Completed project

Follow-up research on restructuring in Statped

Oppdragsgiver
Kunnskapsdepartementet

Time period
02.12.2020-01.09.2025

Forskere
Therese Marie Andrews
Forsker I

Esben Olesen
Researcher II, temporary position

Stian Bragtvedt
Researcher II

Bent-Cato Hustad
Senior Lecturer, University of Tromsø

The Ministry of Education and Research has started a restructuring process in Statped, which is the state special education support service for municipalities and county authorities. A research team from Nordland Research Institute has been assigned to evaluate the ongoing process and its results.

A key element of the restructuring is that Statped will be given a more limited mandate and become a more focused support system for users who have extensive, long-term needs for adaptation or who have special challenges. At the same time, municipalities and county authorities will strengthen their own expertise in special education in order to be able to offer a service that is easily accessible and close to those who need the service.  

The restructuring in Statped will take place over a five-year period from autumn 2020 to spring 2025. A research team from Nordland Research Institute has been commissioned to evaluate the ongoing process and its results. The evaluation will follow the changes over time, and it will provide answers to whether Statped is achieving the goals set for the restructuring, whether the measures, activities and organization are appropriate, and how employees, partners and users of the service experience the restructuring work and the new mandate for the service.

The study will capture both the breadth and depth of experiences with the transition, and it is aimed at everyone involved in, or affected by, the transition, from decision-makers and leaders at all levels locally and nationally, to all employees at Statped, Statped's partners and users of the service, and representatives of user organizations. 

The study is organized into five parts. In one sub-study, a case study, the researchers will follow the restructuring processes at four of Statped's current offices or locations. Managers and employees at these locations will be interviewed every six months during the entire restructuring phase. The same will be said of Statped's partners in the geographical catchment area of ​​each of the locations, i.e. PP service, schools, kindergartens and health services. A group of users of Statped's services and their relatives will also be included. The interviews will be conducted either individually or in groups, and face-to-face where possible, or by telephone or digital platforms.

Those responsible for the transition at the national level in the Ministry of Education, the Directorate of Education and Statped centrally will also participate as informants in the study. Their views will be captured in dialogue meetings and workshops and via telephone interviews distributed over the period of the transition. In this part of the study, the researchers will also interview representatives of municipalities, county authorities, educational institutions, employees of Statped within various areas of responsibility, including Sami educational support, elected representatives of Statped, and representatives of user organizations.  

The breadth of experiences with the transition will be captured through two questionnaire surveys. One will be conducted in the spring of 2021 and the other towards the end of the five-year phase, i.e. late autumn 2024. The questionnaire study includes all employees in Statped, all managers of the PP service and school subject managers in all municipalities and county authorities.

Relevant documents produced in advance of and during the transition phase will also be analyzed.

Scientific publications

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