Intensive training course for immigrants with higher education

Challenge

Many immigrants have prior expertise in the form of education and/or work experience. It is important to offer these a customised training course so that the path to qualified employment is shorter.

Initiative

The participants are offered Norwegian language training on average 15 hours a week, in combination with work experience 2 days a week throughout half the semester. The courses run over one semester and the expected progression is A1-A2, A2-B1 and B1- B2. The courses are based on each other. The participants also learn about working life with competence mapping and career guidance.

Result

Norwegian tests show that after completing the courses, the Norwegian language skills of the participants are above the national averages. The results in the form of transition to relevant jobs and/or further education must be considered to be extremely good.

Objective and target group

The initiative aims to improve progression and results in Norwegian language training, as well as strengthen competence in Norwegian working life. Competence on professional pathways is also strengthened among immigrants with prior competence in the form of higher education and work experience. The target group is adult immigrants, refugees and labour immigrants with a right and obligation to receive training. The participants admitted to these courses have lived in Norway for a short time, have learned English at school and are track 3 participants.

Immigrants with higher education often have good study techniques and a strong motivation to learn Norwegian and find employment quickly. The aim is for immigrants in this group to be able to achieve the B2 level in Norwegian during the right and obligation period or during the introduction grant period. This requires a training course tailored specifically for this group. The Adult Education Centre in Bærum has developed and offers work-oriented Norwegian language training and knowledge of working life to immigrants with higher education and work experience.

About the initiative

The Adult Education Centre in Bærum has developed and offers comprehensive and intensive Norwegian language training in a way that incorporates relevant knowledge of working life and practice in several vocational sectors. Norwegian language training is given on three levels; A1/A2, B1 and B2. The focus is on getting as many participants as possible up to the B1 level in the shortest possible time using different strategies and teaching materials. Norwegian language training and learning about working life is on average 15 hours per week and great personal effort must be expected here too.

Organisation and economy

The Adult Education Centre in Bærum has developed and implemented the initiative. Bærum is a large municipality with many immigrants in the target group. This is a prerequisite for achieving an appropriate division into - and size of - the teaching groups (class structure). Nevertheless, cyclical fluctuations and changes in the labour market mean that recruitment to the courses through advertising and increased cooperation will become increasingly important.
A varied labour market provides a basis for managing to make relevant arrangements for work experience. The Adult Education Centre cooperates closely with municipal and private parties in the community. These use their own practical training coordinators in the work of matching participants and employers.

IMDi’s assessment

IMDi’s assessment

• The initiative met the needs and objectives of qualifying immigrants with higher education.
• The initiative has objectives for Norwegian language training related to progression and end result.
• The initiative produces results in the form of Norwegian language skills – documented through Norwegian tests and with results far above the national averages.
• The initiative produces results in the form of a transition to relevant jobs (possibly upper secondary school) for almost all the participants in recent years. 

About the assessment

IMDi’s quality assurance of best practice has been based on systematic assessments according to given criteria.

The criteria are:

• Result – what result does the practice produce?
• Descriptions – is the practice well described?
• Economy – what resources are required to implement the practice?
• Transferability – is it possible to implement the practice elsewhere?

The perspective on knowledge-based practice forms the basis for IMDI’s best practice work. It means that practices are assessed based on: Research-based knowledge, experience-based knowledge and user knowledge.

IMDi’s work on best practice is based on Rambøll’s report Model for identification and dissemination of best practice

Links 

• Example of a semester plan Aka 1, spring 2020
• Example of a semester plan Aka 2, spring 2020
• Example of a semester plan Aka 3, spring 2020
• The Adult Education Centre in Bærum

Contact details

 

Name: Maria Reistad
Position and place of work: Head of Department, Bærum municipality, Adult Education Centre
Tel.: +47 90 64 41 08, +47 67 50 67 50
Email: maria.reistad@baerum.kommune.no

Name: Linn Grimstad-Nielsen
Position and place of work: Headteacher, Bærum municipality, Adult Education Centre
Tel.: +47 47 25 76 40
Email: linn.grimstad-nielsen@baerum.kommune.no