Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skill

Look at the greater picture!

That is the advice from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skill (former Skills Norway/Kompetanse Norge), one of several potential employers for master’s candidates in Assessment, Measurement and Evaluation. We have had a chat with the leader of the Department of Research and Development, Magnus Fodstad Larsen.

Picture of Magnus Fodstad Larsen.

Magnus Fodstad Larsen. Photo: Skills Norway

Development and quality assurance

What could a candidate with a master’s degree in Assessment, Measurement and Evaluation work with at Skills Norway?

A candidate with this degree could for example work on developing and assuring the quality of the tests and certifications Skills Norway are responsible for. These include the Norwegian language tests for adult immigrants, the test in Social studies, the Citizenship test and various diagnostic tools.

The candidate could work on managing and analyzing pilot data and real test data, Fodstad Larsen says.

Such analyses are used to determine which test questions work well and which ones do not, setting cut scores on tests, and many other purposes. Many of these tasks and analyses would form part of internal reports and external articles, so writing is also a part of the work.

Increased focus on assessment, measurement and evaluation in the education sector

Why is assessment, measurement and evaluation important to Skills Norway?

Skills Norway needs to have an overview and knowledge about which of the skills policy initiatives work well, and which ones do not. In the education sector, there has in recent years been an increasing interest in how assessment, measurement and evaluation methods can be used to gather knowledge about the impact of political actions and initiatives. This tendency has influenced the way we work to a large degree.

Skills Norway is responsible for several official test and certifications, including Norwegian tests for adult immigrants and the citizenship test. Part of t