Political priorities and objectives in the Nordic Council of Ministers

NLL should contribute to policy development in the countries within the political priorities and objectives of the Nordic Council of Ministers for the period 2025-2030.

In 2019, the Nordic prime ministers adopted a common vision that the Nordic region should become the world's most sustainable and integrated region by 2030. All work in the Nordic Council of Ministers should contribute to realizing this vision through initiatives within the three strategic priorities: a green Nordic region, a competitive Nordic region, and a socially sustainable Nordic region.

Within this vision, the Nordic Council of Ministers for Education and Research (MR-U) has adopted a cooperation programme that describes the sector's political priorities and objectives for 2025-2030.

Lifelong learning and competence policy are included as a prioritized area in MR-U's cooperation programme and are anchored in the following goals and sub-goals:

Everyone in the Nordic region should have access to high-quality education from an early age throughout life, regardless of background:

More people must have good basic skills
Education must contribute to strengthening the population's democratic skills, critical thinking, digital literacy, and the ability to navigate a new media and information reality
Fewer people are to drop out of education and the labour market.

The future education in the Nordic region should reflect the competency needs of society and the labour market:

A good match between educational systems and offerings and competence needs to realize the green transition and maintain a strong welfare society should be ensured
More people must improve their position in the labour market through further education and training and increased use of validation
More people with foreign backgrounds must participate in the labour market through targeted language and upskilling programmes
More people must complete an education and have a good start to an inclusive and equal labour market.

Lifelong learning is not only anchored in the education sector but naturally spans across different policy areas and sectors. To achieve the necessary changes and results in the field, a cross-sectoral and holistic approach is needed.

It means that NLL should not only be seen in connection with MR-U's cooperation programme. Relations to other policy areas and political priorities in the Nordic Council of Ministers must be articulated, and potential collaborations should be developed.

Similarly, the Nordic Council of Ministers for Labour (MR-A) focuses on continuous competence development in their cooperation programme for the period 2025-2030.

Of particular relevance to NLL's field of work is the Nordic Council of Ministers' Integration Programme effective from 2025, which includes the following sub-goals:

Promote the upskilling of adult refugees and immigrants and validate existing education
Promote the development of effective language teaching that strengthens social inclusion, educational opportunities, and labour market integration.

The following goals from MR-A's cooperation programme are of particular relevance to NLL:

Ensure a timely and fair transition of the labour force that leaves no-one behind and ensures we have people with the right skills to implement the green and digital transition
Strengthen labour supply and equal opportunities for all, so that the Nordic Region can better meet the needs of the labour market and bring all of the skills of the labour force into play.

These goals should be realized through various sub-goals, including:

Develop a greater understanding of how the Nordic labour markets and the need for skills are affected by the green and digital transition
Promote a green and digital transition of the labour market both within but also beyond the large cities of the Nordic Region
Promote lifelong learning and adaptability, in part by creating better opportunities and incentives to choose vocational career paths in close collaboration with relevant sectors
Develop more knowledge on how to get more people into employment or training, with a special focus on groups on the margins of the labour market, such as senior citizens, persons with disabilities, women of non-European descent and young people who are neither in work nor in unemployment.

Synergies between sector programmes can be promoted through mutual dissemination of information, by facilitating collaboration between related sector initiatives, and through the development of joint initiatives. It is the responsibility of both the Nordic Council of Ministers and NLL to be proactive and take initiative to utilize cross-cutting synergies.

Finally, the rotating chairmanships in the Nordic Council of Ministers provide an opportunity to set specific, current priorities and initiatives on the agenda.

Interdisciplinary perspectives

The Nordic Council of Ministers has developed a policy

The policy for mainstreaming can be accessed here: https://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1477076&dswid=3254

for mainstreaming three interdisciplinary perspectives on children and youth rights, sustainable development, and gender equality, respectively. These perspectives are to be integrated into all activities when deemed relevant.

In connection with the development of this Programme Document, the secretariat of the Nordic Council of Ministers has conducted a consequence analysis of the activities of Nordic Network for Adult Learning (NVL) in the previous programme period to assess how the programme has impacted the interdisciplinary perspectives.

Regarding gender equality, the consequence analysis indicates that NLL should work more proactively with gender and intersectionality.

This includes both representation in networks and activities as well as gender and intersectionality as the subject matter of the work carried out in the networks.

Intersectionality refers to the interaction between different power structures and how factors such as gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, religion, class and abilities affect people's opportunities in various situations. Specifically, it entails striving for a more equal distribution between men and women in different types of committees and groups (40-60 percent), as well as ensuring a balanced representation based on other relevant diversity criteria.

The consequence analysis also suggests that greater emphasis should be placed on accessibility, especially for persons with disabilities. This includes ensuring that meetings and other events are accessible to all participants regardless of their disabilities. In general, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by all Nordic countries, should be followed.

Sustainable development has been a central focus area in the previous programme period.

The impact of the networks on the UN Sustainable Development Goals has been mapped. The result of this includes, among other things, a one pager on how to establish a sustainable network

Find one pager here: https://nll.org/nyheder/hur-kan-vi-bli-mera-hallbara-som-nordiska-natverk/

. The consequence analysis shows that an important foundation for sustainability has been created both as a theme for NVL and as an integrated part of the networks' working methods, which should continue in the programme period 2025-2030.

Regarding children's and youth rights, the Nordic Council of Ministers has developed a set of guiding principles for the involvement of children and youth.

The guiding principles can be found here: https://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1392351/FULLTEXT01.pdf

The principles entail understanding and taking into account how decisions and initiatives affect children and youth, as well as including their knowledge and perspectives in the work.

Since the primary target groups in NLL are adults, the guiding principles primarily apply in cases where young adults are the target audience. However, it must be a fundamental principle in all NLL activities to consider and involve the specific target groups that the activities address.

Themes for the programme period

NLL establish networks within Nordic prioritized themes where there is an identified need and a Nordic interest. These themes must be anchored in the priorities and objectives of the Nordic Council of Ministers, particularly the goals associated with lifelong learning within the cooperation programme of MR-U.

NLL work with five to seven overarching themes, which will translate into a corresponding number of networks. These networks are established initially for a period of three years within the framework of the three-year work plans and will be revised in connection with the mid-term evaluation.

Target groups and stakeholders

NLL addresses a wide range of actors in the Nordic region working on education, lifelong learning and competence policies. This includes educators, researchers, civil servants, representatives from businesses, and decision-makers within formal, informal, and non-formal adult education, as well as other organizations working on lifelong learning.

Although the activities of NLL primarily target professionals, it is crucial that all initiatives and efforts take into account the ultimate target group, namely adults for whom the activities and efforts are aimed. New initiatives should be based on a needs analysis, and the perspectives of the target group should be incorporated into the process to the fullest extent possible, as outlined in the section on interdisciplinary perspectives.