Adapted education and individual adaptation in school

When a child attends school in Norway, they have the right to learn and develop based on their own abilities. The Education Act sets clear requirements for schools to ensure that all students have a good and inclusive educational offer – either through adapted education, intensive education or individual adaptation.

Customized training

All students have the right to adapted training, cf. the Education Act, Section 11-1. This means that the teaching shall be structured so that the pupils receive a satisfactory outcome, regardless of their abilities and conditions. Adapted teaching shall take place within the ordinary educational provision and may include, among other things:

variation in methods, pace and working methods
extra support in the classroom
customized tasks and learning objectives
good assessment and follow-up

Udir's supervisor emphasizes that adapted education is a broad, pedagogical responsibility, and that all students should be able to develop their abilities within ordinary education.

Intensive training (1st-4th grade)

For students in grades 1–4, the school has a separate obligation to provide intensive education if the student is at risk of not achieving the expected progression in reading, writing or arithmetic, cf. Section 11-3. Intensive education shall:

Inserts quickly.
Be goal-oriented and time-bound.
Could be given as one-on-one instruction if it is best for the student.

The goal is to ensure early intervention so that small academic challenges do not develop into larger learning difficulties.

What does "satisfactory yield" mean?

The school must continuously monitor whether the student receives satisfactory benefit from the training, cf. § 11-2. This means that teachers must monitor the student's development, report any concerns to the principal and implement appropriate measures within ordinary education (adapted or intensive education). If the measures are not sufficient, the school must assess whether the student needs individual adaptation.

The Norwegian Directorate of Education (UDIR) clarifies that assessments should be based on a broad information base, and that "satisfactory" does not mean optimal, but academically sound in light of the student's abilities.

Adapted training

With the Education Act from 01.08.24, the term "special education" was replaced by three rights of adapted education. These are the right to:

Individually tailored training Section 11-6
Personal assistance § 11-4
Physical adaptation and technical aids § 11-5

It is the school owner, i.e. the municipality or county authority, that makes decisions about individually adapted education, personal assistance and physical adaptation. In practice, this responsibility will be delegated to the school the student attends. For students in private schools that are approved and receive subsidies, it is the municipality or county authority that makes the decision.

The Lion Mothers are learning that several upper secondary schools/counties are interpreting the new Education Act (from 01.08.24) in such a way that students are pushed into health and care services and receive fewer hours of education than other students. The Lion Mothers therefore contacted the Directorate of Education and asked for their interpretation of the intention of the new Education Act. You can read the response from UDIR here, and they are clear that the boundary between what falls under health and care services and education has not changed under the new law.

Individually tailored training (ITO)

Individually tailored education replaces the concept of special education as it was with the previous Education Act that applied until 01.08.24. Individually tailored education requires:

Expert assessment from PPT
Individual decisions from the municipality/county authority
IOP (individual education plan)
Annual evaluation of dividends

Students have the right to individually tailored education (ITO) if they need this in order to be able to get a satisfactory benefit from the education. ITO may mean that the student works on their own competence goals, has alternative content in the education, or that the education is organized in a different way than for the class. The goals must be described in the student's individual education plan (IOP) and the student's IOP must be evaluated annually.

An individual decision from the school regarding individually adapted education must contain information about:

The content of the training
Scope of training
The organization of the training
What competences should the person providing the training have?

The person who will provide the student with ITO must meet the competence requirements for being appointed to a teaching position and the requirements for relevant competence in the subjects to be taught. The school may, pursuant to Section 11-9 of the Education Act, make exceptions to the competence requirement if the education is provided by a person with a university or college education, and that person is particularly suitable to meet the needs of the student.

The extent to which the person providing the ITO must be physically present is determined by the needs of the student and the goals of the student's individual education plan (IEP). Some goals require that the adult be physically present for the entire time the student is entitled to ITO. It may also be the case that the student's right to ITO is fulfilled by the person providing the training having prepared the program and otherwise being available to assist the student when needed.

What the individually adapted education should entail, and its extent, must be determined by expert assessment and the decision of the student. If the student is also entitled to personal assistance, physical adaptation, technical aids or mobility training, the school must see this in the context of the individually adapted education when making the decision.

An offer of ITO should be prepared in consultation with the student and parents, and great importance should be placed on what the student and parents think.

Expert assessment from the Educational-Psychological Service (PPT)

The PPT shall provide a comprehensive assessment of the student's needs if the student, in addition to individually tailored education (ITO), also needs personal assistance or physical adaptation. The expert assessment from the PPT shall always be available before the school makes a decision on ITO, and it shall be designed so that it is easy for the school and parents to understand the academic assessments on which it is based. The content shall be as specific as possible, including a description of measures that will be of help to the student. The expert assessment shall also state specifically what the content of the student's ITO shall be, including whether the student shall follow the competence objectives for the grade, or whether deviations are recommended.

The requirements for what an expert assessment should contain are set out in Education Act Section 11-8. The assessment must be designed so that it is easy for the school and parents to see and understand which academic assessments the PPT has based its recommendation on. The content must be as specific as possible and it should contain specific measures that will help the student. The expert assessment must also state very specifically what the content of the student's ITO should be. That is, it must state specifically whether the student follows the competence objectives in the subjects for his/her grade level, and whether there are any deviations from this. Specifically, an expert should always include:

The student's benefit from the training
Why the student may not have, or cannot obtain, satisfactory benefits from the training
What are realistic educational goals for the student?
What measures can give the student a satisfactory benefit from the training?
What competence should those who will provide the training have, if exceptions are to be made from the competence requirements according to Section 11-9 second or third paragraph.

Students who receive ITO are entitled to the same total number of teaching hours as other students, even when deviations are made from the subject and hour distribution at the grade level. The offer must be equivalent to what other students receive, and the goals for the student's ITO must be stated both in the PPT's expert assessment and in the student's individual education plan (IEP), which the school prepares.

If a student is unable to attend school full-time due to health or capacity, the PPT may recommend partial or complete exemption from compulsory education. This requires a separate expert assessment, and consent must be obtained from guardians and from students over 15 years of age. Without consent, the school cannot make a decision on such an exemption. Exemptions should only be used when it is clearly in the student's best interests, and the exemption cannot replace or reduce the student's right to ITO.

Personal assistance

The student has the right to the personal assistance necessary to participate in the education. This may involve both practical and social support, such as help with: following lessons, communication support, social activities during recess, moving around the school premises, undressing and dressing, carrying bags and equipment, meals, and toileting.

The assistance may be provided by persons who are not employed in a teaching position. Decisions regarding personal assistance will be relevant in cases where it is not possible for the school to accommodate the student within the framework of adapted training according to the Education Act Section 11-1.

The help provided as personal assistance shall not be directly linked to the teaching of subjects or goals in the overall part of the curriculum. Assistants cannot have professional responsibility for the teaching. They shall only assist. The assistant's role in the teaching shall not be such that it is in practice the assistant who provides individually tailored teaching (ITO) or has professional responsibility for the teaching. This means that the school cannot make decisions where hours of ITO are given by an assistant. The school must ensure that the student receives the teaching that the student has decided on, and that the teaching is suitable for the student to achieve the learning goals that follow from the student's IOP.

A student may have the right to personal assistance under both the Health and Care Services Act and the Education Act. Personal assistance does not include medication, treatment or other health and care services. If the student needs this, the municipality must make a decision about health care during school hours. The Education Act does not grant rights to use a BPA during school hours, but the law does not prevent a student from being accompanied by a BPA at school, especially to assist with tasks within personal assistance, cf. the Education Act, Section 11-4, and with other tasks related to the student's health needs.

Physical adaptation and technical aids

The student may have the right to physical adaptation, technical aids and mobility training pursuant to Section 11-5 of the Education Act. Such adaptation may be:

Physical adaptation of the student's workplace or classroom
Technical aids
Inventory that is needed
Technical equipment and software that the student specifically needs
Necessary training for the student to be able to use this equipment

The right also applies to blind or severely visually impaired students who need necessary mobility training so that they can get to and from school, and navigate the school and home environment. This is a right to extra hours beyond the ordinary hours in the subject and time distribution if the student needs it, cf. Education Regulations § 1-4. Students in primary and lower secondary education may be entitled to up to 1525 hours and students in upper secondary education may be entitled to up to 456 hours.

Single decision

The school must decide in an individual decision what personal assistance and/or physical adaptation a student is entitled to receive as part of their educational offer. The school must not obtain an expert assessment from the PPT before making a decision on personal assistance or physical adaptation, but they may also do so if the school believes it is necessary to obtain sufficient information about the case. This is because the school has a duty to investigate according to Section 17 of the Public Administration Act.

The duty to investigate means that the case must be as well informed as possible before the school makes a decision. This means that the school must obtain the necessary information if the school itself does not have sufficient knowledge to make a decision. This means that in some cases 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 agencies, such as the health service. The school must assess this on a case-by-case basis.

An individual decision from the school should in principle only apply to one school year at a time. This also applies to decisions regarding ITO.

The decision must contain information about the school's professional assessment of the student's needs. The student must be given the opportunity to be heard about his or her opinions on the matter to which the decision applies. The decision must also contain the school's independent professional assessment of the student's best interests. CRC, art. 3. It is not sufficient for the school to refer to the fact that such assessments of PPT have been made in an expert assessment. For the decision to be valid, the school, as the decision-making authority, must itself make an individual assessment of the child's voice and the child's best interests.

When you receive an individual decision from the school, you can within three weeks: complain on:

Denial of the right to ITO, personal assistance and/or physical adaptation
The content of the individual decision
The school's handling of the decision if you believe that the case was not sufficiently informed before the school made the decision or that the decision contains errors

You can also appeal against the failure to implement the decision. The student has this right to appeal throughout the school year or for as long as the decision lasts.