New Education Act from August 2024 – from special education to "individually adapted education"

The Storting has adopted a new Education Act. The law does not enter into force until the next school year 2024/2025. The new law has some changes in the regulations that all parents of children with complex difficulties should be aware of.

This is where changes come, such as the Løvemammaene and our school project "When the bell rang!" is afraid will be able to create uncertainty and uncertainty in the municipalities and county councils. We therefore encourage everyone to clarify how solutions are planned in their own municipality and with the school owner already throughout this school year. Because no one should start the next school year without clarification of what the school offer should look like.

First of all, you just have to learn the new division of labor that comes with the new Education Act. Today's "special education" will be replaced by three new terms and three new rights to decisions:

"Individually tailored training"
"personal assistance"
"physical adaptation"

Individually tailored training replaces today's concept of special education by a long way. Personal assistance and physical adaptation are, however, separated as separate provisions in the new law. In practice, this will replace the current assistance classes, which are currently part of a special education offer.

With the new Education Act, the PP service's expert assessment and advice will be for pupils who are entitled to it individually tailored training. The school will have an obligation to ensure that there is an expert assessment from the PP service before a decision is made on Adapted training.

There are no equally clear case management procedures when it comes to the right to personal assistance and physical preparation. This worries us. In other words: If your child currently has an assistant or needs physical support at school, the new law could mean changes for you.

Today it is the case that PPT, in the student's expert assessment, must recommend whether the special education lessons should be given by a special education teacher/pedagogue and/or by an assistant. That personal assistance and physical preparation are now separated out as their own rights and the fact that PPT's role here is unclear means that the stage can be set for ambiguities and random practice.

The lion mothers have been in dialogue with the Ministry of Education. We have, in a meeting with State Secretary Kjetil Velve, and also in a written inquiry to the ministry, asked a number of questions regarding the rules on individually tailored training, personal assistance and physical preparation.

The Ministry of Education states that it will be the school owner, i.e. the municipality or the county council, which, in addition to making decisions about Individually adapted education, is also responsible for decisions being made about personal assistance and physical preparation. In practice, this responsibility will be delegated to the school. It is therefore up to the school to decide which one personal assistance or physical preparation a pupil has the right to receive according to the new Education Act.

The new law does not require the school to obtain an expert assessment before a decision is made personal assistance or physical preparation. This is a change compared to the current law where this is a requirement. The ministry points out, however, that the school will have an obligation to investigate in any case Section 17 of the Public Administration Act. This duty means that the matter must be as well informed as possible before the school makes a decision. The duty to investigate means that the school must obtain the necessary information, if they themselves do not have sufficient knowledge to make a decision. In some cases, this will mean that there will be a need for an expert assessment from the PP service. In other cases, the school will need to obtain assessments from other bodies, for example the health service. The school must assess this on a case-by-case basis.

Here the stage is set for ambiguities. The school or municipality will not always have the competence, or the financial will, to assess the actual and total extent of the child's needs. The lion mothers fear that big differences can be created, especially when it comes to the right to privacy assistance. We are concerned that some municipalities shrink this offer down to a minimum calculation of needs, in the hope of reducing the numbers and saving money.

It is specified in the new law that the PPT must provide a holistic assessment of the pupil's needs if the pupil, in addition to individually tailored training, also need personal assistance or physical preparation. The expert assessment from PPT must, as today, be available before the school makes a decision on individually tailored training. However, we at Løvemammaene wonder how a municipality can ensure that all recommendations are made in time for expert assessment to be completed and in time for decisions to be made and possibly appealed.

The lion mothers' help service and the school project "When the clock rang!" has multiple cases which are precisely about expert assessments and subsequent decisions being deficient. We fear that the stage is now set for even greater delays and, not least, municipal training of the necessary recommendations. We are particularly concerned about children with major, rare and complex health needs, and for children with "invisible" functional variations that require knowledge to see the extent of. We are also particularly concerned about the handling of cases for pupils who need ADL training.

Through its school project "When the bell rang!" experience, that municipalities do not always coordinate their advice and understanding of what are rights under the Health and Care Services Act and what are rights under the Education Act. With personal assistance means practical help and assistance from a person (assistant) who can accompany and help the student in everyday school life. A pupil can, both according to the current rules and according to the new act, have the right to personal assistance both according to the Health and Care Services Act and according to the Education Act. Today we see examples of decisions on personal assistance during school hours is added to the municipality's health and care services. We also see that such a practice can lead to a pulverization of responsibility. We are therefore missing a clarification of who has the main responsibility for looking after the overall offer for children who need health care during school hours.

It is specified in the preparations for the new law that ADL training can be considered training when it is provided under the school's responsibility and management, and when the measure is part of an individual training plan and authorized in a decision on individually tailored training. This is a continuation of current practice.

It is precisely the wording «help from an assistant can therefore be considered part of the training in some contexts, and as health and care measures in other contexts" which is the core of the conflict. Because when advice in scope and hours is to come from different agencies, some vulnerable students risk becoming a toss-up between agencies in the health sector and the education sector, where everyone believes that the student's needs are someone else's table. In the worst case, this leads to pupils not being able to fulfill their right to personal assistance and/or ADL tenancy under either of these two laws. The Løvemammaene have experience that this problem is real based on current legislation. The result in such cases is easily an extensive involuntary and serious absence from school, and with it a training absence because the student does not receive the training the student needs and is entitled to. We are concerned that a threefold division of the right to what is now called special education will intensify this problem.

The Directorate of Education is now working on regulations for the new Education Act. During the autumn, the regulations will be put out for consultation. The lion mothers will of course submit input here. The lion mothers argue that ambiguities can be cleared out of the way through clear and distinct regulations.

The Ministry of Education has otherwise assured us that the Directorate of Education will put a lot of work into implementing and guiding the new regulations, so that everyone is prepared when the new rules are scheduled to come into force in August 2024. The Directorate of Education's document «The supervisor Special Education» will also be updated in line with the new rules on individual adaptation.

Appeal to parents

The Løvemammaenen encourage parents, and especially parents of children with health needs or ADL training needs, to already now start discussing these issues in responsibility group meetings, collaboration meetings, investigations at PPT, and in dialogue with health authorities who follow up your child. It should be clarified who is responsible for assessing the needs and how to ensure that there is a comprehensive and comprehensive assessment of the accommodation your child needs.

If you have expert assessments, which are valid into the school year 2024/2025 or longer, ask for clarification on whether recommendations should be made again in line with the new Education Act from August 2024. It is important that you know well in advance of the next school year the advice you have today will be valid for next school year's decision.