- 2018Design
- 2019Pilot
- 2020Pilot
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Completed
Background
Changes in industry are happening fast and the need for new expertise is great. The government allocates millions of Norwegian kroner to the development of flexible education programmes (industry programmes) in the industrial and construction industry and in healthcare. Three-party industry programmes have been in demand. The funding is earmarked for the development and operation of module-based vocational education at EQF level 5. This new scheme has its origin in the lifelong learning skills reform.
Objectives
The objectives are:
- increased cooperation between the social partners and the government;
- better access to flexible and job-relevant further education for individuals;
- increased cooperation between education institutions and the business sector for developing further education.
Description
Design work for shorter and flexible industry programmes for continuing training in post-secondary vocational education was initiated in December 2018. The programmes address the building and construction and the healthcare sectors. They are meant to be modular, allowing for combining studies with work, and with a cross-sectoral/cross-professional dimension and may be web-based, school-based and job-based. The post-secondary vocational education schools are responsible for developing the study programmes and applying for accreditation. The project was supervised by the Ministry of Education and Research. Social partners and the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT) were involved.
Flexible continuing education was organised in such a way that the State pays for the development, while enterprises must invest operating resources and individuals must invest their own time. It is possible to combine this flexible further education with working almost full-time, and it is organised in such a way as to give as many people as possible the opportunity to take such courses. According to the regulations, vocational colleges (EQF level 5) cannot offer courses below 30 credits. To carry out the pilot, the Ministry of Education and Research has decided to grant exemptions to shorter educational units and modules. After the pilot, changes in the regulations have to be considered.
Piloting started in 2019.
The relevant regulations were on a public consultation round in 2020 and the educational scope of the pilot was one of the suggested changes. The modular industry programmes were expanded to include 10 industries. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several of the schemes had an increased focus not only on those employed in industry but also on the unemployed and those who had been laid off. The pandemic also initiated other schemes and grants to recruit people to education and training. The focus areas were online training, training for the unskilled and how to facilitate the education institutions to accept more students. An evaluation of the implementation of modular industry programmes was presented in 2020. The focus in the report was how the tripartite cooperation worked in developing and implementing the programmes. Four topics were described more closely: goals and guidelines; organisation; tasks and measures; barriers and success criteria. The evaluation report showed that programmes are perceived as valuable arenas for employees, employers and the authorities, but there may be room to clarify what the programmes should be, what they should achieve and how they should work to achieve the desired results. It was recommended that the authorities clarified how measures proposed from the evaluation of the industry programmes were to be processed further.
The modular industry programmes were expanded with tailor-made programmes and courses for the unemployed, young people without much work experience and graduates. The government provided funding for upper secondary education, vocational colleges, universities, and colleges to scale up existing flexible education programmes. Vocational programmes, university, and colleges programmes are required to provide credit points. The programmes are free of charge and often offered online. This makes it easier to combine education with job search, family life or work.
A report about the dimensioning of the education was published in January 2022, by the Ministry of Labour and Social inclusion. Strengthening vocational colleges is the most important measure for the education system, in terms of the number of students and the quality of education. For the further development of vocational colleges, the report pointed out that:
- it is important to maintain and further develop the independent role of higher vocational education;
- the county municipalities should coordinate the vocational colleges studies both regionally and nationally;
- the county municipalities' allocation of state funds must be transparent and well-grounded;
Since 2018, 13 modular industry programmes have been developed. Three new programmes were introduced in 2022: the waste and recycling industry; the agriculture, forestry, and horticulture industries; and industry and construction. They were selected due to the high degree of restructuring, and low participation in competence development study programmes.
The higher vocational programmes are yearly adapted according to the needs of the world of work and allocation in the state budget.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Education and Research (KD)
- Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT)
Target groups
Learners
- Young people (15-29 years old)
- Adult learners
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Transparency and portability of VET skills and qualifications
European principles and tools, such as EQF, ESCO, ECTS, Europass and ECVET, provide a strong basis for transparency and portability of national and sectoral qualifications across Europe, including the issuing of digital diplomas and certificates.
This thematic category looks at how individuals are supported in transferring, accumulating, and validating skills and competences acquired in formal, non-formal and informal settings – including learning on the job – and in having their learning recognised towards a qualification at any point of their lives. This is only possible if qualifications are transparent and comparable and are part of comprehensive national qualifications frameworks. Availability of qualifications smaller than full and acquirable in shorter periods of time is necessary; some countries have recently worked on developing partial qualifications, microcredentials, etc.
This thematic sub-category refers to the development and implementation of qualifications that are smaller than full qualifications (alternative credentials) or are acquired in a shorter learning experience. It includes microcredentials, partial qualifications, units of learning outcomes (ECVET principle), digital badges, etc. These are owned by learners and can be combined or not to get a full qualification.
Supporting lifelong learning culture and increasing participation
Lifelong learning refers to all learning (formal, non-formal or informal) taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or in participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective (Erasmus+, Glossary of terms, https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-d/glossary-common-terms). A systemic approach to CVET is crucial to ensure adaptability to evolving demands.
This broad thematic category looks at ways of creating opportunities and ensuring access to re-skilling and upskilling pathways, allowing individuals to progress smoothly in their learning throughout their lives with better permeability between general and vocational education and training, and better integration and compatibility between initial and continuing VET and with higher education. Individuals should be supported in acquiring and updating their skills and competences and navigating easily through education and training systems. Strategies and campaigns that promote VET and LLL as an attractive and high-quality pathway, providing quality lifelong guidance and tailored support to design learning and career paths, and various incentives (financial and non-financial) to attract and support participation in VET and LLL fall into this thematic category as well.
This thematic category also includes many initiatives on making VET inclusive and ensuring equal education and training opportunities for various groups of learners, regardless of their personal and economic background and place of residence – especially those at risk of disadvantage or exclusion, such as persons with disabilities, the low-skilled and low-qualified, minorities, migrants, refugees and others.
This thematic sub-category refers to providing the possibility for individuals who are already in the labour market/in employment to reskill and/or acquire higher levels of skills, and to ensuring targeted information resources on the benefits of CVET and lifelong learning. It also covers the availability of CVET programmes adaptable to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and reskilling needs. The sub-category includes working with respective stakeholders to develop digital learning solutions supporting access to CVET opportunities and awarding CVET credentials and certificates.
This thematic sub-category refers to making VET pathways and programmes inclusive and accessible for all. It concerns measures and targeted actions to increase access and participation in VET and lifelong learning for learners from all vulnerable groups, and to support their school/training-to-work transitions. It includes measures to prevent early leaving from education and training. The thematic sub-category covers measures promoting gender balance in traditionally ‘male’ and ‘female’ professions and addressing gender-related and other stereotypes. The vulnerable groups are, but not limited to: persons with disabilities; the low-qualified/-skilled; minorities; persons of migrant background, including refugees; people with fewer opportunities due to their geographical location and/or their socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances.
European priorities in VET
Osnabrück Declaration
- Establishing a new lifelong learning culture - relevance of continuing VET and digitalisation