The merit scheme for teachers at OsloMet

• The application must be written in accordance with the guidelines for the merit scheme at OsloMet (only in Norwegian). Here you will find necessary information about application criteria, how to write the application with attachments (also called educational/academic portfolio), the assessment process, as well as what the status of merited teacher entails.
• The applications are assessed by an expert committee appointed by the Education Committee as proposed by Centre for the Study of Professions.
• To achieve status as merited teacher an effort beyond the ordinary is required and must be documented in the application. 

The application must be written as an educational/academic portfolio with extensive documentation of how the applicant over time have systematically developed quality in teaching and education to promote student’s learning. This consists of:

• An educational profiling document, which is a coherent text of maximum 7500 words where the applicant summarises and comment on their development 
• (Additionally): Documentation and at a maximum 15 attachments.

Examples of portfolios

Here you can see portfolios of previously merited teachers: Members of the fellowship of merited teachers at OsloMet.

The merit scheme is announced every two years. The next announcement will be made in 2025.

For merited teacher this means:

• A permanent salary increase of NOK 35 000. 
• Membership in the fellowship of merited teachers.
• A one-time grant of NOK 100 000 awarded to unit where the merited teacher belongs. The sum is to be used for developing the teaching and have a collegial purpose.

In the white paper Culture for quality in higher education (2017), all institutions in the university and university college sector were required to develop a system for meriting good teachers.

The purpose was to give institutions for higher education more tools and a better framework for raising the quality of education. Good teaching is highlighted as a deciding factor in students’ learning and experience of quality in education.

Pedagogical competence in teaching, in addition to formal requirements for basic competence, has until now not been credited and emphasized to the same degree as scientific research and developmental work in hiring’s and promotions to higher positions. Because of this, all universities and university colleges, by themselves or together with others, was required in the course of two years to establish merit systems that contribute to the valuing of work towards developing good teaching.

The rector at OsloMet have given the Centre for the Study of Professions the mandate to implement the merit scheme for outstanding teachers.

At OsloMet the merit scheme for outstanding teachers was introduced in 2019.