Home Education in Norway (completed)

Modern home education rapidly increased in Norway from 1993, but is still a mini-phenomena (400 or 0.06 % of all students). A research project on Norwegian (and international) home education (homeschooling) started 1998. Three different empirical studies:

1) Project estimating numbers of HE-students (2002),

2)  A survey (questionnaire) sent to Norwegian home educators 2002-03. Answers: 128 (90 %).

3) Text analysis of letters between school-authorities and home educators(1998 - 2006).

About the project

Projectleader: Christian W. Beck
Project cooperator: Marta Straume

Outcomes

1. Rapid increase in Norwegian home education from 1994 to 2000 (from 40 to 400 students).

2. Four groups of Norwegian home educators (overlapping ideal-types):

  • Structured - often religious middleclass parents giving home education because of a secular school. Often "school"-education at home.
  • Unschoolers - often radical cultural middleclass parents with an altenative lifestyle, giving the student natural learning possibilities and self dircted learning.
  • Practical - rural workingclass parents who will give the student a more practical education. Protest against to much theoretical knowledge in school.
  • Unknown - home eucators the authorities know litlle/nothing about, to example gypsis not registrated immigrants etc.

3. Home educators the authorities dont know about could be segregated groups in society.

4. The known home educators (mostly monitored) are more or less satisfied with their home education.

5. Much tension and conflicts in Norwegian home education 1994 - 2000, to example three courtcases (must important: The mosvik-case). Today Norway is one of the more liberal countries in Europe in the right to home educate.

6. Collective home education are practiced by parents when small public rural schools are closed and private schools are called for.

7. If home education is seen as a treath to either school or society, this is more because home educaion is placed outside school and not because of the content.

Publications (in English)

Beck, C. W (2006). Home education - Globalization otherwise. In: Managing Global Transitions. Vol. 4 No 3 Fall 2006. p 249-260. http://www2.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1581-6311/4_249-259.pdf

Beck, C. W. Beck (2008). Home education and Social Integration. In: Critical Social Studies - Outlines. Vol. 10. No. 2 2008. p 59-69

Beck, C. W.(2010).Home Education - The social motivation. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education (IEJEE) Vol. 3 No 1. October 2010. p 71-81.

 

Financing

None

 

Published Oct. 8, 2010 2:44 PM - Last modified Oct. 19, 2020 12:43 PM

Contact

Christian Beck

+47-22855397

c.w.beck@ped.uio.no

Participants

  • Christian Watkin Beck Universitetet i Oslo
  • Marta Straume
Detailed list of participants