Framework for Basic Skills

The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training has developed this Framework for the five basic skills, namely orals skills, reading, writing, digital skills and numeracy. It has been approved by the Ministry of Education and Research.

What are the basic skills defined in the Framework?

In the compulsory and secondary education reform of 2006, five skills were defined as basic to learning in school, work and social life. These skills are basic in the sense that they are fundamental to learning in all subjects as well as a prerequisite for the pupil to show his/her competence and qualifications.

From the 2006 reform all subject-specific curricula describe how the five basic skills contribute to developing the pupils' competence and qualifications and how these skills are integrated into the subject.

Each subject curriculum integrates competence aims, basic skills and subject content. The skills are consequently expressed in different manners and to a varying degree in the different curricula, depending on the relevance of different skills aspects for the subject in question.

What is the Framework for basic skills?

The Framework for basic skills is a document defining the five basic skills mentioned, describing their functions at different levels covering compulsory and secondary education. It is a generic Framework developed to serve as a reference document for developing and revising the National Subject-Specific Curricula.

For these five basic skills, grids have been developed describing their progression through levels. The cells of each grid formulate what is required at the different levels. The requirements are general and serve as a basis and point of reference for developing subject and grade relevant competence aims.

How to use the Framework

The Framework is a tool for subject curricula groups appointed by the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training to develop and revise National Subject Curricula. The grids’ skills descriptors are points of reference for relating skills development to subject content in a given subject as a first step in formulating competence aims reflecting these skills as well as subject content. Each subject curriculum group will therefore make decisions on which grids, cells and levels are relevant for their subject as well as for different age groups of students, and formulate competence aims based on these decisions.