The men’s committee’s school measures are praised by politicians – skepticism in the Education Association

Among the proposals is the introduction of a flexible start to school and a more practical and varied everyday school life.

– I am happy that the committee is proposing more free play. KrF is concerned with ensuring that the school is ready for the children, rather than thinking that the child must be ready for school. We need a school on the children’s premises that boys can also master, with more practical learning and more play for the six-year-olds, says KrF leader Olaug Bollestad.

She believes that a varied everyday school life is a good measure for the children at the start of their school life.

Asking for a full reversal

– For many five- to six-year-olds, especially boys, it is not always either easy or desirable to sit quietly at school for long days. It is completely normal, but for many it can still give a feeling of not mastering when they are unable to live up to the expectations that meet them in the classrooms, says the KrF leader.

Bollestad is asking for a complete reversal of the current school for six-year-olds, and there she gets support from Rødt’s parliamentary representative and leader of the education committee, Hege Bae Nyholt.

– The Left has for several decades failed the boys in school politics. We have let the academisation of the school go far too far, and the boys lose out the most. The school must become more practical, the student must sit less still and the six-year reform must be scrapped, says Bae Nyholt.

The Education Association is skeptical

SV politician Kathy Lie believes that it is the left that has the solutions to the equality problems.

– The right-wing side has it in its mouth. They will talk regarding being on a team with men, without actually doing anything. It is the left that wants to build strong community solutions.

The Education Association is more skeptical, and in doubt whether the Mansutvalget is really proposing a new policy, as you have the right to delay the start of school by a year if expert assessment gives reason to doubt whether the child is ready.

– We do not see a need for this scheme to be expanded. It’s not the boys who are the problem. Today, teachers have too few opportunities to adapt teaching to different student groups. All students are different, even when they start school, says deputy chairperson Ann Mari Milo Lorentzen in the Education Association.