Last year, the Norwegian newspaper Blikk did a little research on what Norwegian teacher education included on gay issues. The conclusion was depressing: "Ingen undervisning om homofili” (”No teaching about homosexuality"), claiming that the only teaching about homosexuality is the three-hour lecture that I give every year.
I don’t believe that the situation is quite this terrible, but I do believe that there is little in the way of systematic teaching in this area. Luckily there are some efforts. There are textbooks to come, and some information is provided by the authorities. Moreover, I am editing a “resource” for lecturers who want to include the topic in their teaching (on behalf of the group FHiOHL, and with money from the rector of the university). The second edition will be available this autumn.
Just a few weeks ago, a new study showed that almost half of Norwegian gay, male 10th graders are bullied in school. There is plenty of work to do.
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Hey there, I found your blog via your other blog (personal one). I'm Canadian and recently attended a presentation by a Norwegian researcher on this topic. She works at Oslo Univ College I believe. I've lived in Oslo for 1yr. Anyway, her presentation was shocking in what she observed in Norwegian classrooms (what teachers were saying about homosexuality, and how they were approaching the subject). She also examined numerous books used in Norwegian public schools around the topic of race/racism and sex/sexuality.... it was really condescending to very "foreign" folks like Africans and gays.
ReplyDeleteanyway, a fascinating presentation and she's actually advising the ministry of education on how to change the situation...
Jack
You probably refer to Åse Røthing - at least the description fits well. Her work is really interesting. Of course, we've "known" for years that the situation in classrooms is not very good, but it is something else to have actual research to put forward.
ReplyDelete(And sorry for the late reply - I just realized I haven't turned on comment notification in this blog...)