National partial examination
The results of the fall partial exam in mathematics for student teachers show high failure rates. An important explanation is that the majority have already failed once before.
At the end of November 2022, 604 elementary school students in grades 1-7 and 5-10 had taken the National Micro Mathematics Test. The pass rate for two different groups of student teachers was 40.6 percent for student teachers in grades 1-7 and 37.6 percent for students in grades 5-10.
In the fall of 2021, 38 percent of students in grades 1-7 failed, while the average number for grades 5-10 was 20 percent.
This fall’s numbers show a higher rate than ever before, notes Christine Finegy, director of Knockout.
– In total, about four out of ten failed the two exams, which is worrying, says Christine Feng, director of Knockout.
The results of the two tests show that a total of 2.1% (13 students) obtained the first degree.
Nokut is mandated by the Ministry of Education and Science, and is responsible for four different national partial exams in universities and colleges, in which student teachers are tested in Mathematics.
Unfamiliarity with the exam format
Vibeke Bjarnø, Head of Teacher Training at OsloMet, says that at OsloMet in grades 1-7, only those who sit for the new/postponed exam have taken the exam in fall 2022, since they have their regular exam in the spring term.
– As for the 5th-10th grade teacher training primary candidates, they get the regular exam in the fall. We see that the failure rate is somewhat higher than in previous years. Bjarno says it’s hard to say for sure what could be the cause.
In the fall of 2022, 28.8 percent of Oslo Mitte students in grades 5-10 failed. The fall 2021 rate was 11.8 percent.
– What we do know is that most of the students are not familiar with the type of exam we are talking about here due to the pandemic. Bjarno pointed out that the exams taken in recent years were, for the same reason, unsupervised home exams, while this year it is also a written exam for the school without aids.
Many accounting students
For student teachers, the National Partial Examination in Mathematics is arranged both in spring and autumn. Most students are tested in the spring. Many of those who take the exam in the fall are those who failed in the spring or for other reasons are allowed to take a deferred exam.
And educational institutions show that this situation affects the results in the form that the failure rate is higher than in the regular exams.
For student teachers, there is a big difference between students in grades 1-7 and grades 5-10. Students in grades 5-10 who have been tested have chosen mathematics and want to become mathematics teachers. Students in Stages 1-7 include all students, regardless of preferred subject.
A total of approximately 1,600 students spread across 12 institutions and 22 study centers take the exam each year.
Knockout: – Sadly, the results don’t show any improvement
– It is sad to note that the results of these tests did not improve. In Nockot’s evaluations of teacher training courses in Norway, we see that there are many who do a lot right for Norwegian student teachers. But in this subject, unfortunately, there are still many students who get poor results, says Knockout Principal Christine Feng, in Press release from Knockout.
She feels confident that the exam is well established and tests the students in a good way.
-Nukot and the exam group will now hold this year’s exam, as we always do. But since both the exam groups and the examinees are recognized professionals from various educational institutions, the academic basis for this exam is well established, Feeney says.
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