Despite the fact that the law that provided for an organized school system didn’t come until 1739 that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t teaching for the general populace prior to that time.
The reformation came to Norway in 1536; this also was significant in the development of the Norwegian school system. The reformation’s main pedagogic goal was that the teaching of Christianity should be done in the native language of the learner. A minimum of ‘book-knowledge was necessary though the normal values of childhood upbringing were also important. The church had the primary responsibility for teaching children and adolescents to read and write and the precentor was responsible for the day to day teaching. To start with one of the qualifications for precentor was that they were students with some knowledge of Latin but it is doubtful that many of them got very far in their studies.
After 1607 it was possible to employ precenters that did not know Latin. They discovered after a while that knowledge of Latin did not necessarily that one was better at teaching people to read. Precenters without higher education were probably not paid as well. Running a school was in any case not very lucrative, something the precenter Peder Andersen is a good example of. He was precenter and in charge of the school in Fet in about 1680. He never received anything for teaching children to read. There may be two reasons for the fact that he was never paid. Either the locals looked on his teaching as an obvious duty or they saw it as unnecessary. More likely than not it was the latter.
To start with the teaching was confined to the church. After a while it was passed around to the farms. Here we see a glint of the ambulatory schools of the future. The first time we see any mention of a schoolhouse is a note in the appointment book for Fet from the 1730s. The parish priest for Fet Peter Hansen Hiort mentions Fet parsonage as having a school building. This hints at the fact that teaching was going on in a permanent location. But, as far as we know the school didn’t last long here.
In 1736 confirmation became obligatory in all of Denmark-Norway. Prior to confirmation the priest had to give the youths three months of education in Christianity. It was now absolutely necessary to read so that one could come prepared to the exam. In 1739 the ‘Law on Rural schools in Norway and the duty of precentors and school administrators’ came to Norway.
Prior to this learning to read had been voluntary. Now, all children over 7 years of age had to attend school. The subjects were reading and Christianity. All children did not necessarily have to attend a ‘public’ school. Parents could arrange for their childrens’ education in other ways. Obligatory school lasted 5 years from the age of to the age of 12. The last two years the ‘diciplene’ did not have to meet regularly during the winter. Twice a week was enough. Children from 7 to 10 had 6-8 hours of school every day for 3 months.
The schools could be either permanent schools or ambulatory schools. Building permanent schoolhouses was not economically feasible nor especially desired so the ambulatory school was the pattern in Fet for over 100 years. The priest supervised the schools. The right to employ the school administrator was the priest’s though the parish priest could make suggestions as to who should be employed. The law stated that: The parish priest of the parish in which a school administrator is needed proposes as many capable persons he knows of, thereafter the priest may choose the one with the best testimonials. If there are no available ‘schooled’ persons the best of the farmers may be chosen.
The school’s expenses were covered by a school tax that was placed on the locals. Those who had children in school had to pay 2-4 shillings per schoolweek to the school administrator. Others had to pay a smaller sum up to several times a year dependent on class and income. This school tax roused resistance especially amongst those who didn’t have children in school.
That the times were not right for such a law showed itself in other ways as well. In 1741 a ‘Public notice concerning the rural schools in Norway’ appeared. It was decided that each parish could arrange its own schools. Four chosen representatives for the populace would have the supreme responsibility or the schools together with the district governor and the priest. The dean thought that 2 administrators for Fet and Rælingen were enough. These administrators would service 8 districts for three months in both municipalities. The locals disagreed with this. The y thought it was necessary to have four administrators for each district. Each administrator was to have responsibility for school in each district throughout the year on the farms and for the children that the priest directed him to teach. They were to receive 16 Rd in pay each year. In addition to this they received room and board on the farms they were servicing. In order to manage this economically each farmer was required to pay 1 mark 8 shillings per year. Male indentured servants paid 12 shillings per year and female 8 shillings per year. Two well-respected farmers were the treasurers and they produced an annual balance sheet for the parish priest.
It took time of course for the new school system to really get going but by 1750 things seem to have been running fairly smoothly. In the 1760s there were four ambulatory schoolteachers in Fet. The first school administrators were:
Lars Duverud, Dalen
Peder Monsen, Jaren/Roven
Halvor Olsen Bråte, Åkret/Faldalen
Peder Eriksen, Rælingen
Pay varied from 16-20 RD per year. After a while there was a great deal of dissatisfaction with the 16 RD pay that most of the administrators got. The school system became more regulated in the 1790s but not much was done about the pay. At the same time there was a large surplus in the budget, funds that went to funds. The locals became dissatisfied with a school system with a surplus of money that wasn’t being used for anything good while the school administrator’s pay remained unchanged. Several of the administrators had trouble making ends meet and they made it crystal clear that they would discontinue teaching unless they got a raise. Teachers struggle for higher wages has a long history!
In 1827 still another law was passed; ‘The law concerning the general school system in rural areas’. This law did not lead to great changes in Fet. What were new were the institution of minimum demands and the expansion of the number of subjects. There was to be teaching in:
In addition obligatory school was expanded to include the period from the age of 7 until confirmation. This was relatively vague since confirmation age could vary. It was dependent on whether one got to the priest in the first instance or if you had to go again. The last two or three years school work could be neglected if work required it. Besides the above there were not any great changes in Fet.
The school administrators got a great review from Pastor Otto Ottesen in 1825 after a bishop’s inspection. Here he says that they deserve a place above the average man and that they should be commended for their behavior and attentiveness. This flowery report can be contrasted to one from 1837, after the implementation of the new law. In the inspection book it says that the 5 administrators were just barely capable of executing their obligations. It does continue to say though that as long as the pay is so low one cannot expect to get anyone with more education.
In addition the inspection book remarks on the the populaces indifference
to whether or not their children learn anything. Though this is not unusual.
It is noted that there are 525 school children in the parish and that 121
can read and do arithmetic. That so few had reading and arithmetic skills
is possibly because of school neglect. It is noted that there wasn’t
any permanent school in the parish. Even though the law of 1827 required
at least one permanent school in the parish there was nothing but ambulatory
schools until 1843.
Translated by Steven Mohn