1. Provision and specific approaches to the assessment of pupils with profound/multiple learning difficulties and the implications/impact upon teacher training in Norway

2. The legal system Every pupil has the right to adapted learning in inclusive settings Pupils who do not have or cannot recieve satisfactory benefits offered by the mainstream curriculum have the right to special needs education All municipalities must have a psychological pedagogical service There is also a National Support System for Special Needs Education

3. Facts Pupils having severe learning difficulties, like multi-disabled, are often diagnosed before starting school by a local or national service (can be multi-disciplinary) – these children have a right to pp-service also before starting school Very often this means a medical diagnosis bases on different tests and observations The teachers are usually not involved in the diagnosis

4. Facts 2 Pupils who meet learning difficulties after starting school, are sent to the local psychological pedagogical service for further expert assessment The expert assessment will often concentrate of a better understanding of the learning difficulties, but be more remote from the link to curriculum and goal-orientation linked to the learning process The needs of the pupil shall decide what type of learning the pupil is offered and the content of the individual learning plan The teachers are usually not involved in this assessment

5. The legal system 2 The parents must accept special education Each child with the right to special needs education has an individual learning plan The individual learning plan is made by the teacher, the local support system assures that there is a link between the learning difficulties and the individual learning plans The individual learning plan is written annually Reports are written twice a year – they should contain individual learning goals – kept by the school and a copy is sent to the pp-service

6. About assessment i general A new national curriculum and also results from international studies (PISA, TIMSS++) has started a national debate about our educational system i general and also our system for pupil assessment The national curriculum is goal-oriented, describing what competences the pupils are to achieve at certain stages There are no standards and no description of the different marks At present (since 2006) there is an on-going national project started by the Ministery of Education to promote better practice in pupils assessment

7. Challenges The use (quality) of marks is very much up to each school and each teacher The standards varies a lot The level where you send pupils to the local pp-system varies a lot according to the local standard The amount of pupils with individual learning plans varies also a lot, some schools have many children, others not

8. Challenges The personal learning plans are often too vague The goals are impossible to measure and to reach The local pp-system report that they have seen plans with the same learning goals for five years Our teachers are not too familiar with using external tests to improve teaching ang learning (the use of summative data for a formative purpose) Too much planning for activities and not planning for learning (OECD expert group) – also an issue for teachers in special needs education

9. Challenges The practice is entirely up to each teacher The teachers do not have sufficient tools and they need training in using them Lack of cooperation between different expert groups –In the society/between different expert groups –Between those who diagnose/identify and those who are responsible for the follow-up –At certain stages: from kindergarden to school, from primary to secondary school, from school to adult life

10. Implications/impact upon teacher training Assessment has not been a part of teacher training, but this is changing now due to the national project about assessment practice A part of the national project is focusing/linked to assessment in the teacher training – both at universities and university colleges Adapted learning for children with severe learning difficulties is hardly a part of the general teacher training

11. Further education in teaching of children with special needs Focused on diagnosing and the use of methods – of course giving a better understanding of the learning disabilities More focused on the person rather than the learning process Can be even more remote from the work with the national curriculum; setting goals and assessing the pupil’s level of achievement

12. Finally New national centre of competence for people with disabilities (NAKU) On-going debate on teacher training and the lenght of studies More debate of specialisation in teacher competence More debate of assessment and standards in education Implications for teaching of students with special needs?