Implementation and practice of the training practice scheme in the counties

The project examines how the training practice scheme — a two-year, practice-based pathway in upper secondary VET — is implemented and used by Norwegian counties to reduce dropout and include more students in vocational education and training.

Through comparative analyses, interviews and register data, the project sheds light on target groups, governance and curriculum design, transitions to apprenticeship contracts and into the labour market, and what actually works for students.

Introduced nationally in 2016 as a measure against early school leaving, the training practice scheme (two-year apprenticeships) combines four days in-company training with one day at school, concludes with a standardised final test and offers progression towards a trade or journeyman’s certificate. The project shows that counties that offer the scheme in practice use it as a stepping-stone towards a full trade certificate — not as a full qualification. The target group is young people with low grades and high absence, but without special educational needs, who are expected to succeed through more practice-oriented training.

Uptake remains limited and geographically concentrated, partly because the scheme is demanding to organise and employer demand for qualifications below trade certificate level is modest. Nevertheless, most students who complete the scheme move on to a regular apprenticeship contract, many in the same company, and a substantial share achieve a trade/journeyman’s certificate. Qualitative case studies show that practice-based learning fosters mastery, belonging and a shift in learner identity — from school-tired to motivated apprentice — which strengthens completion.

From a comparative perspective, the project identifies four education and training models for youth at risk across Austria, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland: individually adapted, short-track, prolonged and preparatory programmes. Comparing two-year apprenticeships in Norway and Switzerland reveals different aims and curriculum design: in Switzerland, two-year apprenticeships are nationally standardised, labour-market oriented and recognised as completed upper secondary qualifications; in Norway, they are locally designed, conceived as the first stage towards a full trade certificate and not counted as “completed” upper secondary education. The findings suggest the training practice scheme best balances social and economic goals when used as staged qualification with clear labour-market anchoring, standardised curricula and a predictable transition to a regular apprenticeship contract.

The project is completed and resulted in four publications covering: (1) comparative models of upper secondary education for youth at risk, (2) the development of two-year apprenticeship curricula in Norway and Switzerland, (3) the implementation and practice of the training practice scheme in Norwegian counties and (4) case studies of students’ pathways from the training practice scheme to a trade certificate.