Playtime to give way to structured learning

Six-year-olds will continue to go to school with some unstructured time

Photo: Colourbox
A recent Norwegian study recommends that 6-year-olds spend more time with more structured learning activities during their first year of school.

Anne Marjatta Gøystdal
NTB

The six-year reform is here to stay. Let there be no doubt,” said Norwegian Minister of Education Kari Nessa Nordtun (Labor Party) when she received an evaluation report from Oslo Met on June 18.

It has now been 27 years since 6-year-olds entered the classroom for the first time. A primary goal was that the first year of school would be play-based, a kind of preschool year that would function as a transition between kindergarten and more formal school.

The report shows that it has worked just that way. But even though 6-year-olds are enjoying themselves and teachers are engaged, the degree to which play and play-based learning are facilitated varies greatly.

“In summary, we can say: Yes, children enjoy school, but they miss play,” said Professor Elisabeth Bjørnestad, who led the evaluation work.

“Play has lost its predominant position. It is used for facilitating children’s natural potential for learning. Traditional schooling seems to have gained some  ground,” she said.

More reading aloud,

Learning the alphabet starts early in first grade, and a lot of time is spent on it, according to the report. Several teachers state that letter learning takes time away from other activities, and at the same time there is less reading aloud now than before. Often the teacher reads aloud just when the children are eating their packed lunches.

This is worrisome, considering the development of reading motivation and future reading skills, the researchers believe. They concluded that overall Norwegian education seems somewhat narrow in scope.

The report contains a number of proposals to improve schooling for 6-year-olds:

Reading aloud should be a priority.

More mathematics in the first grade. This should also consist of more than numbers and number comprehension, including measurements and basic algebra.

Two teachers per class over 15 children in the first grade. Increased competence in play activities and initial training in teacher education.

Give teachers more leeway to adapt the teaching plan to the class.

Ensure that students have access to areas inside and outside  that are suitable for play. Municipalities should emphasize this when they build or remodel schools.

Full-day school in the first grade

The researchers have also considered introducing full-day school for first- and second-graders, and they came to the conclusion that it would be a good idea.

“There is a need for greater flexibility to organize shorter teaching sessions throughout the day,” says the report.

All-day school proposed

Today, the school day is largely laid out in 90-minute blocks, broken up with a recess and a lunch break in the middle of the day. This does not mean that the students sit still and listen to the teacher for 90 minutes, Bjørnestad emphasized. Nevertheless, the researchers believe that a full day of school provides a better opportunity to alternate between planned and free activities, without the total number of hours in the subjects increasing. But such a solution will require closer cooperation with the after-school activity programs.

Nordtun wants to assess adjustments

In 2020, new curricula were introduced. Researchers believe that these create more playtime than before, but they underlined that the observations were carried out shortly after the new curricula were introduced. The pandemic also delayed the restructuring.

Nordtun wants to give the schools more time but says she also wants to look at the need for further measures.

“Well-being is extremely important for learning and development. The researchers have pointed out that there is variation in how much play there is in classrooms and that the curricula must allow for even more play and practical learning. It is a development we will continue to build on,” she says.

Norway should also have preschool

However, the Christian People’s Party believes that there is no reason to look any further at the report findings. Storting representative Kjell Ingolf Ropstad believes the evaluation shows that first grade must be replaced by a preschool.

“Minister of Education Nordtun and the researchers behind the evaluation state that play has a small place in schools today but do not want to do anything special about it. That is disappointing,” says Ropstad. “The findings show that first grade must be replaced with a preschool, as is the case in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland,” Ropstad said.

The Red Party also wants the six-year reform to continue. Much of the report indicates that the promised “play year” did not become a reality, said Hege Bae Nyholt, the party’s educational policy spokesperson.

The Conservative Party, on the other hand, believes that the scary image of a sedentary iPad school is not true and that the report testifies to great scope for free play and play-based learning. Education policy spokesperson Margret Hagerup has also noted the recommendation for more reading aloud.

“It’s a low-hanging fruit, which it shouldn’t be difficult to get more of,” she says.

This article originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of  The Norwegian American.