Performance, assessment and opportunities in school was the topic of our first House Session of the new year! How we assess is such a significant part of the teaching profession as it is crucial for the development of students. When discussing our own experiences with evaluation, it was riveting to discover the vast differences between our school systems. We especially touched on how primary school students in Germany are being graded, while grading is held off until secondary school in Norway.

We also discussed what the role of a good school system should be. Naturally, the differences between the German and Norwegian school systems became a focus for our discussion. For example, the curriculum in Norway has a very clear set of overarching goals teachers are supposed to work towards. Where Norwegian student teachers are told from day one of their education that their main purpose is to develop good citizens, German student teachers might not have the same experience of such a firm purpose. The topic made it possible to discuss the purpose of such goals and how it affects our practice as teachers.

While exploring this topic together, we experienced how much we can learn from each other through a programme like this. Most importantly, no practice or system has the answer to good education. It is only through openness and conversation between different people and cultures we can grow together.