In 2017, the Government of Norway introduced a new competence development model for schools, to provide municipalities and schools with greater freedom of action and empower them to carry out systematic school improvement. This model has the potential to promote collective teacher professionalism, but requires a carefully thought out implementation strategy to yield positive results.

From 2018, the OECD partnered with Norway to support this implementation process, and undertook an initial assessment of the implementation strategy of the model (Improving School Quality in Norway: The New Competence Development Model, 2019). In the meantime, the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training has kept on co-shaping the model with universities and education stakeholders at the regional and local level. This new report assesses progress made, and makes further recommendations to move forward with the model development.

The report will be valuable not only for Norway, but also to the many countries that are looking to promote school-based professional development and bridge the gap between policy design and effective implementation.