OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training: A Learning for Jobs Review of Norway 2008

Learning for Jobs is an OECD study of vocational education and training (VET) designed to help countries make their VET systems more responsive to labour market needs. The Norwegian VET system has many strengths including strong and trustful co-operation between employers, unions and VET authorities and high-status VET tracks in upper secondary education. Many employers are keen to attract apprentices and there is a high level of adult literacy. But there are significant challenges, including an ageing workforce of school-based trainers, weak quality assurance mechanisms, high levels of dropout and concerns that the priority accorded to student choice may make the system unresponsive to labour market needs. The OECD review assesses the main challenges faced by the VET system and presents an interconnected package of policy recommendations. For each recommendation, the report describes the challenge, the recommendation itself, supporting arguments, and issues of implementation.