The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training is responsible for the development of primary and secondary education.

The Directorate is the executive agency for the Ministry of Education and Research.

In this capacity the Directorate has the overall responsibility for supervising education and the governance of the education sector, as well as the implementation of Acts of Parliament and regulations. The Directorate is also responsible for managing the Norwegian Support System for Special Education (Statped), state-owned schools and the educational direction of the National Education Centres.

The Directorate is responsible for all national statistics concerning primary and secondary education and on the basis of these statistics initiates, develops and monitors research and development.

The objective of the Directorate is to ensure that all pupils and apprentices receive the high quality education they are entitled to.

The Directorate was established on 15 June 2004.