European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network Database, ELGPN Database

Agreements between the Labour- and Welfare service and the County Education Administration in Norway

Norway

The Ministers of different Ministries jointly address challenges that have a negative impact on the individual, the labour market and on the goals and expenditure of the sectors.
The Ministers of Education and Labour respectively have recognised the need to see means and measures of the education sector and the employment sector in a context to achieve the goals of both sectors. Both sectors have obligations to a large number of the same people; groups outside of working life and with low levels of education . Norway also faces substantial challenges related to the high rate of drop-outs from upper secondary school, (30%), particularly in the VET programmes (50+%).
Based on both bottom up and top down processes, the government has recognised the need to strengthen the system of career guidance and the citizens’ rights and access to education.
Agreements are used as an instrument to building structures of cooperation, enhancing the commitment of common efforts. A national agreement was signed between the Ministry of Labour and the Norwegian Association of Regional and Local authorities in 2007. Through the national agreement the counties were encouraged by the partners to establish cooperating agreements at county and local level.

The main objectives of the central agreement are to:
• enhance and systemize cross- sectoral cooperation to better achieve labour market and educational goals
• to provide unemployed people with better opportunities of completing upper secondary school
• build a basis for committed regional agreements between the Labour and Welfare service and Regional education authorities
The national agreement listed areas of particular relevance, like improving access to career guidance services, APEL, basic skills, upper sec/VET training, etc. It also encouraged countypartners to establish mechanisms for committed, continuous collaboration at di8fferent levels, both coordinating bodies and systems for cooperation at operative level. Regional agreements should regulate this cooperation and thus promote better targeting and tailoring of means and measures and plans of actions.
The national agreement was communicated to both sectors in the counties through parallel letters and presentations from the national partners in their respective national and county fora and through steering signals to NAV (PES) to initiate the process, and was further discussed and processed in joint cross-sectoral conferences.

Based on the national agreement, all counties have implemented countywise agreements between the NAV (PES) and the county education administration. The partners aim to define and enhance the degree of commitment to cooperation in areas important to both sectors.
The regional partnerships for career guidance were included into the counties’ agreements as one main cooperation area along with the system of APEL and targeting youth challenges. Most career centres provide individual guidance services as well as career-planning courses. Some of them also cooperate with NAV in serving companies facing challenges. Many of the centres also support staff at NAV offices and in schools. The county agreements contribute to anchoring the services of the career centres.
Cooperation on young school drop-outs and young unemployed is important in these agreements. In most counties this implies the implementation of more detailed interaction routines between the local NAV office and schools and Follow-up services in the schools. Currently the Ministry of Education is implementing a comprehensive commitment to increasing the rate of completion in upper secondary school (“Ny GIV”). The NAV is a key cooperating partner in the implementation of the Ministry’s projects. The county agreements provide a basis for this new extensive project.

The Directorate of Labour and Welfare is monitoring the results of the agreements in the counties. Among the activities are a cross-ministry-body, national seminars for the partners in the counties, report routines, focus on further development of cooperation structures and training projects combining cross-sectoral measures.
To start the implementation process of the national agreement in 2007, the Directorate of Labour gave some minor steering signals, encouraging the NAV counties to initiate a process by inviting the county education administration to jointly work out a county agreement. During the following years the expectations through the steering signals became more specific.
In 2009 an external evaluation, ordered and managed by the Directorate of Labour and Welfare, was carried out by the research institution SINTEF.(The subject was the implementation of the national agreement.)

Cross-sectoral bodies and fora have been established in the counties at different levels. This may be strategic sector meetings at governing level, fora at administration level, and continuous contact and routines for cooperation at local provision level. Working on strategies, coordinating project planning and increasing mutual knowledge are among the subjects. This has also increased the efforts to define roles and responsibilities at a formal level in sub-agreements and in practical measures. In some cases contact as described has been established from a very low or non-existing level between local actors. Thus the structural outcomes derived from the agreements provide a better basis for coordinated services to the users.
The number of career centres in the counties has increased during the agreement period, most of them offering career guidance services to all ages.
A lot of projects and programmes directed particularly at young people have been undertaken, involving local NAV offices, schools, employers and other stakeholders, with elements of vocational training, work experience and close follow up, tailored to individual needs. The rates of following up young people from NAV offices have increased and reached the requirements. Further external evaluation and research is needed to properly document more specific effects.

The evaluation report from SINTEF (2009) showed both success factors and challenges to be further addressed at national and county level.
- county agreements intensify and systemise cooperation between the partners
- the agreements contribute to increased coordinated use of measures - assisting more users into education and work, approaching national goals
- the importance and results of the agreements varies among the counties, still potential for improvement
- authorities national and local, must maintain focus on further cooperation development.
- national authorities are recommended to look into colliding regulations

ln counties that have established closer co-operating structures, these structures offer a better basis for better coordinated and targeted measures.
External evaluation and experience so far show that it takes time to establish sustainable structures and routines of cooperation and coordination. This is due to sector-based differences in mandate, regulations (colliding), budgets and sectoral culture. It takes time to organise routines and build relations and networks, as well as knowledge to exploit the total capacity as to projects and means. Limited resources and capacities between partners lead to limitations of speed and progress in periods.

 

Ingunn Hagen

Senior adviser at directorate level

Directorate of Labour and Welfare

P.b. 5 St. Olavs plass, N-0130 Oslo, Norway

+47 21 07 01 28

 

Ingunn.hagen@nav.no

www.nav.no

 

 

Ingunn Hagen