– There are many people who are struggling

The short version

• Absenteeism among students in upper secondary school increased again in the 2022/2023 school year.
• Jan Tore Sanner (H) is concerned about the increase and believes the government must clarify new absence rules.
• VG3 students Claudia and Sarah propose four separate days a year dedicated to mental health.

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Jan Tore Sanner (H) is pleased. He is a former minister of knowledge and part of the previous government that introduced the absence limit.

The result was a marked decrease in student absenteeism in the school years before the pandemic turned everything upside down.

Then the absence limit was put on hold.

Now Sanner (58) is in opposition in the Storting, and fears that heir Kari Nessa Nordtun (Ap) will introduce an absence limit of 15 per cent absence where there is no longer a distinction between documented absence and truancy.

With the current limit, pupils can have more than 10 per cent absence, as long as it is documented that it is for example sports, political involvement or illness.

Increasing trend

New absence figures show that in the 2022/23 school year, pupils’ absences increased again – after the sharp decline in the years after the absence limit was introduced.

The average absence increased from three days and 11 individual hours (2018/19) to four days and 16 individual hours per pupil (2022/23).

– I am very concerned about the strong growth in absenteeism. I think that could be a sign that something is wrong. That is why the government and the Minister of Knowledge must end their far too long “seminar” in order to implement their new absence rules, says Sanner to VG.

He more than suggests that the government’s own uncertainty about the future of the absence limit is contributing to the increase in absenteeism.

Sanner meets two grade 3 students on a study tour at the Kuben Yrkesarena in Oslo. They belong to a group of students who have been “hit” by Sanner’s own success-declared absence limit.

In the main, they support the 10 percent limit, but it also brings challenges.

– We have noticed that the mental health of young students has steadily worsened during and after the pandemic. There are many people who struggle mentally and feel a lot of pressure. We feel that it is very important to address those factors, say Claudia Maria Rodrigues (19) and Sarah Khamis Skjerdal (19) to VG.

Absenteeism is increasing

• School year 2014/15: 6 days – 13 hours (median)
• 2015/16: 5 days – 12 hours
• 2016/17: 3 days – 9 hours (first school year with new absence rules)
• 2017/18: 3 days – 16 hours
• 2018/19: 3 days – 11 hours
• 2022/23: 4 days – 16 hours

(Source: Directorate of Education)

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They successively replace each other in the conversation. They remind you that they have to go through a whole series of abrupt assessments during the school year at secondary school, and especially in the last school year.

They have dropped the Russian celebration. Can not bear. I do not have time.

It actually suits them well that Russian buses and weekly nightlife and rolling do not have such a strong breeding ground in the Cube.

Instead, they use the opportunity to meet with one of the country’s most experienced and influential school politicians: Introduce four days a year where pupils can take a break and cultivate their own mental health.

In the social studies subject, they saw a video about how they had introduced their own mental health day in a state in the USA.

– The pupils themselves could choose which days they got off. To get that relief when they needed it. At the same time, the teacher had control over which students took those days, Claudia and Sarah explain.

Education Minister Kari Nessa Nordtun (Ap) sees no reason to rush into new absence regulations. But she too has noticed the increase in absenteeism.

– I share the concern about the large increase in absenteeism we have seen since the pandemic, and the consequences it may have for professional and social learning, belonging and opportunities further on in life. That is why it is so important that we do a thorough job of preparing a new absence regulation that can stand up over time, rather than coming up with hasty proposals because Conservative politicians are short on time, says Nordtun with a clear address to Jan Tore Sanner.

– Until the new comes, Sanner’s own regulations apply, Nordun reminds.

The Directorate of Education sends its recommendation to the minister during the spring. Nordtun promises a good treatment of both the directorate’s advice and the consultation input she has received.

Clear frames

– Can you say something about the main content of the new regulations?

– We must have clear and distinct frameworks for pupils’ participation in the school which at the same time provide the least possible administration. I will not know whether our proposal will be similar to Udir’s until I have assessed the recommendations from the directorate, replies Nordtun.

She doesn’t like the trend of absenteeism.

– Increased absenteeism is never good. It is important for good learning that students participate as much as possible in the teaching. Absence is still somewhat lower than before the absence rules were introduced, but clearly higher than in the first school year with the absence limit. There was also a gradual increase in the years before the pandemic, she recalls.

Back at the Cube, Jan Tore Sanner fears that the Minister of Education will choose an arrangement that does not differentiate well enough between truancy and illness.

– In the proposal that the government is working on now, you don’t really distinguish between illness and truancy. That actually makes it easier to truancy, but also harder to be sick. Now this absence seminar has been going on since the Labor Party’s national meeting last year decided to replace the current absence limit. It is the government itself that has created uncertainty, now it is time for them to come up with a clear clarification, says Sanner.

Two suggestions

UDIRS Proposal for new absence rules

• In option 1 proposes that the Directorate of Education remove the requirement for a medical certificate and introduce a self-reporting scheme. At the same time, it is proposed not to distinguish between documented and undocumented absences. If the pupil begins to approach 10 per cent absence, which is the current absence limit, the teacher is obliged to have a conversation with the pupil. If the absence exceeds 15 per cent, the student will not be assessed in the subject. But the headmaster must be given the opportunity to consider exceptions to the rule of a maximum of 15 per cent absence, if the absence is not due to truancy.
• In option 2 The Norwegian Directorate of Education also proposes to remove the requirement for a medical certificate and introduce a self-report. But here the current absence limit of 10 per cent undocumented absence continues. Absences due to health, political work, driving training or participation in national and international events must still be exempted.

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Assistant principal Maria Eriksson (60) at Kuben, says that at the school they absolutely pay the most attention to presence and presence.

– Is it important to take action before a pupil’s absenteeism rate becomes too high?

– Absolutely. Then we must intervene very quickly, contact the student, contact parents, and find out why they are not coming to school. The norm is to be at school, says Eriksson.

At the school she leads, they have also noticed an increase in absenteeism after the pandemic. The assistant principal notices in some students that it has become a habit that when you feel a little disheveled – you should stay at home. As it was during the pandemic.

– It’s just that it’s completely normal to be a little groggy or have a cold. No one is in top shape every day. The norm is anyway to be at school and work, says Eriksson.

Jan Tore Sanner agrees. He doesn’t like the development either.

– You can also see that sickness absence is increasing. And in schools in general, there are a number of arrows pointing in the wrong direction: More unrest, more violence, more bullying. In any case, the time has not come to loosen and weaken the absence limit, concludes Sanner.