Norway - Country Background Information
- Describing the forms of education in the country
- Identifying an ‘inclusive setting’ in the country
- What an ‘official decision of SEN’ means in the country
- What ‘out-of-education’ means in the country
The EASIE data collection covers all recognised forms of education at ISCED levels 02, 1, 2 and 3.
This means any type of education organised by or approved by any recognised educational provider in the public or private sector: municipality, local or regional educational provider from the public or private sector, working with/for ministries responsible for education and areas such as health, social, welfare, labour, justice, etc.
6–15 (ISCED 1 and 2)
What are the typical age ranges for the ISCED levels?
| ISCED LEVEL 02 | ISCED LEVEL 1 | ISCED LEVEL 2 | ISCED LEVEL 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3–5 | 6–12 | 13–15 | 16–18 |
Private sector is understood as private primary and secondary schools approved under the Private Education Act Section 2-1 or the Education Act Section 2-12. Running private primary and secondary schools is not permitted in Norway without this approval.
The number of children receiving home education is also counted. This is regulated in the Education Act.
In the EASIE data collection, an inclusive setting is operationally defined as:
A recognised form of education where the child/learner follows education in mainstream classes alongside their peers for the largest part – 80% or more – of the school week.
The 80% time placement benchmark clearly indicates that a child/learner is educated in a mainstream class for the majority of their school week. At the same time, it acknowledges possibilities for small group or one-to-one withdrawal for limited periods of time (i.e. 20% or one day a week).
Very few participating countries can provide exact data on children/learners spending 80% of their time in a mainstream group/class. However, all countries can apply one of three agreed proxies that provide an approximation to this benchmark:
- Placement in a mainstream class implies over 80% or more
- Data is available on the number of hours of support allocated to a child/learner
- Placement in a mainstream class implies over 50% or more.
In the EASIE data collection, the agreed operational definition is:
An official decision leads to a child/learner being recognised as eligible for additional educational support to meet their learning needs.
Countries may have different types of official decision, but for all official decisions:
- There has been some form of educational assessment procedure involving different people. This procedure may involve the child/learner, parents, school-based team members, as well as professionals from multi-disciplinary teams from outside the child’s/learner’s (pre-)school.
- There is some form of legal document (plan/programme, etc.) that describes the support the child/learner is eligible to receive, which is used as the basis for decision-making.
- There is some form of regular review process of the child/learner’s needs, progress and support.
The right to Special Education is found in chapter 5 of the Education Act. Pupils who either do not or are unable to benefit satisfactorily from mainstream teaching have the right to special education. In assessing what kind of instruction to provide, particular emphasis is placed on the pupil’s developmental prospects. The content of the courses offered will allow the pupil to receive adequate benefit from the tuition as a whole in relation to other pupils and in relation to educational objectives that are realistic for the pupil. Pupils who receive special education shall have the same total number of teaching hours as other pupils.
Before the municipality or the county authority makes a decision on whether the pupil should receive special education or not, an expert assessment is made of the pupil’s specific needs. The assessment is provided by the educational and psychological counselling service. This assessment determines whether the pupil needs special education, and what kind of instruction should be provided.
The expert assessment considers and determines the following:
- the pupil’s learning outcome from the mainstream educational provisions;
- the pupil’s learning difficulties and other special conditions of importance to education;
- realistic educational objectives for the pupil;
- whether it is possible to provide help for the pupil’s difficulties within mainstream educational provisions;
- what kind of instruction it is appropriate to provide.
The Education Act does not regulate multi-disciplinary teams, but it does regulate the educational psychology service (PPT), an expert body external to the pupil’s school. The Act states that the service is responsible for producing expert assessments where the law demands it, both in respect of school pupils and children under compulsory school age. The service also has a statutory responsibility to contribute to the development of competencies and organisational development in schools.
An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is prepared for pupils receiving special education. The IEP specifies educational objectives and content and indicates how the teaching is to be carried out.
Once every year, the school prepares a written summary of the education received by the pupil and an assessment of the pupil’s development. The pupil’s development must be assessed on the basis of the aims stipulated in the pupil’s individual curriculum. The school sends this summary and the assessment to the pupil or to the pupil’s parents and to the municipality or county authority.
Within the EASIE data collection, specific questions examine children/learners who are out of education. This means children/learners who should, by law, be in some form of recognised education, but who are out of any form of recognised education. A recognised form of education is any type of education organised by or approved by any recognised educational provider in the public or private sector.
Pupils who are considered out of education have not met compulsory primary education at school and are still outside school on 1 October. Pupils with documented absences or pupils who have moved out of the country are not counted.
On the 80% placement benchmark: Data is available on the number of pupils receiving special needs education on a one-to-one basis with a teacher or teaching assistant or in small groups outside mainstream classes. Most of these pupils spend more than 80% of their time in mainstream classes, but there are no exact numbers on this. The best proxy that could be found is the number of pupils affiliated with a dedicated special needs unit in mainstream schools.