Fewer will become teachers than before, but there are places of learning that can show an increase in the number of applicants.
On Friday, new figures came from Samordna admissions which show a further decrease in the number of applicants for teacher training courses.
Overall, the drop was 4.2 percent compared to 2024.
It is not dramatic in itself, but the drop comes on top of a large decline in recent years.
Since the peak year in 2017, there have been 42 per cent fewer first-choice applicants for teacher education. At the same time, there are big differences between the 18 educational institutions that offer them teacher training.
– These applicant numbers confirm what we have seen over time: The teaching profession is unfortunately a profession that is becoming less and less attractive, said Ingelinn Gramstad, principal at Ytre Enebakk school to Utdanningsnytt about the new drop in applicants for teacher training courses.
In all the graphics in this case, we have taken first-choice applicants as our starting point.
Below are all the educational institutions that offer teacher training courses, ranked from the most to the fewest applicants this year:
Uddanningsnytt has also taken a closer look at which educational institutions are most popular, based on how many applicants they have per planned study place.
Here it is Norway’s sports college that comes out on top, with three first-choice applicants per planned study place.
Although there has been a decline nationally, there are places of learning that have increased the number of applicants from 2023 to 2024.
The University of Oslo increases the most, with a percentage increase of 20 per cent, while the Sami University of Applied Sciences and MF University of Applied Sciences fell the most. Both of the latter have had the number of applicants for their teacher training programs halved from 2023 to 2024.
If we look at the development over the last ten years, only NLA University College and the University of Bergen can show an increase. Although these have more applicants this year than in 2014, these have also had more applicants in previous years.
Boast of applicant numbers – big drop since 2018
As the graphics above show, it is possible to create many stories based on the same numerical material. In a press release from Dronning Mauds Minne Høgskole (DMMH), they highlight a gratifying increase for part-time study in kindergarten education in Trondheim.
“DMMH sees a large increase in the number of applicants for part-time kindergarten teacher training in Trondheim compared to last year’s figures. This increase is a whopping 43%,” the press release states.
This is true in isolation, but this says more that the number of applicants for 2023 was very weak, than that the number of applicants for 2024 is particularly high.
When asked if this development is something to celebrate, Principal Else Berit Skagen at DMMH writes that they are “not celebrating” these applicant numbers, but are happy that the overall decline seems to have stabilised. The college has received 5 per cent more applicants this year than last year, if we look at all the educations.
– We are not satisfied that nationally, and locally, we have far too few applicants for a profession in kindergarten, but we are happy that the overall number of applications has not fallen further and that part-time has picked up significantly, writes Skagen.
