Absence

Rules for absence concerning grades in individual subjects

You must submit a self-declaration for sickness absence that is within the absence limit of ten percent.

When you have reached the ten percent absence limit in a subject, you are required to provide medical documentation from a healthcare professional to verify your sick leave.

Documented absence

If you have a valid reason for being absent from class, it is important that you can document it so that the absence does not count.

Valid reasons for being absent from the teaching are: 

• health and welfare reasons
• work as an elected representative
• political work
• emergency aid and rescue work
• legally required attendance
• representation at an event at the national or international level
• religious feast for members of another faith than the Church of Norway (up to 2 school days)
• meeting with guidance counsellor, student council work and organised study activities according to an agreement with the subject teacher or school head
• individual driving lessons that are difficult to combine with the school day
  • compulsory saftey course on a driving race track (4 hours)
  • practice in long-distance driving (5 hours)
  • planning and driving in varied traffic situations (4 hours)

Rules of absence in cases of undocumented absence

If you are absent from the teaching without documenting your absence, the following rules concerning absence apply:

• If you have more than 10 % undocumented absence in individual subjects, the main rule is that you will not achieve a grade in the subject.
• However, the head teacher still has the opportunity to make an assessment in individual cases for absence up to 15 %. The head teacher may make a discretionary assessment in cases of for instance pupils in a difficult life situation - where the reasons for the absence make it clearly unreasonable that the pupil does not achieve a grade in the subject.
• If you have a total of more than 15 % undocumented absence in an individual subject,you will not achieve a grade in the subject.
• The absence should only be settled once. This should happen at the end of the school year.
   

How is the absence recorded on your final documentation?

Your absence is recorded as days and individual classroom hours on your final documentation.

• Individual classroom hours cannot be converted into days.
• You may demand that the reason for the absence is recorded on an attachment to the Certificate of Upper Secondary Education or your Certificate of Competence if you provide documentation.
• If you do not get a final assessment grade or if you wish to improve poor grades, you must take an examination as an external candidate. However, even if you do so, your absence will not be deleted from your documentation.

Absence that does not count on your final documentation

Within a framework of 10 school days you can demand that the following absence is not recorded if it is due to

• illness or other health conditions that are documented with a medical certificate.
• welfare reasons
• work as an elected representative
• political work
• emergency aid and rescue work
• legally required attendance
• representation at an event at national or international level
• religious feast for members of other belief community than the Church of Norway (up to 2 school days)