Admission rules for upper secondary education (vocational and general)

Policy development
Regulation/Legislation
Norway
Download PDF version
Timeline
  • 2022Legislative process
  • 2023Completed
ID number
43653

Background

A brief overview of the context and rationale of the policy development, explaining why it is implemented or why it is important.

White Paper 21 (2020-21), the Completion Reform, described the following measure: 'to change the admissions regulations to upper secondary vocational education and give more weight to programme subjects compared to the common core subjects'. When students in upper secondary education apply for a study place from one year to the next, admission is based on the grades from the previous year. All subjects are weighted equally, and some education programmes have more common core subjects than programme subjects. A consequence is that a student with good grades in the subjects aimed at the desired vocational certificate, may risk being displaced by a student with a weaker vocational competence, but good grades in common core subjects. This is not considered desirable in terms of fostering vocational talent.

Objectives

Goals and objectives of the policy development.

One aim of the white paper is to examine the possibility of giving more weight to programme subjects than to common core subjects. It also aims to assess potential other alternatives and suggest new regulatory rules. It is also an objective that public schools have rules and frameworks as flexible as those of private schools.

Description

What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.

In the current regulation, it is possible for county municipalities to determine in their local admissions regulations that up to 50% of the students are admitted based on skills tests, instead of following the ordinary admissions rules based on grades. This only applies to admission to the education programme in music, dance and drama and the education programme in sports. Alternative rules are to be investigated, that provide greater flexibility for admission to public schools, e.g. by making admissions possible partly based on skills in several educational programmes.

2022
Legislative process

The Directorate for Education and Training is in charge of developing the proposals and highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the solutions outlined. The deadline was 12 December 2022. It remains to see if there is any further development.

2023
Completed

The report's main findings were as follows:

  1. greater flexibility is not the solution. The assessment showed that greater flexibility in admissions regulations to the first year of upper secondary resulted in more disadvantages than advantages. While the Directorate recognised that increased flexibility may benefit some applicants, it could also be perceived as unfair by others;
  2. greater local flexibility. If it is still desirable to allow greater flexibility in the admissions regulations for more education programmes, the Directorate proposed amending the rules so that each county municipality could independently decide which education programmes they wish to make more flexible.

The Directorate for Education and Training recommended that any potential changes to the current admission regulation model would result in more disadvantages than advantages, making it inappropriate to alter the model now. The Directorate believed it would be beneficial to learn more about how the new curricula for upper secondary education from 2020 were functioning to establish a sufficient knowledge base for evaluating potential changes to the admission regulation model.

Bodies responsible

This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
  • Ministry of Education and Research (KD)

Target groups

Those who are positively and directly affected by the measures of the policy development; those on the list are specifically defined in the EU VET policy documents. A policy development can be addressed to one or several target groups.

Learners

  • Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
  • Young people (15-29 years old)
  • Adult learners

Thematic categories

Thematic categories capture main aspects of the decision-making and operation of national VET and LLL systems. These broad areas represent key elements that all VET and LLL systems have to different extents and in different combinations, and which come into focus depending on the EU and national priorities. Thematic categories are further divided into thematic sub-categories. Based on their description, policy developments can be assigned to one or several thematic categories.

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.

Permeability between IVET and CVET and general and vocational pathways, academic and professional higher education

This thematic sub-category refers to ensuring smooth transitions (permeability) of learners within the entire education and training system, horizontally and vertically. It includes measures and policies allowing learners easily or by meeting certain conditions to move from general education programmes to VET and vice versa; to increase qualification levels in their vocation through the possibility of attending vocational programmes at higher levels, including professional degrees in higher education. It also covers opening up learning progression by introducing flexible pathways that are based on the validation and recognition of the outcomes of non-formal and informal learning.

Subsystem

Part of the vocational education and training and lifelong learning systems the policy development applies to.
IVET
CVET

Further reading

Sources for further reading where readers can find more information on policy developments: links to official documents, dedicated websites, project pages. Some sources may only be available in national languages.
Link to more information about the scheme

Country

Norway

Type of development

Policy developments are divided into three types: strategy/action plan; regulation/legislation; and practical measure/initiative.
Regulation/Legislation
Cite as

Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Admission rules for upper secondary education (vocational and general): Norway. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2025). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2024 update) [Online tool].

http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/43653