Responsibility for the quality of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education is in the hands of the local and county authorities. In Norway there are no formal qualification requirements for teachers in adult education but more than 90 percent of the teachers are qualified. General teacher education (4 years) qualifies for teaching in primary and lower secondary school, and in adult education at the corresponding levels. Subject-specific teacher education (either 3 or 4 years) qualifies for teaching of specific subject in primary and lower secondary school, in upper secondary school and in adult education.

For adult education in primary and secondary school subjects, trainers have to be qualified teachers, regardless of whether the provider is a school or a private organisation. There is a  hearing in the autumn of 2019 proposing to substitute the Introduction Act with a new act, the Integration Act. The consultation letter contains several proposals vital to the field of immigrant teaching, qualification requirements being one of them. Up to now, teachers teaching Norwegian language and social studies to adult immigrants under the Introduction Act, shall, as a rule have a general teacher education or the Teacher Education Programme (“Praktisk-pedagogisk utdanning”; PPU). The teachers teaching Norwegian language also ought to have a specialization in Norwegian as a Second Language, according to the regulation of the Introduction Act. The consultation paper proposes that both a general teacher education and a specialization in Norwegian as a Second Language (30 EST) should be considered as qualification requirements for the teachers teaching Norwegian language to adult immigrants. According to the proposal these qualification requirements should apply to municipality employed teachers as well as to those employed by private providers accredited by Skills Norway. The Act on folk high schools states that the teachers should have the required qualifications for teaching in primary and secondary education or for teaching on upper secondary level. However, if needed, teachers can be appointed if they fulfil the qualifications that the single school demands.

Private providers of adult education (folk high schools, study associations, distance education institutions) are free to set their own qualification requirements for teachers in non-school subjects, even if they receive state grants for the courses.