Adapted Education: The Norwegian Pathway to Inclusive and Efficient Education

Overview & Synopsis

Since the UNESCO conference in 1994, inclusion has been a major denominator in the educational debates of most OECD countries, focusing on how to facilitate education and social interaction for the diversity of pupils. By international standards, the Norwegian education system is regarded as inclusive, but the ongoing debate and political pressure in Norway on how to increase pupils' benefit of education, challenge this understanding. This article gives a historical account of Norwegian education policy to illustrate the way inclusive education has been understood over the years. Furthermore, it presents empirical evidence showing an increasing use of special education in Norway as a basis for discussing dilemmas of the current education reform, "Knowledge Promotion". The last part of the article highlights the partly contradictory aims schools and teachers are given: the aims of increasing pupils' learning and of developing inclusive schools. The outcomes of the processes involved are closely related to the standards of educational policies, how these standards are implemented and the understanding of how to develop schools that take care of and respect the variety of pupils. (Contains 2 figures and 1 note.)