Student Involvement and Learning Outcome in Professional Education in Norway

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to test how learning outcome among students in professional education is affected by the background of the students or characteristics of the learning environment of the institution. The analyses are based on a survey among students in their final year of professional education. The effects of students’ family background are very weak. This is surprising, since school marks, which usually explain a considerable part of study results, are strongly correlating with family background. The study effort, measured by average study hours per week explains very little, but interactive and autonomous study strategies seem to lead to positive learning outcomes. Also teaching quality and social climate have an impact on learning outcome.