experiencing and understanding reasoning and assertions in a wide range of texts. Reading depends on cultural understanding, and reading also develops cultural understanding. Through reading pupils take part in textual culture and may thus develop the ability to interpret and understand various texts. Thus they gain experiences which enable pupils to learn and perceive and to understand themselves and society.

Numeracy in the subject of Norwegian is a skill that assumes command of a different language than a spoken language. These languages nevertheless have a common knowledge base relating to concept development, logical reasoning and problem solving. This also applies to the understanding of form, system and composition. When pupils read composite texts and factual prose their understanding is enhanced by graphs, tables and statistics.

Digital literacy in the subject of Norwegian is necessary to master new text forms and ways of expressing oneself. This opens up new learning arenas and allows new possibilities in teaching reading and writing, as well as the production, composition and editing of texts. In this context it is vital to develop the ability to critically assess and use sources. Using digital tools may support and develop the pupils' communication and presentation skills.