Teachers over smaller student groups with the same teacher standard as before: somewhat squeaky – VG

He believes that it will be difficult to guarantee a good enough distance between students with the group sizes proposed by the Minister of Education Guri Melby and the government, especially for older students.

– Now teachers and individual school leaders must consider how they can facilitate the one meter distance requirement. We assume that supply must be tailored to the opportunities offered by schools, Handal tells VG.

It is not a golden rule in schools.

He noted that the general rule does not apply to schools. Some Minister of Knowledge, Guri Melby, reasons that it is different when there are fixed groups that meet, than when people meet more randomly. The second reason is that children are considered to be less ill than adults and carry infections less than adults.

However, Handal does not see how the puzzle goes up when it is assumed that the same number of teachers as before the crown closed should give all students the same number of hours as now.

– This must be done with small groups and with the same level of resources that we have today. So it’s something that scares me, he says.

– Just because we have a teacher standard of 15 and 20 students per teacher is not the same as having a class division number, Handal says. He believes that the Minister of Knowledge should sit down with the parties in the municipal sector and simply see if this puzzle is possible.

In the Supervisor of Secondary and Secondary Schools, it establishes: “The teacher density standard for the youth level is 20 students per employee, and it is a good starting point for group size. In upper secondary schools, this is not the norm, but it is recommended to limit the size of student groups when possible. “

Rita Helgesen on the Norwegian Reader team agrees with her older brother in the Education Association.

– The standard of 20 students per teacher is well below the normal class size in high school. Many classes have 30 students and ruined classrooms. Helgesen tells VG that more teachers should join or that the school days should be shortened.

All of its alarm lights come on when the administration, ministry and government ask teachers to find “creative solutions,” as expressed at the press conference on Monday.

– When management, ministry and government ask us to find creative solutions, it is often a sign that more resources are not included. So I’m really excited about what they put in the desire for us to be more creative in this case, says Helgesen.

In the supervisor, among other things, the Directorate of Education and the Government suggest that: “Attendance at different times can be a relevant measure to reduce the number of students attending school at the same time. Similarly, to reduce density among students while at school, for example, classroom instruction can be combined with instruction through digital platforms, which allow students to spread more widely across school facilities. ”

Steffen Handal at the Education Association recalls that it is not the school leaders and teachers who have the contagious competence on these assessments.

– It is the Directorate of Health and the FHI who sit in it, often must be stricter in the recommendations that are now converted into schools through supervisors, Handal comments.

Infection Protection Supervisor for 1-7. the steps allow too many students per group, says the National Association of Schools, which is LO’s teacher organization. They are also concerned about the staffing of teachers.

– In the rest of society, the rule is a maximum of five people. In kindergarten, groups of three and six apply, per adult. So it is not enough to allow up to 20 students to meet in some small classrooms, federal secretary Geir Allan Stava tells NTB.

The Minister of Education, Guri Melby (V), declares to VG that 20 students per teacher in higher education is not a limit on the number of students in a cohort or group.

– It is a recommendation, a recommended size for a group of students. This means that it is not prohibited to have 16 and 17 students in a group of students where the recommendation is 15 students per teacher. The bottom line is that an infection prevention assessment is done. We won’t be too stiff either, says Melby.

– When you call for creativity between school leaders and teachers, is this perceived as a sign that resources are not included?

– Several hundred million crowns have now been spent on the master standard. So with smaller student groups and fewer students per teacher, a lot of money has been spent on it. This reform is now in place, so when creativity is sought, it is in the confidence that schools find good local solutions on the best way to protect the infection. We have a very diverse school flora in Norway, with small and large schools, Melby recalls. She points out that this variation in school size will also bring different solutions to how each school solves group challenges and the distance rule.

– Do many of the elementary and middle schools face a spatial challenge to solve the day when all students return to school, given the distance rule?

– Yes, that is one of the things that we must analyze: how schools will physically accommodate all students again. Here we must centralize and schools at the local level consider several different solutions in the future, responds Melby.

.