We noticed that there are both major and minor differences in classroom management and pedagogical aspects between Norwegian schools and South African schools.
South African learners display more discipline because they tend to adhere to the rules implemented by the teacher in the classroom whereas the Norwegian learners are more likely to do as they please, disregarding the teacher’s instructions. The teacher’s authority holds little to no weight. There is a more formal teacher-learner relationship in the South African classroom as opposed to the Norwegian classroom where learners tend to become more friendly towards the teacher.
In SA, there are a strict set of rules implemented in classrooms across grades 1 to 7 whereas in Norway, learners have more flexibility in the classroom. In the latter, they may step outside whenever they feel overwhelmed or need a break without asking the teacher and sometimes they can choose to sit on the floor and are not confined to their chair and desk during school hours. On the other hand, learners in the South African classroom understand that the structure put in place, in terms of their sitting arrangements, is what they should adhere to and they may not leave the classroom whenever they please, without acquiring permission from the teacher.
In Norway, learners do not have a sense of urgency with regards to moving back into the classroom after break and after outdoor activities, they have a more relaxed approach whereas in SA, learners adhere to time and have a sense of urgency because they go back into the classroom and get seated without hesitaion when they come back from their outdoor activities or lunch break.
In the Norwegian classroom, teachers tend to use attention-grabbers across grades 1 to 7 , in an effort to manage the classroom and get the learners to settle down while in SA, attention grabbers are typically only used in the Foundation Phase (grades 1-3).
South African teachers follow a strict syllabus and schedule while their Norwegian counterparts exercise more flexibility in their teaching schedule. Norwegian classrooms focus more on teaching critical thinking and have set goals that learners ought to achieve by the end of the year, instead of assessing learners in a formal way. They do not follow a strict curriculum. Their teachers are also flexible in the content they choose to teach whereas in SA classrooms, the teacher has little room to personalise the teaching schedule and content as it has already been planned and can seldom be changed.
Norwegian teaching strategies are more technologically focused. The teachers are able to cater for a wide variety of learning styles because their schools have sufficient resources. In SA, not all schools have access to technological devices such as tablets, laptops and smartboards. Therefore, the teacher is sometimes restricted when it comes to implementing different teaching strategies and cannot always cater for different learning styles. A lot of South African schools still rely on learners writing notes and activities on their books as opposed to the Norwegian schools that rely more on technological devices.
South African schools offer a more advanced level of their second language (First Additional Language) than Norwegian schools where their second language is of less complexity and on a more conversational level.
– Nicole, Samkelisiwe, Rorisang and Dineo.