Teachers, engineers and health and social work personnel have key roles for welfare and value creation throughout Norwegian society. We need enough people with the right skills for the future. At the same time, fewer and fewer are applying for important welfare education.
We need that more people are training for these professional occupations and that professional education is becoming more professional-related. It is therefore positive that the government will strengthen experience-based knowledge, give professional communities greater room for action and provide more opportunities to train for these important professions.
The government is now taking an important step to strengthen vocational subjects by proposing a trial scheme that enables a transition from vocational certificate to higher education in health and child development subjects. This initiative comes at a time when the need for competent labor within the health and education sector has never been more critical.
The Y road – an arrangement which allows students with a vocational background to take higher education, already exists for science, engineering and maritime subjects. The same opportunity must be in place for health and education subjects. We argue that such an arrangement will not only recognize and raise the professional workers’ level of competence, but also strengthen the nurses and nursery school teachers of the future.
A healthcare professional who take the Y-way to a bachelor’s degree will have at least seven years of combined education in health subjects, and with extensive clinical practice. This will not only strengthen the profession as a whole, but also address the reported “practice shock” many students face, by ensuring a deeper integration of theory and practice from day one.
Health and youth development is the largest vocational program in upper secondary school, and at the same time the one that faces the greatest challenges in getting the student into the apprenticeship period. Målselv municipality in Midt-Troms has a target of 13 apprentices annually, but is struggling with recruitment for both health and kindergarten. This despite the fact that the education program exists in almost all upper secondary schools in the region.
By establishing With the Y-way as an integrated part of the education system, we will not only open up more paths to professional certificates and further careers in health and upbringing, but also increase the number of qualified skilled workers. This is particularly critical in the north, where recruitment for both education and occupation is a persistent challenge. Providing diverse educational pathways is the key to meeting the needs of the future.
