Our mission, values and vision

The school inclusion policy is founded upon an approach to education outlined by the IB designed to remove or reduce barriers so that every student can fully participate in the IBDP here at Elverum vgs.

To this end procedures are designed to recognise and address any instance where student access to optimal learning development is hampered.  

Practices and procedures

The inclusion policy is in line with Norwegian legislation and based on the Inclusion Policy of the county (Innlandet region). The student or their parents/guardians can ask the school to investigate whether the student requires support.

Teachers must also consider if a students’ performance is a cause for concern. In such cases, the councilor will organize appropriate testing to determine if support is required.   

Elverum vgs cooperates closely with the Educational and Psychological Counseling Service (PP-tjenesten) to establish the needs of students and to assist students with special educational needs.

In case of academic, personal, or social problems that might affect a student’s ability to succeed in school, the student has the right to counseling, monitoring, and support by the Educational and Psychological Counseling Service PPT in cooperation with the school.

PPT provides expertise in the following areas: 

• Language difficulties and speech impairments  
• General barriers to learning or problems in a specific subject area  
• Reading and writing difficulties  
• Difficulties with mathematics  
• Problems with concentration  
• Social and emotional problems  
• Behavioral disorders  
• Vision and hearing problems  

Elverum vgs is further cooperating with the lower secondary schools in the area, and information concerning special needs is transmitted by the student’s previous school and communicated to teachers involved in order to facilitate and adapt the learning environment for the student.

PPT will advise and support the school on how to best match the needs of the individual student. This can include the use of audio books, audio induction loops, differentiation of learning methods and allocation of extra time.

Diverse methods of differentiating learning process, either in terms of accessing the curriculum or providing formative assessment instance are subject to individual consideration. 

Students enrolled in the IB-programme at Elverum vgs follow the policy of IBO and must request for a special arrangement. This request must be accompanied by documentation including medical certification and pedagogical evidence for addressing the need for support where appropriate. The request must be sent to the IB coordinator before the student enrolls on the IB programme or as soon as they become aware of an issue. 

Elverum vgs is fully accessible through elevators and ramps. 

Links with language, admission and assessment policies

Language policy

As outlined in our our language policy and consistent with a universally designed curriculum students previous language experience and lack of current competence in the host language (Norwegian) or language of instruction (English) should not negate students ability to succeed in the IBDP.

Consequently different language options and learning strategies are employed to support inclusion.  

Admission policy

Our admissions policy is designed to help support student achievement. To this end there is a required grade average, which based on experience is an appropriate indicator of student’s ability to succeed when entering the IBDP.

At the same time our policy recognises the individual nature and circumstances of students previous experience. The policy therefore outlines how, at the discretion of the coordinator, students with a lower than expected grade average can also be considered for the diploma programme.

Moreover our policy explains how students progress is reviewed before advancement to DP2 and where appropriate alternative arrangements are made to help students achieve.

Asessment policy

Assessment at Elverum IBDP is based on principles supporting inclusion as described in a policy that embraces individually tailored assessment. This approach helps ensure relevant and appropriate feedback/feedforward irrespective of a student’s current level of learning.

Furthermore active student participation in assessment through self and peer evaluation helps to ensure students feel included as part of the process of assessment for/as learning of their work rather than assessment as something that is done to them.

This approach is not only seen as important to promote learning and understanding but helps a sense of student ownership of their learning which is deemed to further support inclusion.

More information

More information is to be found on ibo.org: Equity and inclusive education in the IB or by contacting the IB-coordinator.

• Lov om grunnskolen og den vidaregåande opplæringa (opplæringslova). Lovdata
• PPT (pedagogisk-psykologisk tjeneste), Innlandet fylkeskommune
• The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. In English