STEM Barometer
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STEM Barometer
Publication date:
Monday, 1 July 2019
Country:
Norway
Description:
The Norwegian national STEM strategy 'Close to STEM' was finalised in 2019 but has been extended to 2020 in some regions and is currently still under evaluation. The progress towards the objectives of 'Close to STEM' are continuously monitored in the STEM-barometer. The STEM-barometer forms the basis for the development of new national and regional measures and their evaluation. Included in the STEM barometer are findings from the international surveys PISA and TIMMS, as well as results from national tests in mathematics, final assessment- and exam grades in STEM subjects in upper secondary school and the recruitment to STEM studies.
The main objectives of the STEM barometer are to measure the STEM competence among Norwegian school children and youths, and to monitor the trends in recruitment to STEM topics in upper secondary school and higher education. The data included in the barometer (see below) is collected through the international surveys TIMMS (grades 1-10) and PISA (15-year olds), and by the Norwegian Directorate of Education and Training (national tests, grades and recruitment to upper secondary school STEM topics and higher education). The 'Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study' (TIMSS) was developed and initiated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), while the 'Programme for International Student Assessment' (PISA) is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which also provides the database and analytical framework for the survey data.
The measures in the 'Close to STEM' strategy were primarily focused on young children and pupils (pre-primary and primary education). The performance in mathematics and natural sciences of Norwegian pupils in primary and lower secondary school (measured through TIMMS) were recently presented in light of the national STEM strategy. According to the recent report by Kaarstein et al. (see background documents), there has not been a significant change in STEM skills among pupils in the primary level (grades 1-7) during the duration of the strategy. Norwegian primary school children perform better than pupils in other Scandinavian countries in mathematics, and at the same level as Sweden and below Finland in the natural sciences. For the lower secondary school pupils (grades 8-10), the performance among Norwegian pupils in both mathematics and natural sciences have declined compared to data from 2015, with the biggest setback in natural sciences. The regression is explained by a lower number of teaching hours in natural sciences as compared to the other countries performing better, and a lack of formal competence and teacher training courses among Norwegian natural sciences teachers (Kaarstein et al. 2020).
In PISA, the competence among Norwegian 15-year olds in reading, mathematics and natural sciences is measured. On average, Norwegian pupils in 2018 performed weaker in natural sciences compared to the results from the previous PISA survey in 2015. The results for mathematics are unchanged. A new trend in 2018 is that girls tend to perform better than boys in both reading, mathematics and natural sciences. Norwegian 15-year olds perform above the OECD average in mathematics, and on average in natural sciences (Jensen et al. 2019).
In upper secondary school, 41% of the students within study specialization choose the STEM program area. In recent years, the largest increase in student number has been added to Technology and Research Theory and Geoscience. The latter had a doubling of students in 2020 compared to 2019. Overall, the number of students in STEM subjects in upper secondary school has decreased by 1% (665 students) when comparing the school years 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. The biggest decrease in student number was found in chemistry 2 (third year of upper secondary school), and advanced theoretical mathematics (called R- mathematics, in second and third year of upper secondary school). R- mathematics forms the basis for further STEM studies and is an admission criterion for further STEM studies in most universities and university colleges.
Objectives:
The objective of the STEM-barometer is to monitor national state of affairs in STEM education and the progress towards the goals in the national STEM strategy. The data from the Norwegian Directorate of Education and Training shows trends among Norwegian pupils over time, and the results from international surveys gives an indication of how Norway compares to other countries. The national indicators can also be broken down to show local/regional trends.
The production and publication of the STEM barometer is undertaken by the Norwegian Directorate of Education and Training. Te directorate is also responsible for the figures describing STEM competences among Norwegian pupils, educators as well as recruitment to higher education. The annual report in the STEM barometer is published as an official document on the directorate website and attracts attention by national media and interest groups related to education and training.
The IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) and OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) is responsible for selection of indicators and publication of TIMMS and PISA, respectively. New findings are typically announced in summary reports and a national press conference. In Norway, the Department of Teacher Education and School Research (ILS) at the University of Oslo is responsible for the practical implementation of TIMSS, funded by the Directorate of Education and Training. The researchers at ILS also participate in the international work to develop the samples. The organization, implementation and selection of indicators in PISA is developed through collaboration between the OECD member countries.
Relation to programmes, strategies, initiatives, etc.:
The STEM-barometer monitors the progress towards the Norwegian National STEM strategy 'Close to STEM' (see background documents). This strategy has been directed mainly towards young pupils in preschool and primary education and has 4 main objectives:
- To improve STEM competences of children and young people through renewal of the subjects, better learning and increased motivation. Actions include:
- Strengthening STEM content in kindergarten
- Renewing curricula for STEM-subjects
- Improving coherence and consistency of STEM curricula both in form and content (e.g. shifting towards more practical activities and learning through play)
- Improving working and teaching practices in kindergarten and school
- Improving the quality of teaching aids and learning resources
- Reducing the proportion of children and young people with a low level in mathematics. Measures include:
- Measures to identify pupils that struggle with mathematics as early as possible
- More rapid follow-up measures to provide support
- Increasing the proportion of children and young people that perform at high and advanced level in STEM. Measures include:
- Providing high-achieving students with the opportunity to exploit their potential through custom training and opportunities for traversing
- Providing high-achieving students with the opportunity to exploit their potential through custom training and opportunities for traversing
- Increasing the STEM competences of kindergarten en school teachers. Actions include:
- Developing measures in targeted strategies such as 'Competence for the kindergarten of the Future', 'Teachers Lift' (Lærerløftet) and 'Competence for Quality'. These measures are developed in cooperation with the university, college sectors and national centres for mathematics and natutral science.
The STEM-barometer measures the progress towards these four main objectives. In addition, the STEM-barometer reports the status and impact of the 'STEM municipalities', which were a key-component of 'Close to STEM' (national STEM strategy). The municipalities developed local STEM strategies and work to improve the competence and results of children and young people in STEM, from kindergarten to primary school. To do so they received financial grants to establish and coordinate local networks in STEM for teachers in kindergarten and school. Through the networks teachers are connected to university and university college environments assisting with professional competence and guidance. The national centers for mathematics and natural sciences contributed to the coordination and development of the networks. Progress on the local level is reported annuall by the muncipalities.
Conclusions:
Since 'Close to STEM' (the Norwegian national STEM strategy) covered the period 2015 – 2019, the most recent results from the STEM Barometer were published in 2019. The digital report gives and overview of all the indicators connected to the goals in the STEM strategy. Below, the main conclusions from the different indicators in the STEM-barometer are summarised.
International surveys
In the broader picture, the results from PISA and TIMMS indicate no significant changes in mathematics skills among Norwegian school children and youths from 2015 to 2019. In natural sciences there is a slight decline in performance, especially among students in lower secondary school stage (grades 8-10). Norwegian pupils perform at or above the of the Nordic level in mathematics, and below the Nordic level in natural sciences.
Recruitment to STEM-subjects in high-school
Program subjects are subjects that belong to specific educational programs. Optional program subjects within the program area for STEM are: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, information technology and technology and research theory. In 2019 only 17 percent of all students in their second year of upper secondary school (Vg2) have chosen STEM as their program area. This corresponds to 11,000 students.
For some elective STEM subjects in upper secondary school, extra credits called STEM credits are given to the participating students. These credits are added to the credits gained from ordinary grades when applying to higher education. Recruitment to the various STEM subjects will therefore, among other things, be affected by how many STEM credits each subject give. Some subjects are also required for admission to STEM programs in higher education, making the requirements itself a recruiting pathway for the STEM subjects in upper secondary school.
From 2019 to 2020, there has been an increase in the number of students in 6 out of the 16 program subjects. The number of students increased most in information technology 2 and decreased most in theoretical mathematics R1. The largest percentual increase in student number was found in information technology 2 (up by 17%) and technology and research theory 2 (up by 8%). The largest percentual decrease in student number was found in geoscience 2 (down by 27%).
Gender balance in STEM in upper secondary school
There is a wide variety in the proportion of male / female students in each of the STEM-subjects. While the girls in upper secondary school choose biology, chemistry, geoscience and mathematics for social studies to a greater extent than boys, the boys are in majority in the technology subjects, physics and theoretical mathematics. The distribution of girls and boys in the different STEM subjects in upper secondary school for 2019/2020 is shown in the infographic (see background documents). This pattern also influence recruitment to higher education, where Norway has a high degree of gender differences, also within the STEM-educations.
STEM Barometer
Publication date:
Monday, 1 July 2019
Country:
Norway
Indicators:
The STEM-barometer includes the following indicators:
- Results in 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th grade in mathematics and natural science in the TIMSS surveys (national level)
- Results in 10th grade in mathematics and natural science in the PISA surveys (national)
- Proportion of 15-year olds performing at the lowest levels in mathematics and natural science in the PISA survey (national)
- Proportion of 15-year olds performing at high and advanced levels in mathematics and science in the PISA survey (national)
- Proportion of kindergartens working systematically with the subject areas: number, room and form and nature, environment and engineering (national)
- Number of kindergarten teacher education programmes with a natural sciences profile (national)
- Number of kindergarten-based competence development projects with STEM learning facilities (local, national)
- Number of employees in kindergartens with further education in science (local, national)
- Proportion of candidates with STEM specializations in primary and lower secondary teacher education (national)
- Proportion of teachers with specialisation in STEM (national)
- Results on national tests in mathematics for the 5th, 8th and 9th grade (school, municipality)
- Final assessment grades and exam grades in primary and upper secondary education (school, municipality, county municipality, national)
- Recruitment to and gender balance in STEM subjects in upper secondary school (national)
- Results in the programme subject physics and mathematics (national)
- The proportion of pupils stating they face enough challenges STEM subjects in school in the pupil survey (school, municipality, county municipality, national)
- Number of municipalities that have completed the regional STEM analysis, a tool for mapping of own practice (nationally, municipality)
- Number of municipalities applying to become a STEM municipality (nationally, municipality)
- Number of municipalities with STEM networks for kindergarten and school (national, municipality)
STEM Barometer
Publication date:
Monday, 1 July 2019
Country:
Norway
Data availability / API:
Data used in the STEM-barometer is currently not available in an Application Programming Interface (API). Data can be accessed via the STEM-baromter website.