Photo: Hanna Kristin Hjardar
Article written by Eilat Furnes, journalist
Published in Dagens Næringsliv 10 September 2026
OIS features in national discussion on learning and academic achievement
Celina Midelfart has served for several years as a Board member at the private Oslo International School.
Celina Midelfart is among those expressing concern following this week’s PISA figures, which showed a continued decline in the performance of Norwegian students in reading and mathematics.
The investor has served for several years on the Board of Oslo International School (OIS), where her son with investor Tor Olav Trøim is a student.
“Private schools across the country are finding that concerns about academic progress, and particularly whether schools provide an environment that supports learning, are important factors for many families choosing between public and private education,” she says.
Midelfart, who studied finance at the London School of Economics and NYU Stern, took over her family’s cosmetics business at the age of 22 following her father’s death in 1995.
She has since built up the investment company Midelfart Capital, with holdings in companies including Aker, Yara and Borr Drilling.
Maintaining high standards
The latest PISA report shows that Norwegian Year 10 students are performing below the OECD average in reading, mathematics and science.
“If we are going to make a comparison with the PISA results, we can look at OIS’s ISA results, which year after year place the school among the top percentiles in Europe for mathematics, reading and writing,” she says.
ISA is a standardised academic assessment developed specifically for international schools.
Parents at the private school, located in Bekkestua in Bærum, pay NOK 288,700 per student per year.
At the same time, Midelfart believes students in Norway’s public school system have every potential to perform at the same level as those attending the international private school.
What do you think needs to happen to reverse the trend?
“First and foremost, the learning environment needs to be addressed,” she says.
Reading and a ban on mobile phones
Minister of Education Kari Nessa Nordtun recently described tablets and other digital tools in schools as “a disaster for learning outcomes”, saying the investment in digital learning resources had been “ill-informed” and “a complete failure”.
“The aim is to get them out of schools as quickly as possible,” she told NTB.
Midelfart says OIS students follow a digital skills curriculum, but that the school has chosen to take a step back from the use of technology in Primary. The use of tablets has been reduced, and they have been removed entirely from homework. The school is also mobile-phone-free from Year 1 through Year 10.
The school has also placed a strong emphasis on reading, she says.
‘Everyone’ needs to get involved
Midelfart believes that part of the solution to the challenges facing Norwegian schools is to empower teachers and enable them to regain authority in the classroom.
“Teachers are perhaps the most important people we have when it comes to our shared responsibility to develop the unique potential of every child, and they should be paid accordingly,” she says.
At the same time, she points out that not every measure requires additional funding.
“Respect, character and giving teachers the scope to exercise appropriate authority make an enormous difference.”
She also draws a parallel with another aspect of Norwegian parenting culture.
“One interesting observation is the enormous commitment Norwegian parents show towards sport. At OIS, however, I see a genuinely strong and important level of parental engagement in children’s learning,” Midelfart says.
According to Midelfart, some of the cultural and learning-environment challenges seen in Norwegian schools begin at home.
“So everyone needs to get involved,” she says.
Skills for the future
Midelfart believes Norwegian schools have begun moving in the right direction when it comes to developing skills such as critical thinking – something that PISA does not measure directly.
“This is certainly a positive development that has already begun to be incorporated into the Norwegian curriculum,” she says.
Midelfart points out that these kinds of skills are increasingly being identified as essential for success in the future labour market, including by the World Economic Forum.
“But there is a difference between something being included in the curriculum and it actually being implemented – and whether teachers receive the training they need in these areas,” she emphasises.