More information on the project page.

The project started in spring 2021 and in 2022 has received strategic research funds from ILU.

In later Norwegian education policy, investment in early intervention has been central. In the context of early intervention, the provision on intensive training came into force in the autumn of 2018. The research project aims to bring knowledge about how early intervention, and specifically the provision on intensive training, is practiced and functions in various municipalities and schools. The provision on intensive training is considered to be extended beyond the 4th stage in the new Storting message on early intervention (St. Meld 6, 2019-2020). However, the government points out at the same time that there is little knowledge about how the provision on intensive training for 1.-4. step works.

Intensive training is intended to be part of the ordinary adapted training and must be a short-term and targeted effort by the school in reading, writing or arithmetic for the pupils who need it. The goal is that students who need it will quickly receive suitable support and follow-up so that the problems do not have the opportunity to develop and intensify further in the course of their education. As part of uncovering pupils' difficulties, there are both compulsory and voluntary mapping tests in reading, arithmetic and English which have been designed for pupils from 1st-3rd grade. The mapping tests will help the schools and teachers to find the pupils who need extra help during the first school years.

The municipalities have an obligation to offer intensive training to pupils who are lagging behind in reading, writing or arithmetic in grades 1–4. step, but it does not give the student a corresponding right. It thus differs from, but borders on, the right to special education. What distinguishes § 1.4 on intensive training from § 5.1 on the right to special education is that pupils who receive intensive training must not deviate from the competence targets in the curriculum. Pupils who need deviations from the competence targets, or who do not get satisfactory results from the intensive training, have the right to special education. However, the distinctions can be unclear and involve room for discretion. There are no guidelines for how intensive training should be carried out.

The school is a central arena for ideological struggle. It is therefore interesting to look further into how power and control between different actors play out in the recontextualisations of the policies on early intervention and intensive training.

Norwegian project page.

More information about Teacher Education: a relay of recontextualising contexts and agents (PDF)