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COMPLETE NATIONAL OVERVIEW
Legal System
The overall objective of the Norwegian State education system is equal opportunities for all, the aim being to offer an education adapted to individual abilities.
The curriculum is based on the principles of inclusion, participation and decentralisation. The curriculum caters for pupils with SEN by making local and individual adaptations possible. When it comes to subject syllabi, schools have to work out individual plans for pupils with SEN. In this plan, the school must take into account the goals and the content of the mainstream subject syllabi for the class and make the adaptations needed for each pupil. This plan must also take into consideration the advice of the pedagogical psychological service. The ministry will shortly be publishing guidelines on how to make individual plans for pupils with SEN.
Education acts
The main acts determining the education system in Norway are the Primary and Lower Secondary Education Act 1969; Pre-Primary Education Act 1974; and Upper Secondary Education Act 1974. In 1976 an Act focusing upon adult education was passed. Each of these Acts has separate sections and provisions that determine the framework for special educational services in Norway.
Norway passed a new Education Act in August of 1999 which contains regulations for lower and upper education as well as adult education.
Special education is regulated in § 5-5 in the Education Act of 1999.
Acts are proposed and passed by the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament. Centrally the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs is responsible for all levels of compulsory education, as well as higher and adult education. The Ministry is responsible for drawing up the curriculum guidelines for compulsory education.
Pre-primary education is the responsibility of the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs.
The 19 counties and 439 municipalities in Norway are responsible for providing upper secondary and primary and lower secondary schools respectively. Such responsibilities include overseeing pupil intakes; appointment of staff; budgeting; negotiating school curricular content following national guidelines and monitoring of educational standards.
The Norwegian government determines the objectives and establishes the framework for education. A common national standard is ensured by means of legislation and a national curriculum. In each county there is a national educational office, which carries out central government functions and acts as a body of appeal for decisions concerning individual pupils. In recent years a considerable amount of responsibility has been transferred from central to local government. The municipalities are responsible for the running and the administration of primary and lower secondary schools and the counties for upper secondary schools.
Since 1975, there has been no specific legislation regarding the field of special education. The Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Education makes each municipality responsible for providing education for all pupils who are residents in the municipality regardless of their abilities. All pupils are registered at their local school and all pupils have the right to receive instruction adapted to their individual abilities and aptitudes. The municipalities may organise special education inside or outside the mainstream school, but the main principle in Norwegian school policy is that pupils with SEN are to be included in the mainstream school. Special education should be provided in accordance with the principles of inclusion, participation and decentralisation. The Education Act also states that the municipalities must provide a pedagogical psychological service
Financing
- All public – and to a certain extent – private education is subsidised by central government. Education in public institutions is provided free of charge.
- Municipal and county education services are funded via three main sources of income:
- local taxation (approx. 50%)
- central government grants (approx. 40%)
- fees and charges (approx. 10%).
Central funding for education from government comes via the General Purpose Scheme Grant. This grant is the general subsidy for education health and cultural services. Counties and municipalities have a degree of autonomy in planning and allocating resources to meet local needs.
Extra state subsidies are available to minimize regional disparities. This includes additional funding for the provision of special schools and services in some areas.
There is no separate national funding for special needs education – the municipalities have responsibility for all pupils in their area. Approximately 20% of municipality schools' budgets is spent upon special education.
There are no regional differences in the types of provision for special education, but there are different local decision making procedures regarding the allocation of funds for special education based upon individual cases within schools
Identification of Special Needs
The overall aim is to identify pupils with SEN as early as possible. All local health centres co-operate with the educational-psychological service centres, so many children with SEN are identified before they start school.
Educational psychological services
Health service, kindergartens, schools and parents can ask the educational-psychological service centre for help. Before the centre can write an expert report about the pupil's needs, the parents have to give their written approval. The expert report has to contain reasons why a pupil needs special education and describes the content of the special education, the extent and how the education ought to be organised. The school then works out an individual plan. This plan must take into consideration the advice of the pedagogical psychological service centre, but also adapt the special education to the curriculum taught to the rest of the class. The expert report gives advice to the municipality on how the measures taken for the pupil can ensure that s/he will get an equivalent education to that of pupils without SEN. If the municipality has professional reasons for not following the advice, these reasons must be documented.
Parents
Parents must give their written approval before the educational-psychological service can investigate the SEN of their child and give advice on the help the child needs. The parent must also give their approval before a child can be placed in a special school.
As special education is decided by an individual decision, parents can make a complaint at the national educational offices if they are not satisfied with the special education provided for their child.
Special Needs Education within the Education System
Mainstream educational services
For detailed information regarding the organisation of mainstream educational services in Norway, please visit the Eurydice information service at:
http://www.eurydice.org/Eurybase/Application/frameset.asp?country=NO&language=EN
Special systems
The inclusion of children (and adults) with special needs in mainstream educational settings is the general rule. Specialised institutions exist, but only 0.6% of the school population are enrolled in provision outside their local school system.
The aim of all special provision is to ensure that pupils are provided with an educational programme best adapted to meet their needs.
The term 'special educational needs' (SEN) is used for pupils who are unable to follow the mainstream course of studies. Pupils with SEN are not categorised in the law or in the curriculum. The national resource centres and to some extent also specialist teacher training are organised according to categories that are left over from the old special school system:
- visual impairment
- hearing impairment
- physical impairment
- communication and speech impairment
- behavioural and emotional disorders
- specific learning disabilities
- severe learning disabilities
In practical work with pupils with SEN, there has been a shift from the use of medical diagnosis to a description of how a pupil functions. Special education should be based on the possibilities in the pupil's abilities rather than focused on weaknesses. A 'handicap' is described as a discrepancy between the capabilities of the individual and the functions demanded of him or her by society in areas, which are essential to the establishment of independence and a social life. This means that changes in society may reduce a person's handicap.
For the majority of pupils with SEN, special education is provided at the mainstream school to which the pupil belongs, most often within his or her own class. The pupils may also be taught in small groups together with other pupils with SEN, or individually. For many pupils a combination of these organisation models is practised.
Until 1992, Norway had 40 national schools for special education. As a part of the re-organisation of special education, 20 have been closed and 20 of the former national special schools have been changed into resource centres. There are resource centres for pupils with certain disabilities including visual and hearing impairment, dyslexia, behavioural and emotional disorders, severe learning difficulties and mental disabilities. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, four regional resource centres have been established for persons born both deaf and blind. An autism programme and a national resource centre for MBD/ADHD, Tourette's Syndrome and Narcolepsy have also been started. For Northern Norway, a special development programme has been initiated.
The national average of pupils receiving special education after an individual decision is about 6.5%. However, there are variations between counties and municipalities concerning how many pupils receive special education after an individual decision (1.6% to 19%). The variations do not reflect differences in the incidence of SEN, but differences in organisation of provisions on regional level. Schools with a lot of variation in pedagogical methods include more pupils in the mainstream class education.
In Norway in 1996 about 0.5% of all pupils (7–15 years) followed special education in special classes in mainstream school, or in special schools. The total number of pupils from seven to 15 years old is 478,500; of these about 31,000 receive some form of special education. Only a small number of pupils are educated in special classes (n = 654) or special schools (n = 1,856).
As the number of special schools is very limited, they play no important role in the inclusion process. In Norway, the support system for mainstream schools is not based on support from special schools or visiting teachers. The support system consists of the educational psychological services (270 offices) and the resource centres.
Co-operation with other services
A key feature of special education in Norway is partnership with parents. Part II of the national curriculum describes the importance of co-operation of parents. Where pupils with SEN are concerned, co-operation with their parents is particularly important in arriving at the best overall educational course and at shared understanding of what efforts and progress can be expected of the pupils. Co-operation with parents is also important in connection with the individual adaptation of teaching for pupils from linguistic and cultural minorities.
In order to make knowledge and information regarding special education more readily available, all responsible local authorities are included in 'resource networks' where a high level of co-operation between municipal, county and national authorities is required
Teacher Training - Basic and Specialist Teacher Training
Basic training
Pre-primary teachers follow a three-year course at teacher training colleges.
Teachers of compulsory school-age pupils now complete a four-year programme of university or teacher training college education. University trained teachers can only teach the subject they have specialised in. College trained teachers are qualified to teach all curriculum subjects.
All teachers receive introductory courses in special education and support services in their initial training. Half a year of special education is required in the initial teacher training. There are also mainstream in-service training programmes on special education issues
Specialist teacher training
All initial teaching qualifications include elements of study in the field of special education. Teachers may also take additional in-service courses.
Special education is offered as an upgrading course. Many colleges offer one or two years of training in special education on a full-time or part-time basis. The Institute for Special Education at the University of Oslo offers training at masters and doctorate levels. Nearly 18% of the teachers in compulsory schools have studied special education one year or more in addition to their initial training.
The focus in the training for special education teachers is upon different special educational topics and on preventive work and counselling. There are no special programmes focused on inclusion.
Development of Integration/Inclusion
Views on inclusion
Compulsory school
Although the official policy has been included for more than 20 years, until 1992 Norway had 40 national schools for special education. Since 1991, a reorganisation of special education has been taking place. A main objective of the reorganisation has been to change from a system of special schools to a system of full inclusion. An important element of the reorganisation is that 20 of the former national, special schools have been changed into resource centres. Another important element is the five-year research programme (1993–98) that aims at defining measures and services to be developed in order to give all learners a high quality education in their own community. In addition, a research and development programme has been started with emphasis upon strengthening the educational-psychological service at the community level.
In 1996 and 1997, this reorganisation of special education was evaluated. In March 1998 the ministry presented a White Paper with suggestions to the Parliament on how special education should be organised in the future. The main question is how the support system outside mainstream schools should be organised to promote a continued policy of inclusion.
Deaf pupils
Most parents want their child to be included in the mainstream school system. Only a majority of parents of deaf pupils prefer segregation. The argument is that deaf pupils also have the right to be in an environment where they can communicate in their first language, sign language.
An evaluation study showed that most parents had a more positive view of inclusion than teachers did. They did not consider social inclusion to be as important a problem as teachers did. Their children felt comfortable at school.
Society has a mainly positive attitude towards inclusion. Most people are familiar with the principles of equality and participation. However, there are still some voices arguing for more segregation. One argument for segregation is the pupil's need to meet other pupils with the same problems. Another argument is that mainstream schools have limited competence and resources to include pupils with severe emotional and behavioural problems.
The Programme Board for the Research Programme (a research programme initiated by the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs) has emphasised certain major problem areas concerning inclusion and participation in the mainstream school system for pupils with SEN.
Among others it was felt that the co-operation between the educational system and health care could be improved in Norway.
There are some voices that advocate more segregation in Norway; this is especially the case with pupils who are deaf and pupils with severe emotional and behavioural problems.
Routes to Inclusion
The main principle of Norwegian education policy is that pupils with special needs are to be integrated into mainstream school. The core curriculum states that:
The school shall provide room for everybody and teachers must therefore tend to the educational needs of each individual learner.
Special education is provided in accordance with the principles of inclusion, participation and decentralisation. The aim is to make sure that wherever possible, all pupils' needs are met within the mainstream school system.
This has been the official Norwegian policy for the last two decades and there are no indications of change
View the SNE data for Norway [opens in new browser window]
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