UPPER SECONDARY EDUCATION
Admission to upper secondary education in Norway
As of the school year 1994-95, all young people aged 16 to 19, who had completed primary and lower secondary education or the equivalent, were provided with a statutory right to 3 years of upper secondary education leading to either:
entrance qualifications for higher education,
a trade or journeyman’s certificate 1Trade or journeyman’s certificate is normally obtained after two years at school and two years of apprenticeship training.,
other vocational qualifications,
partial qualifications (Reform 94).
For the purposes of this brochure “equivalent” means foreign education equivalent to 10 years of primary and lower secondary education both with regard to extent and level.
All young people aged 16 to 19 have a statutory right to upper secondary education. As of the school year 2000-2001 adults born prior to 1978 are entitled to upper secondary education and training, if they haven’t completed this education at an earlier stage.
The Education Act applies to all pupils and apprentices, as well as immigrants 2The term immigrants includes pupils and apprentices who have another mother tongue than Norwegian, Sami, Danish or Swedish. (refugees, people seeking asylum) who hold a valid residence permit for Norway, whether this is permanent or temporary. Also, some provisions of the Act have been designed for the latter group in particular:
A valid residence permit is needed in order for refugees and immigrants to be admitted to upper secondary education. Single minors applying for asylum may be admitted to upper secondary education while they are waiting for their application to be processed, but they are not entitled to complete the school year if their application for residence is rejected.
According to the EEA Agreement, young immigrants living in Norway have the same right as the country’s nationals to upper secondary education, provided that their parents are citizens of a member country and are or have been employed in such a country.
The county municipality will provide you with more information
Individual assessment
Applicants without qualifications corresponding to the school-leaving certificate from Norwegian compulsory education, are assessed individually. This provision applies both to applicants aged 16 to 19, adult with a statutory right to upper secondary education and to those who are not covered by the statutory right.
Upon admission to upper secondary education, no category of immigrants is required to document their knowledge of the Norwegian language.
Adaptation and special needs education
With a view to adaptation and special needs education, the same provisions apply to immigrants as to Norwegian pupils and apprentices.
When an applicant has been admitted to upper secondary education, the county municipality is responsible for adapting the education to the pupil’s specific needs.
When applicants have been admitted to upper secondary education, the school or training establishments shall ensure that the training is planned, carried out and assessed according to the current Education Act and regulations.
Individuals with a right to special needs education, according to the Education Act, and based on an expert opinion, are entitled to extended education for up to two years.
Recognition of foreign education at upper secondary level
Admission to upper secondary school
As far as admission to upper secondary school is concerned, each county municipality is responsible for recognising foreign qualifications.
The county municipality will provide you with more information
Recognition of completed foreign vocational education and training, under the Education Act
Persons who apply to have a completed foreign vocational qualification recognised as equivalent to the Norwegian qualification for the relevant subject/trade should direct their inquiries to the County Vocational Training Board. The board will then carry out a qualified assessment and in some cases consult the relevant training council for expert opinion before submitting their considered findings, in which the candidate’s qualifications are approved or rejected, to the National Education Office of the county. In each county there is a National Education Office 3The counties Oslo and Akershus have one office in common. which is the competent authority to decide on such matters.
Foreign qualifications must be documented by officially certified copies of the trade or journeyman’s certificate, and if the education has been provided at school, by a school-leaving certificate. An authorised translator (e.g. at the embassy) must translate all documentation into Norwegian. Further documentation of the contents of the training (e.g. a study programme) may also be required.
If satisfactory documentation of a completed foreign vocational qualification cannot be made available, applicants may apply for partial equivalence of their practical experience/vocational theory, in order to register for a Norwegian trade or journeyman’s examination. Information on remaining theory/practice can be obtained from the Vocational Training Board.
The county municipality will provide you with more information
Recognition of foreign practical experience/vocational theory related to registration for the trade or journeyman’s examination.
Pupils/apprentices who have practical experience or who have begun their vocational training in a foreign country will be able to have their qualifications recognised if the education/training is related to the same subject/trade as is offered in Norwegian upper secondary education. The County Vocational Training Board is responsible for assessing which parts of the education/training are lacking compared to the same education/training in Norway.
Education from a foreign country may be recognised completely or partially as equivalent to the obligatory theoretical requirements for the trade or journeyman’s examination, making registration for the theoretical part of the examination unnecessary.
It is possible to sit at trade or journeyman’s examination on the basis of sufficient broad working experience of a trade of duration 25 per cent longer than the stipulated apprenticeship period. The County authorities, as represented by the county vocational education training board, decides whether the working experience stated by the applicant can be approved, and may in special cases approve periods of experience shorter than indicated above.
Contact the Vocational Training Board in each county municipality for more information
Testing of work-related competence
In order to simplify the process of assessing foreign vocational training taken by immigrants living in Norway who are unable to submit documentation of their qualifications, competence testing has been initiated at an experimental stage. The competence testing will test the applicant’s formal, informal and non-formal learning.
This arrangement is not meant to replace regular trade or journeyman’s examinations, but is intended to provide a method for assessing whether foreign vocational training qualifies for:
Accreditation of period of education/training
Accreditation of theory
Accreditation of practical experience for registration for the trade or journeyman’s examination
It is presupposed that the present study programmes will be used in the preparations of work related competence testing.