Students in teacher training and pedagogy in Norway 2008-2018, by gender

The number of students in teacher training and pedagogy programs in Norway is constantly increasing. Whereas slightly more than 30 thousand students chose teacher trainings as their field of study in 2008, close to 48 thousand students chose the field in 2018. The positive development is not only due to the study programs becoming increasingly more popular, it is also due to the growing capacities at Norwegian universities and perhaps due to an overall focus on education in Norway. According to the OECD’s last report, Norway is one of the countries with the highest public expenditure on education. Perhaps consequently, the share of Norwegians with upper secondary or tertiary education is over 80 percent.

The share of male vs. female students in teacher training

Although less than a third of all students in teacher training in 2018 were male students (about 28 percent), the yearly number of male students in teacher training programs has almost doubled since 2008. On the other hand, the number of female students in teacher training in 2018 has only increased by close to 50 percent since 2008. This means that the overall share of male students in this field of study has increased.

Comparison to the overall number of students in Norway

In 2017, 293 thousand students were enrolled in universities or college universities in Norway, whereas 45 thousand were students of teacher training and pedagogy, which amounted to roughly 15 percent of the overall number of students. Although the number of students in teacher training is increasing, the overall number of students in Norway is close to constant.