SC2 | Daisy / Background

In perspective of the results of the ROSE (Schreiner, 2006) and FUN (Guttersrud, 2001) projects, a new research project with the working title “Forgetmenot” is under establishment by Camilla Schreiner and Ellen Karoline Henriksen at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo.

The Daisy project as described below is motivated by the lack of recruitment for science teachers in Europe and Norway, as well as the general background situation for MST subjects on a European level and on the domestic level in Norway. The Daisy project will be closely connected to the “Forgetmenot” project.

European level

Recruitment

In recent years a number of outputs, including comparative surveys (PISA and TIMSS), research and development conferences (GIREP, ESERA and MPTL) and teacher focused initiatives (Physics on Stage, Science on Stage), have all demonstrated that whilst pockets of excellence in practice exist, the general provision for science education is in need of stimulation. The following quotes from EU (2004b) underline this:

There was a clear recognition in all countries that the promotion of more effective and attractive teaching methods was essential. …polarised recognition with particular groups of teachers active in supporting innovative methods while others preferred to stick with more familiar traditional ones.

The recruitment of teachers who show both competence and confidence in MST (Mathematics, Science and Technology) subjects is a Europe wide issue and across Europe the particular need, amongst the sciences, is in physics. For example in the UK only 17% of secondary schools have a physics specialist. Also in other European countries the situation is problematic. For example in Poland, the number of students entering science teacher faculties has fallen by 40-50% in the last 5 years.

This is a prioritized strategic topic at the EU level. The European Commission agreed on a Science and Society Action Plan (EU, 2001) stating that The four key questions addressed are as follows: increasing interest in mathematics, science and technology from an early age; motivating more young people to choose studies and careers in the fields of mathematics, science and technology, in particular research careers and scientific disciplines where there are shortages of qualified personnel, in a short and medium term perspective; improving gender balance among people learning mathematics, science and technology; and securing a sufficient number of qualified teachers in mathematics and scientific and technical subjects.

Retention

One of the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy is increasing the number of graduates in mathematics, science and technology with at least 15 per cent within 2010. Another goal, according to EU (2000) is to “improve the basic skills and employability of young people by halving the rate of early school leavers (2010 compared to 2000) that abandon upper secondary school studies.”

Norway

Recruitment

Several studies and reports (e.g. NIFU, 2002b; KD, 2006; UFD, 2005; Olsen, 2006) have established that there is a low recruitment rate for science studies and science teacher studies in particular in recent years. This has also resulted in a number of news headlines (SV, 2007; UDF, 2007a; UDF, 2007b). Recent newspaper headlines even warned that recruitment of science teachers is dropping in 2007 compared to previous years (VG, 2007). A number of initiatives are trying to turn this negative spiral, where a low level of competent science teachers lead to a low level of science literacy in the general population, including those who in turn decide to become science teachers, while society at large is lacking a sufficient number of science specialists working as engineers, researchers and leaders.

Since 2001, Tekna, the Norwegian Society of Chartered Technical and Scientific Professionals has had a forum for MST subjects providing an informal meeting place for school teachers, engineers and professionals in order to stimulate the science teaching. According to Tekna (2007), “The establishment of this forum was motivated by the lack of in-service, continuing vocational training for current science teachers, the expected wave of retirements soon to come, and the very low rate of recruitment of new qualified science teachers, combined with a demographic increase of the cohorts of young people entering schools.” Similar efforts have been carried out by NITO, The Norwegian Society of Engineers and Technologists, UDF, the Union of Education Norway, and UFD/KD, the Department of Education and Research/Knowledge Department.

According to UFD (2005), p. 13, one goal was to ensure that the recruitment of science teachers would equal the number of science teachers retiring or leaving the profession for other jobs. Six actions were set out in order to reach this goal, and the last of them, C.6 was to increase the salary for teachers with a specialization in science and/or mathematics. Furthermore, on page 17, the strategy plan summarizes the situation, and states that Norway has a very low recruitment of teachers with a M.Sc. degree…

NIFU (2002b) states that the recruitment of M.Sc.graduates in physics, mathematics, chemistry and geology/geoscience practically has come to a full stop. Also the recruitment of other degrees shows a significant decline. The conclusion is that if this trend does not change, these educational groups are at risk of disappearing completely from the schools.

The government report A Joint Promotion of Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) states that “in service training for teachers is a short-term initiative. A more long-term initiative will be the recruitment of students to teacher training who want to specialise in MST. Equally important will be programmes of pedagogical training for graduates in MST who want to achieve teaching competence. It is important to evaluate various financial incentives such as salary and scholarship schemes. (KD, 2006).

In order to combat the drop in recruitment for MST subjects, KD is launching a recruitment campaign in the spring of 2008 (Schreiner, 2007).

Retention

In Norway, 50% of upper secondary school teachers are above 50 years old, according to a recent survey by the Union of Education Norway (UDF, 2007b). As the average retirement age for teachers is 60 years, it is estimated that over the coming 10 years, more than 9000 full-time teaching positions in the upper secondary school in Norway will be vacated (UDF, 2007a). This sentiment is echoed by UFD (2005), p. 17; …most of the current teachers with (an M.Sc.) background will go into retirement in the coming years.

According to Olsen (2006, p. 83), a reasonable estimate is that it is necessary to recruit 60-70 physics teachers alone each year in the coming years due to the high level of retirements coming up. And a recent study by Statistics Norway shows that only 50% of engineering students finish their studies (SV, 2007). Another study shows that 70% of the 2001 cohort of upper secondary school students finished their studies within 5 years, while only 57% finished within the normative length of 3 years (SSB 2006).