Reference year 2026
Version 2026
Drafted by Margareth Haukås, Senior adviser, HK-dir Norway - Member of Cedefop Community of apprenticeship experts for Norway
“Act of 17 July 1998 no. 61 relating to Primary and Secondary Education and Training (the Education Act)”. Last amended in 2023, in force from 1August 2024.
The same legal basis applies to all apprenticeship alternatives.
The “Reform 94” formally integrated the apprenticeship system in upper secondary education. The main features of Reform 94 were based on a Green Paper (the “Blegen Committee” - 1991) and a “Joint Declaration on vocational education and training in schools and workplaces” (1990), signed by The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO).
The main model is two-year school-based learning followed by a two-year work-based learning in an enterprise (‘2+2 model’).
Content changes were introduced with the Knowledge Promotion Reform in 2006 and the Subject Renewal in 2020.
With the Completion Reform from 2021, changes in the apprenticeship schemes are implemented. A right to apprenticeship, or an alternative was introduced by law in 2022. Another measure is the introduction of the right to complete a programme at the individual apprentice’s pace.
An apprentice is a person who has entered an apprenticeship contract with a view to undertaking a trade or journeyperson’s examination that includes an apprenticeship period, in accordance with regulations (The Education Act, chapter 7 In-service training at a training establishment §7-1).
Apprenticeships are offered in the context of upper secondary, vocational programmes (Videregående opplæring, yrkesfaglige utdanningsprogram), at EQF level 4, ISCED level 353.
The apprenticeship model, as we know it today, was introduced with the Reform 1994 (see also Q1).
Against a background of mismatch between the number of pupil places in upper secondary education, and a mismatch between basic vocational training places in school and apprenticeships in a number of trades and crafts; Reform 1994 reduced the number of basic courses in VET from 101 to 13 broader and theoretically oriented initial courses, while structuring several related trades in each of the vocational tracks (Michelsen et al. 2014: 67).
In 2006, the “Knowledge Promotion Reform” introduced fewer vocational courses (9 instead of 12) and the courses became broader. Still, the ‘2+2 model’ was retained as the main model in vocational training (Nyen and Tønder 2015:211). The 2+2 model remained the main pathway.
The Subject Renewal introduced new curricula from 2020 and onwards. There is still a mismatch between the number of apprentices and the number of apprenticeship placements. Every year, approximately on third learners do not get an apprenticeship placement. The availability of apprenticeships is dependent on economic cycles.
In Norway, county municipalities are responsible for organising and providing upper secondary vocational education and apprenticeship training.
The county municipality is obliged to offer an alternative in school if a pupil does not get an apprenticeship contract in a company after two years in school. This ensures that learners can complete their vocational education even in cases where apprenticeship placements are insufficient.