Elevundersøkelsen — the pupil survey explained
What is Elevundersøkelsen?
Elevundersøkelsen is an anonymous survey that pupils in years 5, 7, and 10 — and every year of upper secondary — answer each autumn. It measures pupils' experience of school life, and the results are used both by the school itself and by the authorities.
The survey is owned by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (UDIR) and is mandatory for schools to run, but voluntary for the individual pupil. Answers are anonymous, and aggregate figures are also available in Statistics Norway's education statistics.
What does it measure?
The survey covers several areas — so-called indicators:
- Wellbeing (trivsel) — overall wellbeing at school
- Teacher support — does the pupil feel academic and social support?
- Support from home — does the pupil feel their parents support school life?
- Motivation — intrinsic motivation for schoolwork
- Bullying — experience of bullying in recent months
- Assessment for learning — does the pupil receive feedback that helps them learn?
- Learning culture — is the classroom calm and inclusive?
- Mastery — does the pupil feel able to manage their schoolwork?
- Pupil democracy and participation — does the pupil get to voice their opinion?
Results are reported as average scores on a 1–5 scale (where 5 is generally best), and for bullying as the share of pupils who report being bullied.
Response rate — why it matters
A survey with a low response rate is less reliable. If only half the pupils answer, the figures may be skewed by who chose to participate. When interpreting a school's results, you should:
- Look at the response rate — schools below 70% should be interpreted cautiously
- Compare against the total number of pupils — small schools have statistical noise
Schools with fewer than 5 respondents in a year group are not published, for privacy reasons.
The bullying indicator
Bullying is the indicator parents tend to focus on most — for good reason. The survey asks pupils whether they have been bullied by other pupils or by adults at the school.
There is no "OK" bullying number — every school should be at 0. In practice the national average is 5–7% of pupils who report being bullied monthly or more often. If a school sits well above that, you should ask the school:
- Why are you above the national average?
- What specifically have you done since the last survey?
- What does your written action plan (aktivitetsplan) say?
For more, see our article on bullying in Norwegian schools.
What is a good number?
On most indicators, the national average sits between 3.8 and 4.3 on the 1–5 scale. There is natural variation between year groups and schools. Some rules of thumb:
- Wellbeing below 3.8 is a red flag
- Teacher support below 3.8 is a warning
- Bullying above 7% is clearly above the national average
- Assessment for learning below 3.5 suggests pupils are not getting strong academic follow-up
But remember: the figures swing year to year, especially at small schools. Look at the trend over several years.
Pitfalls when comparing
1. The pupil intake affects the numbers. A school with stable families and a strong socio-economic background often has higher wellbeing scores — regardless of what the school does. Compare with schools in the same municipality or nearby areas — for example among schools in Bergen, where Fridalen skole can be compared with other central schools in the same area.
2. Response rate can hide problems. Pupils who are unhappy can also be the ones who don't take part. Skewed participation gives skewed results.
3. One bad teacher can drag down a single year group. The survey picks up class environment and teacher quality. A low support score in year 7 can mean one specific teacher/class environment is problematic — not that the whole school is weak.
4. Numbers are not always comparable across years if the survey wording has changed. UDIR adjusts questions occasionally. Check the documentation before drawing year-over-year conclusions.
How should the school use the results?
The school is required to discuss the results in the FAU (parents' council), the teachers' meeting, and the pupils' council (elevråd). The municipality follows up on schools with poor results over time. Good schools use the numbers as a starting point for improvement work — for example by adding mentors, reorganising classes, or strengthening school-environment work.
As a parent, you can ask about the results at the next parents' meeting. The head teacher should be able to walk through the trend and the measures put in place. See parental cooperation, FAU, and parents' meetings (Norwegian only) for more on how parents can use the results, and how the numbers can be compared with national tests.
Frequently asked questions
Is Elevundersøkelsen anonymous? Yes. Pupils answer anonymously, and UDIR does not publish results for groups smaller than five pupils. Answers are never linked back to an individual.
Does the child have to answer the survey? No. Participation is voluntary for the individual pupil, even though running the survey is mandatory for the school. Most pupils take part because the results help the school improve.
What does the school do with the answers? The school receives a results report from UDIR and must use it in its quality work — discussing it in the FAU, the teaching staff, and the pupils' council. Results are published in anonymised form via UDIR's data portals.
Why aren't all results published? To protect individual pupils. When a year group has fewer than five respondents, the answers could in principle identify the individual. Such figures are therefore withheld.
Are higher numbers in Elevundersøkelsen always better? Mostly yes, but remember the indicators interact. A high score on motivation combined with a low score on assessment for learning can point to a pupil intake that "manages on its own" without strong teacher support. Look at the trend over several years, not a single number.