Chinese Language Education in Norway: Teachers’ Perspectives on Curriculum Reform, Classroom Practice and Sustainability

This study investigates Chinese language education in Norwegian lower and upper secondary schools, with a particular focus on how teachers interpret and enact the most recent national curriculum reform (LK20). Drawing on a mixed-methods design, this study combines survey responses from 13 Chinese language teachers with follow-up semi-structured interviews with seven of them. The analysis examines classroom practice, resource use, assessment, and perceived sustainability of Chinese as a school subject in Norway. Findings highlight three recurring tensions: (1) limited resources alongside high teacher autonomy and innovation; (2) curricular openness, especially the flexibility granted to non-European languages such as Chinese, versus persistent uncertainty about assessment standards and progression; and (3) motived but shrinking student cohorts, which threatens long-term program viability. Teachers describe rebuilding teaching materials each year, navigating small-group funding thresholds, and adapting LK20’s cross-disciplinary and digitalization aims under uneven institutional support. This study argues that Chinese education in Norway currently survives through teacher-driven improvisation rather than system-level stability. It contributes a Nordic perspective to the global literature on Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language (CSL/CFL) by showing how small-cohort languages negotiate curriculum reform, accountability pressures, and declining enrolment in mainstream public education.