Regulation in practice The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training Mr Lasse Arntsen May 15th 2017

At this session you will learn about establishing learning arenas for government officials, involving local school leaders and administrators communicating legislation through networks and dialogue rather than traditional one-way information developing dissemination activity and online information more according to the needs of schools

Primary and secondary education in Norway National level: The Ministry of Education and Research The Directorate for education and training County Governors County level: The upper secondary school/high school Local level: Primary school

«We live beyond the law!» «The royal family and the currency are the only thing we have in common with the rest of the country!»

Regulation in practice: Main objective What? Provide better support and guidance to those who have the task of enforcing the rules at the local level Why? For our pupils to obtain an equal and safe education of high quality How? By strengthening our own competence at the national level «It is difficult to understand the regulation articles» (principal)

Objective 1: User orientation We want to enhance the Directorate and County Governor’s employees’ ability to offer high quality support to school leaders and school owners, through close cooperation and dialogue with the education sector.

What did we do? Professional learning arenas Interviews and workshops Stakeholder membership in project groups

Source: Agency for Public Management and eGovernment, Norway (2017)

Source: Agency for Public Management and eGovernment, Norway (2017)

Source: Agency for Public Management and eGovernment, Norway (2017)

(Directorate employee) «Listening to the principal describing how her school worked systematically and preventive, made it easier for me to see how the regulation can be complied. This became a meaningful day for me, of great importance for my inspection routines and practice.» (Directorate employee)

(County Governor employee) «The seminars have involved school leaders and school owners in common thinking, design and trial of new routines and practices – leading to ownership, positivity and understanding.» (County Governor employee)

User orientation: Difficulties encountered Involving school leaders and school owners in interactive working methods at the learning arenas, led to a new challenge: Employees from the Directorate and the County Governor could not plan all details as they were used to, and common exercise of discretion was part of the group work. An unaccustomed role for many…

Objective 2: Coordination and context We want to enhance Directorate and County Governor coordination and common understanding of regulation issues We want to clarify the connection between the regulation’s articles and the Education Act’s objects clause

Vertical and horizontal coordination Directorate departments Legal School development Project groups and activities 17 governor offices in Norway County Governors Municipalities: Teachers, school leaders and school owners

What did we do? Horizontal and vertical coordination emphasised when establishing project groups Project activities: Mix participants as much as possible Steering group with representatives from County Governors and all Directorate divisions

Source: Agency for Public Management and eGovernment, Norway (2017)

(Directorate employee) «Much too often we work in silos within the Directorate, thus we have problems communicating the context between the regulation articles. Then we cannot expect the municipalities to know these contexts by themselves.» (Directorate employee)

Coordination and context: Difficulties encountered The 17 County Governors, spread all over the country, are independent authorities with their own historic traditions. Although they receive identic assignments from the Directorate, we experienced different interpretations and attitudes regarding their role Consequence: Do Norwegian municipalities meet one Education Act, or will it depend on which county you operate in?

Objective 3: Dissemination We want to enhance National level’s dissemination quality regarding regulation issues.

The Directorate’s website is so full of information... If you want to prioritize anything, please travel around and talk to your target groups more than producing more information! (Interview with school owner representative)

What did we do? New version of the Directorate website Learn untraditional methods and communication tools, to use when meeting and supporting the education sector Take part in dialogue based networks with municipalities  

Source: Agency for Public Management and eGovernment, Norway (2017)

(Principal participating in sub-project «Dialogue and network») «Learning culture also among school leaders! The County Governor’s short introductions followed by group reflection and case discussion – specific and topical – a method I can use at my own school!» (Principal participating in sub-project «Dialogue and network»)

Prior to the project. Information not prioritised, sorted by genre

After the project. Structured and prioritised information, based on user input

Dissemination: Difficulties encountered The Directorate’s regulation web sites: When writing texts about regulation, we found it hard to balance user orientation with the legal experts’ need to explain everything in detail, and by using terms not established in the education sector

Objective 4: Competence and knowledge To strengthen the ability to offer high quality sector support, we want to enhance Directorate and County Governor employees’ regulation competence.

What did we do? Employee training courses: The Education Act’s object’s clause Central articles regarding pupils’ safety and learning outcome

Source: Agency for Public Management and eGovernment, Norway (2017)

«It is good to know that Directorate employees are real human beings!» Unexpected effects? «Do you people from the County Governor’s office really know about these real life challenges?» (Principal) «It is good to know that Directorate employees are real human beings!» (Principal)

Source: Agency for Public Management and eGovernment, Norway (2017)

(Principal participating in sub-project «Dialogue and network») «We have started spending most of our municipal principal meetings discussing regulation issues and our responsibility as school leaders. Prior to the project, most meeting time was spent discussing budgets and administrative issues.» (Principal participating in sub-project «Dialogue and network»)

Results: Summary Learning from and about each other in the horizontal and vertical cooperation at national level were highly appreciated Involving the users really enhanced our knowledge about real life, and user orientation has got a richer content The project has led to the improvement and lasting changes in how we disseminate regulations

Results: Summary The Directorate’s HR department has participated in most project activities (and thus learned a lot…) The steering group has connected project outcome to the Directorate’s Strategic plan “Regulation in practice” is used as an example in 3 national policy implementation strategies The Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment will publish their report about the project. The aim is to spread ideas to other directorates and ministries

Thank You Mr Lasse Arntsen lassers@frisurf.no