The Norwegian Education Mirror 2022

Adults who have completed lower secondary school or an equivalent but who have not completed upper secondary school education have a right to upper secondary school education. This right is valid from and including the year the person turns 25.

A stabile number of adults in upper secondary school over the last three years

In 2021-2022, 16,300 people over the age of 25 were in upper secondary school. The year before, there were roughly the same number of adults in upper secondary schools or in adult education centres. Since 2014-2015, the number of adult participants in upper secondary school has increased yearly, but has levelled out in the last three years. Increase is especially big in vocational courses. The majority of adults in upper secondary school in 2021-2022 are on vocational training programmes, with 41 per cent studying Healthcare, Child and Youth Development.

Most adult apprentices within Healthcare, Child and Youth Development

There are more and more adult apprentices. In 2021, 20 per cent of apprentices were aged 25 years or older, which is an increase of 7 percentage points since 2016. Healthcare, Child and Youth Development has the largest number of adult apprentices. Out of the total 7,750 adult apprentices, more than 1,900 study Healthcare, Child and Youth Development. The vast majority of these apprentices study Health Work. There is also a high proportion of adult apprentices studying Hairdressing.

In addition to the adult apprentices, around 730 adults receive vocational training in schools, and there are nearly 250 adult training candidates. The vast majority of adults who take vocational training in schools study Healthcare, Child and Youth Development, while most training candidates study Building and Construction. Around 940 adults are pursuing vocational certificates at work, and most of these adults study Healthcare, Child and Youth Development.

48 per cent of the 29,500 vocational and craft certificates awarded in 2020-2021 were obtained by adults. 2 out of 3 adults who obtained a vocational certificate took the exam as an experience-based candidate. That is to say they took the exam based on work experience and not as the conclusion to upper secondary school education.