11 Primary education

By the Norwegian system primary education is the first seven years of school starting at 6 years of age. Pupils may follow different pathways in their Saami training, depending on their prior knowledge to their Saami language, either Saami as first language, or Saami as a second language according to their background and level of language skills.

Saami as first language is for pupils who have Saami as their home language, and are to get their first education in reading and writing in Saami. When taught Norwegian they are taught in accordance to a special curriculum for pupils who have Saami as their first language. These pupils get 954 teaching hours of Saami during their primary education.

Saami as second language have three pathways/different curricula:

• Saami 2 is for pupils who start with Saami as second language in first grade. For these, Saami is to be taught in 608 hours in total on the primary level.
• Saami 3 is an alternative for pupils who will benefit from more time on each step in their Saami education, and for pupils who started learning Saami late in primary school or early in secondary school. These will get the same number of lessons at the primary school level, although not the same goals of skills.
• Saami 4 starts only at upper secondary level