Nordic 0–24 collaboration
The Nordic Council of Ministers has initiated a three-year project aimed at improving cross-sectoral collaboration for vulnerable children and adolescents.
The Nordic Council of Ministers has initiated a three-year project aimed at improving cross-sectoral collaboration for vulnerable children and adolescents.
The project is part of the effort to reduce the dropout rate from secondary education and subsequent exclusion and poverty. The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training is responsible for the project management of the Nordic project, and a Nordic project team has been established with representatives from all participating countries. The Nordic countries share the same common goal but have different approaches and different projects. Through the collaboration project, they hope to benefit from each other’s experiences. Nordic project meetings to share findings will be held twice a year during the project period.
Along with Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland are also taking part in the collaboration project.
Paula Lehtomäki
Secretary-General of the Nordic Council of Ministers
The national case-study in Norway covers ten municipalities which have been invited to participate in a network. The network will work on transverse learning processes and the use of new indicators for good practice in the work with vulnerable children and adolescents. The network includes participant groups made up of heads for schools, kindergartens, mental health, child welfare and school health services, family centers and the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Organization (NAV). The network aims to identify and work with a defined set of indicators related to collaborative culture, common goals and direction, knowledge-based service development, training, early action and qualitative evaluations.
Sweden’s contribution is the ‘Plug In 2.0’ project, which aims to reduce the numbers leaving and dropping out of upper secondary school. Four municipalities and one region are participating. The work is headed by the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKL).
Through its role in the project, SKL is developing and testing an educational initiative to support the municipalities’ efforts to enable more young people to complete their schooling. The municipalities are using the project to share knowledge and experience and are being helped to develop a better coordinated support system for young people who have dropped out or are at risk of leaving school early.
.
Denmark has established a municipal network involving five municipalities. All the selected municipalities face challenges related to children with low socio-economic status, immigrant backgrounds and parents with limited education. The network exchanges knowledge and experience focusing on early action, developing more inclusive learning environments and better cooperation between the various sectors. The network is collaborating with a team of learning consultants who provide guidance and advice.
The Finnish project is directed at municipalities who wish to develop and disseminate experience of good practice within the lifecycle model. In this model, they seek to organize the municipalities’ service offering to meet the needs of the different population groups, to establish a more user-centric service. The aim of the project is to produce good collaborative models and create good tools for municipal services aimed at children and young people. The project prioritizes early preventive action.
The Icelandic project sets out to further develop and share experience from the so-called ‘Breidholt model’. Breidholt is an area in Reykjavik with particular social challenges. In the Breidholt model, both social and educational support services for the school are combined in one service center consisting of an interdisciplinary support team for the schools in the area. The team collaborates with schools on issues related to absence, learning difficulties, behavior and psychosocial problems. Procedures have been established for support and follow-up of both the children and their families.
The Lopfjølin (‘springboard’) project is a cross-sectoral collaboration to provide an educational support service for children and adolescents who, for social and/or psychological reasons, are not able to participate in mainstream schooling. The goals of Lopfjølin are to give these children and young people the opportunity to develop personally, academically and socially, to enable them to complete 9 years of compulsory schooling and pass their leaving exams, prevent crime and abuse and avoid institutionalization. This is a continuation of the project which started in Torshavn back in 2014. As part of the project, the effects of the initiative will be evaluated, with a view to further development and dissemination to other municipalities and areas of the Faroe Islands.
Greenland’s case-study relates to the small and remote town of Tasiilaq on the east side of the island. Tasiilaq faces major challenges related to low levels of education, different languages/dialects and cultural differences. Too many of the city’s children and young people grow up in an environment marked by drink and drugs, violence and sexual abuse. The target groups of the project are children, adolescents and parents in deprived families. The goal is to help to ensure that children are ‘ready for class’ when they start school — and ‘ready for education’ when they leave elementary school.