Most immigrants who take the Norwegian language test, fail to obtain the written level that many Norwegian employers require.
‘Kompetanse Norge’, which is the National Agency for Lifelong Learning, believes the threshold for entering the labour market is too high.
‘There are many who have the expertise and skills who are not being hired today. If you are going to be good in speaking Norwegian, you have to get the opportunity to practice. Work is the most important arena for practicing Norwegian’, said Gina Lund, Director of Kompetanse Norge to NRK news.
Recent figures from the agency behind the Norwegian tests, showed that just over a third of immigrants in the metropolitan area, and the country in general, have test results above the written level (B2) that many employers require.
The stated requirement of achieving B2 is to ‘understand the main complex, or academic texts, and also technical discussions within one’s own field, and to be able to participate in conversations with relatively spontaneous and fluent language, and to write clear, detailed, and persuasive texts on a wide range of topics.’
‘It is important that the Norwegian test is a gateway to the labour market, and not a gatekeeper, barring entry’, said Lund.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
