Better
Education
Action plan
The Danish government wishes to encourage new growth and dynamics in society for the
benefit of all. Welfare in Denmark must be ensured and expanded.
Therefore, our courses of education must be of top quality. In the future, education of
a high international standard and quality will be the key to coping well in a more and
more globalised world. Education is one of our most important competition parameters and a
prerequisite for an increasing and well-qualified workforce with up-to-date skills.
The education sector must be based on the freedom of choice: human beings must come
before the system.
However, high professional standards, quality, relevance and flexibility for all the
users of the education system are not a matter of course. They require a continuous
adaptation to new requirements, and improvements in areas where everything is not as it
should be. There is a need for innovation.
The government is therefore presenting its action plan for Better Education in
order to strengthen the proficiency and competence level in upper secondary education; in
higher education; in adult and further education and continuing training. The action plan
must be seen in close connection with the aims of the Folkeskole and with the government's
other initiatives, including the growth strategy Determined Growth.
In the coming months and years, the government will launch a number of major reforms,
in particular in the Gymnasium, the HF and the university areas. Within vocational
education and training, there will be innovation of the commercial and technical
programmes. In the adult education and in the further education and continuing training
areas, there will among other things be a further development of the continuing training
provision, and its connection with the vocational education and training area is to be
strengthened. New vocationally-oriented adult education programmes are to be launched. The
government will furthermore launch some major cross-cutting initiatives, among others in
relation to improved educational and vocational guidance; a strengthening of the natural
sciences throughout the entire education system; and an improved educational achievement
in the different subjects by means of IT. Finally, the international element must be
strengthened in all courses of education.
The government has great expectations when it comes to this wide range of reforms and
initiatives. It is the aim to create challenges for all in our education system, also for
the most gifted - for the benefit of all citizens in Denmark.
The Government
June 2002
A well-functioning education system of high quality is a basic prerequisite if we are
to ensure growth and welfare both for the individual and for the Danish society as a
whole.
The Danish Government has a vision of a flexible education system with the offer of
education and training courses at a high proficiency and competence level. The courses of
education and training must be relevant and meet the business sector's and the public
sector's qualification needs. Furthermore, the education and training courses must meet
the requirements of the individual pupil or student - also of the most gifted.
It is the target that Danish education and training must match the best in the world,
also when evaluation and benchmarking are carried out cross-nationally. This both applies
to the general and the vocationally-oriented courses of education. The prerequisite for
achieving this target is a significantly strengthened effort within five areas: qualifications
and competences, flexibility, innovation, freedom of choice and output management.
At the general level, the aim is that everyone should acquire a number of individual
competences as well as be prepared to take part in society and know about its basic
values. Society is subject to rapid changes - technical as well as cultural. It is
therefore essential to maintain values such as freedom of speech, equality, tolerance and
democracy. We must know our past and the basis on which our values are founded in order to
be able to face the challenges of the future.
Education should develop pupils and students as independent individuals by promoting
such qualities as initiative, courage, enthusiasm and the desire to learn something new.
With the rate at which new knowledge is created, it is of decisive importance that
everybody has a basic foundation of general, personal and social competences, including
the desire and ability to pursue further education. It is becoming more and more important
to be able to acquire new competences both within one's own profession and in a
combination of different professional areas.
Education should make it possible for the individual to cope on his or her own, to
develop his or her potential and make his or her contribution to the civil society. In
this way, education sustains the community and the common cultural identity. All people
are committed to the whole both in their choice of education and in their daily efforts.
As pupils and students are becoming more skilled, the ability to take part in a social
interaction with others must be challenged.
In the global economy, production and the use of new knowledge constitute the key to
increased growth, increased employment and increased welfare. The government's growth
strategy, Determined Growth, points at a firstclass education system as a decisive
parameter for ensuring growth and welfare. Denmark's competitiveness will depend greatly
on whether Danish education can live up to the requirements of increased proficiency,
competence and quality as well as progress in the subjects - measured by international and
not least by EU standards. Society and the business community depend on staff who are able
to use and communicate knowledge and translate new knowledge into innovation. In the same
way the foundation of an efficient public sector is well-educated staff at all levels.
Furthermore, the growth of the Danish economy will depend on an increase in the
workforce and on keeping potential candidates for early retirement in the labour market.
The demographic development with an increasing number of older people and a decreasing
demographic intake requires that young people move more rapidly through the education
system and out into the labour market. Time wasted, wrong choices and waiting periods must
be reduced, among other things through a target-oriented vocational and educational
guidance and through better credit transfer possibilities from one course of education to
another.
Increased proficiency and competence and quality measured by international standards
require a strengthening of the international dimension in education. International
approaches must be integrated into the teaching in all courses and subjects. Young people
must acquire cultural competences with a view to being able to cope in an internationally
oriented world. Research experience from other countries must be included on a par with
Danish experience, and knowledge about Denmark's international cooperation relations and
commitments is a prerequisite for a future-proven education sector.
Denmark must take active part in international quality development, evaluation and
benchmarking and use the results to a greater extent, if it is to attain the target of
matching the Danish education system with the best in the world. We must, through
international cooperation, take advantage of the opportunities and be inspired by good
examples from other countries with regard to organisation, teaching and innovation.
The recognition of results and credits acquired at educational institutions abroad must
to a greater extent contribute to the international mobility of students, teachers and the
working population. At the same time, it must to a greater extent be possible to have
experience and prior learning recognised abroad.
In the higher education area Denmark takes an active part in the Bologna process, which
is among other things to ensure a European credit transfer system, comparable degrees and
better quality. In the field of vocational education and training a similar cooperation is
in the pipeline. The aim of this cooperation is to ensure that the individual can get his
or her vocational qualifications recognised and be able to move freely between different
jobs in different countries.
Qualifications and competences
A high and relevant standard when it comes to qualifications and competences must be
ensured at all levels of the education system, on the one hand in relation to the contents
of the programmes, and on the other hand in relation to all the educational courses
offered and to the educational structure.
There must be coherence and progression in the proficiency and competence requirements
throughout the entire education system. The basic, general, social, cultural and personal
competences must be taken into account, and the proficiency and competence requirement,
the level of the teaching and the relevant competences must be constantly developed. The
educational courses offered must be constantly adapted to the structurally - conditioned
competence requirements in the Danish business sector.
The proficiency and competence level on the individual levels of the education system
must be ensured. Inadequate qualifications and competence at one level must not result in
dropout from the subsequent level of education.
The courses of education must be reviewed from a new perspective in order to identify
the profile of the individual subjects and their social relevance. It is the aim to ensure
dynamic proficiency, qualification and competence, however, the overall target is to
create a total supply of courses of education, where both the quality of the subject
matter and the social relevance are in focus. The quality of the subject matter and the
social relevance in the university programmes must be strengthened through cooperation
between universities, the business sector, sector research institutions and the other
knowledge centres.
The identity of a course of education must be defined through a number of objectives
which describe the subjectspecific expertise and skills which make up the content
foundation of the course. This foundation will at the same time form the basis of the
continued development of competences - including the various specialisations. As far as
the research-based programmes are concerned the driving force is the development of the
research, the cooperation with the business sector and the cooperation between
universities and sector research institutions.
Emphasis must be laid on clear formulations of targets for the individual subjects,
levels of education, programmes and institutions complete with clear criteria for the
assessment of the achievement of targets. A clearer formulation of targets must on the one
hand strengthen the basis for the teaching, and on the other hand it must be able to
document on a continuous basis how a strengthening of the proficiency, qualification and
competence level is taking place in the individual institutions.
The targets must reflect that the programmes are to contain subject-specific challenges
for all, also the most gifted. Everybody must be challenged to perform their very best.
The teaching must be target-oriented towards the individual pupil with the point of
departure in his or her abilities and development potential.
A strengthening of educational proficiency must contain various concrete targets -
dependent on whether the focus is on the general or on the vocationally oriented courses
of education. With the point of departure in the general courses of education, the target
is in particular set on a strengthening of qualification and competence in the natural
sciences subjects, mathematics, Danish and in foreign languages. As far as the
research-based courses are concerned, the guidance given by the lecturers and their
qualifications in pedagogy and communication must be further enhanced.
The education system must be able to live up to the recipients' expectations regarding
employees with relevant qualifications and competences. Both the structure of the
education system and the organisation of the individual courses offered must be based on
the greatest possible flexibility also in connection with the students' possibilities of
choosing a course of education. The focus must be put on lifelong learning, modular
courses and e-learning. In the vocational education and training and the short and
mediumcycle higher education areas, recognition of the individual's prior learning must be
much more common. Prior learning is also relevant in connection with the universities'
Master programmes. We must move away from the concept where competences are only created
within the education system. For they are also to a very great extent developed in the
place of work, through participation in liberal adult education, voluntary work in
associations etc. It should be made possible to acquire competences - including entrance
competence - in different ways so that there can be a difference from individual to
individual. It does not, however, mean that the government will slacken its
subject-specific requirements, for instance its entrance requirements for programmes
leading to authorisations.
On the basis of experience from other countries, the government will take an initiative
with a view to developing reliable and accepted methods for the individual development of
competences in cooperation with the business sector and the educational institutions. The
focus must to a greater extent be set on "what a person can do" rather than on
"what he or she has" in the form of certificates.
As many as possible must complete a qualifying course of education. However,
possibilities must be created in particular within vocational education and training for
people to acquire vocational competences earlier than at present. After a period of time,
it should be possible to get on the educational train again and strengthen and further
develop the vocational competences acquired previously.
It is therefore of decisive importance that the education system can ensure offers of
quality and relevance to the individual throughout his or her life. It must be possible to
acquire vocational competences in various ways and with different durations of study.
In this context, also the work with credit transfer must be given a higher priority
with a view to ensuring flexibility and increased mobility in the education system,
nationally as well as internationally.
Flexibility must also support a change of attitude towards a culture which inspires
innovation and entrepreneurship. The desire to work must be given back to pupils and
students, and young people must in general be prepared for a working life in the labour
market of the future, where it is both challenging and attractive to start something new
and be independent.
It is important for the business sector's ability to hold its own against international
competition to reduce the distance between the birth of an idea, in a research environment
for instance, and its conversion into a product marketed by a company. Education is
instrumental in ensuring new knowledge and are given the ability to translate research and
new ideas into their individual practice.
We are not performing very well in this area today. It is here that the education
system has a central role to play. There are many talented young people, but we do not
educate a sufficient number of them to become entrepreneurs. Denmark has an unused
potential in this area, and the government aims to exploit this potential. Young people
are to be given the tools and competences that enable them to become talented and
growth-enhancing entrepreneurs - the most gifted and most highly educated of them should
become knowledge-based and high technological entrepreneurs, who make use of their
competences in a businessrelated context.
Society's investments in education will only give the necessary yield in the form of
growth and welfare if there is a close interaction between the entire education system,
the university and sector research and the business sector. The research results must be
disseminated to the surrounding world through cooperation with public and private
companies. This requires highly educated employees and an enhanced entrepreneurship
culture. The government wants better opportunities for and a positive attitude towards
innovation and entrepreneurship in the education system. This will come through an
increased focus on entrepreneurship culture at all levels and within all courses of
education. The government will make an effort to strengthen the structural and
content-related elements required for the inclusion of innovation and entrepreneurship in
our education system, and it will therefore present an action plan in the autumn, the aim
of which is to create more entrepreneurs.
Free choice
The government highly values the citizen's free choice. There must be a free choice of
educational institution, and here it is very important for the government that a relevant
supply of education and training is ensured all over the country through a regionally
balanced institutional structure.
There must be a greater flexibility for pupils and students to adapt their education
through courses offered by different institutions - for instance within the general upper
secondary programmes. However, it must be stressed that the freedom to put together a
course of education must not be introduced at the expense of qualification and competence.
The institutions should to a greater extent take part in cross-institutional network
cooperation with a view to supporting flexibility. Existing barriers to a maximum
flexibility should be removed.
The freedom to choose a course of education does of course require that one has the
necessary skills, and that the future prospects for the subject seem promising. There is
no sense in educating young people for unemployment, when at the same time there is a
shortage of people in various sectors. The courses of education are therefore not only to
support the business sector's need for competences, but in important areas also its
recruitment needs. When it comes to for instance the health area, where there is already
an increasing demand for labour, the government will consider incentives which may
increase the intake to the social and health education programmes, including the basic
social and health education programmes and the nursing programme. The same is the case
with the natural sciences and technical university programmes, where the intake of
students and the completion rate must be increased with a view to coping with the shortage
of labour in these areas. Thus in particular, the medical industry, the IT sector and the
biotechnological companies are growth areas with recruitment problems and a great need for
employees with researchbased qualifications. This should be taken into account in the new
thinking about research-based education programmes.
Relevant and available information about the contents, quality and the achievement of
targets is also a prerequisite if citizens and companies are to choose education and
school or educational institution freely and on an informed basis. Transparency and
openness will further the basis for lasting choices of both education and institutions and
thus for a quicker completion of the programmes. The government will present proposals
which are to strengthen the educational and vocational guidance effort, also involving
more coherence across the different sectors. The guidance offered should be made more
transparent and more easily available to the individual citizen - among other things
through an increased use of IT. In this way, the guidance offered contributes to ensuring
that there really is a free choice for the individual young person. Furthermore, the
guidance of young people must to a greater extent focus on initiatives that sustain
entrepreneurship.
Output management
The institutions are to be given a greater degree of freedom and a better framework for
quality development. The educational institutions must have adequate freedom to be able to
meet the new requirements of increased quality, proficiency and competences. An increased
selfmanagement requires well-functioning, sustainable and regionally based educational
institutions - institutions, which can offer flexible and relevant solutions that are
adapted to the competence needs of the students and companies, and which can ensure strong
and relevant educational possibilities for everyone throughout the country.
A consistent renewal of the way in which educational institutions are managed is a
cornerstone of the government's educational policy. There must be a new and clear division
of tasks between educational institutions and central regulation which places the
educational institutions in a stronger position in their daily work and in the
organisation of future quality development. The management concept must be changed into a
coherent development-oriented management concept with the focus on principles regarding
selfevaluation and based on requirements with regard to the institutions' entire work on
quality.
As a consequence of the decentralised management form, a detailed set of rules and
subsequent checking of the individual institutions' observance of these rules must be
replaced by a more result-oriented supervision which is to a greater extent characterised
by the overall supervision of results and analysis of the institutions' framework
conditions for ensuring that they have the optimal conditions for delivering high quality.
One element in the renewal is greater transparency and openness, where among other
things output indicators are to provide relevant information for the stakeholders of the
institutions - students, recipients, local and regional stakeholders, staff etc. and at
the same time create the basis for an active involvement of the stakeholders' assessment
of the quality and the results provided by the institutions. The quality of the teaching
and the development of proficiency and competences must be documented through tests and
examinations which match the targets set and which render visible the individual students'
benefit from the teaching. There is thus a need to work with the development of new
examination and test forms, among other things in general upper secondary education and in
the university area. Furthermore it should take place through evaluations of the
programmes, both self-evaluations and evaluations carried out by the individual
institution as well as crosscutting evaluations.
In order to improve and ensure the educational institutions' quality development work,
agreements are used based on the institutions' freedom and responsibility for prioritising
and weighting. The agreements take their point of departure in a formulation of action
areas and targets for the respective educational sectors and the higher education
programmes with the addition of new action areas and targets to the multi-annual agreement
from 2001. It will require a special effort from management, which must initiate and
support development projects and be visible - also when it comes to salaries.
The economic framework of the initiatives in the action plan and the follow-up to this
are the funds already set aside in the Budget for 2002, including the ministries'
conversion funds etc. The implementation of the initiatives must as far as possible take
place in the form of agreements which take their point of departure in objective
distribution criteria according to which the institutions at the same time commit
themselves to reporting in relation to a number of objectives agreed beforehand, including
a number of indicators for quality and efficiency. In the university area, the
implementation will take place in connection with structural reforms.
Chapter 2: Educational
policy action areas
The Folkeskole is the basis of all subsequent education. It is therefore of decisive
importance that the individual pupil is given the best possible proficiency and competence
foundation to build on, when he or she leaves the Folkeskole. The most recent
international studies have however shown that the proficiency and competence level in the
Danish Folkeskole does not match that of most other countries with which we normally
compare ourselves in spite of the fact that it is one of the most expensive in the world.
Against this background the Minister of Education has among other things launched the
proposal "10 steps towards a better Folkeskole", which contains a number of
initiatives which are to strengthen the proficiency and competence level in the
Folkeskole, and at the same time the municipalities are to be given greater flexibility
when it comes to organising their own school system so that the resources are spent in the
most appropriate way in relation to the pupils' benefitting from the teaching.
In order to support the initiatives in "10 steps towards a better
Folkeskole", the government will, in cooperation with the municipalities, ensure a
more target-oriented and flexible organisation of the in-service training and courses
offered to teachers. This is a necessity, both if we are to increase the proficiency and
competence level in the actual teaching and if we are to pave the way for the introduction
of forms of teaching with an increased focus on for instance integrated school start and
group formation across classes and year groups.
The government's high ambition level for the Folkeskole will also set new and more
stringent requirements when it comes to the role of the head teacher. In order to provide
the head teachers with the necessary tools to perform this role, the government will
introduce a diploma programme in school management.
The government's initiatives in the Folkeskole area are thus to be seen in close
connection with and as a part of the foundation of the government's action plan for Better
Education.
The government will initiate reforms of the Gymnasium and HF and as far as necessary of
the HHX and HTX, so that reforms and adjustments form part of a coherent perspective for
the entire area of education. A greater focus will be put on the general upper secondary
education programmes as education courses preparing for further studies. At the same time,
it is the aim to have equal general upper secondary programmes, which together and
separately are to appear with clear profiles vis-à-vis the other upper secondary
programmes. The reforms will be carried out as a continuation of the innovation and
development work which has been carried out in the past few years.
The primary target of the reforms is to strengthen the proficiency and competence level
of the programmes so that the academic competences of the general upper secondary
programmes are improved, and so that the content of the programmes ensures that the pupils
get the competences they need in their further studies. Hereby, a greater conformity
regarding the admission requirements to the higher education programmes will be achieved.
A uniform national proficiency and competence standard is to be maintained in the
general upper secondary programmes, among other things through the formulation of clear
targets, a national examination system and evaluations.
At the same time, there must be greater flexibility between the general upper secondary
programmes themselves, including the possibility of free choice between certain optional
subjects in the different programmes as well as the secondment of teachers. The government
wishes to have a better exploitation of the cooperation possibilities between the general
upper secondary education institutions and will aim at removing the barriers for such
cooperation.
Furthermore the aim will be to create a better credit transfer scheme for the general
and vocational upper secondary programmes where it must be possible to have previously
completed/ passed subjects - or parts hereof - recognised in the case of transition to a
new programme, so that barriers can be removed, and double qualifications avoided.
The concrete initiatives range from general reforms of the content to more specific
initiatives aimed at increasing the proficiency and competence level in special areas such
as Danish, foreign languages, natural sciences and mathematics. In the reforms, the
emphasis is laid on new working and evaluation methods. Emphasis is also laid on a changed
management concept, where detailed control of content and input is replaced by an
output-oriented target and framework management which gives the individual institution
more responsibility and a freer framework for achieving the targets and for documenting
the achievement of the targets.
Reform of the Gymnasium
The target of a Gymnasium reform is to improve young people's real study competence and
thus strengthen the basis for getting more young people through a higher education
programme. The Gymnasium must give all pupils subject-specific and personal challenges.
Better possibilities are to be created for immersion into the subject and interaction
between subjects, and an increased emphasis is to be laid on the natural sciences. The
Gymnasium has two declared aims: to give a general education and to prepare for further
studies. The aim of the teaching is to build on the knowledge gained in the 9 years of the
Folkeskole and to contribute to the personal development of the pupils and to develop
their interest for and ability to take an active part in a democratic society.
The present Gymnasium has a broad recruitment basis - so broad that some pupils
consider the competence level of the Gymnasium to be irrelevant to them and far too
theoretical when compared with their thoughts about future education, whereas other pupils
feel that the teaching does not offer them sufficient challenges. This gives rise to the
observed lack of study motivation and the increasing truancy.
The present curricula are very comprehensive and detailed and may be considered to be
an obstacle to the development of new qualifications, proficiency and competences which
make room for new working methods and a greater use of IT.
The many obligatory subjects may be instrumental in limiting the possibilities of
immersion and of making the relevant choices of subjects with a view to the further choice
of education.
In 1999, the Danish Parliament adopted the development programme for the upper
secondary programmes of the future. As part of the development programme, a great number
of specific innovation and development projects and a number of comprehensive structural
experiments have been initiated. The experience from these innovation and development
projects is used in the continuous development of the Gymnasium and thus becomes part of
the basis for a reform of the Gymnasium.
The reform is to be implemented together with a reform of the HF programme and possible
adjustments of HHX and HTX, so that the general upper secondary programmes together and
separately appear with clear profiles. The aim is furthermore to increase the interaction
between the general upper secondary programmes and a strengthening of the possibilities of
the individual school to create its own subject-specific profile.
The target group of the Gymnasium is:
- Young people, who aim at enrolment in higher education, and who are interested in
knowledge, in seeing things in perspective and in abstraction
- Young people who primarily enter directly from the 9th form of the Folkeskole.
The Gymnasium is characterised by a high proficiency and competence level and by
requiring that the pupils have a personal commitment in and a sense of responsibility
visàvis the course of study. The requirements must be seen in the right perspective so
that the pupils acquire a real study competence which is directed towards the higher
education programmes. As it is a general education programme, emphasis must be laid on
making it possible for the pupils to develop a personal, social and cultural identity.
With a view to obtaining a strengthening of the real study competence, the reform is to
be characterised by the following:
- Emphasis on an interaction between subjects (proficiency, qualifications and competences
as opposed to subjects)
- Emphasis on immersion
- Target management instead of content management
- Progression in working methods and examination forms with a view to obtaining increased
study competence
- Strengthening of the natural sciences subjects and elements of education
- Removal of the present division into subject lines and the introduction of a short
common introductory period for all students before the final choice of subject
combinations (lines/subject packages).
The overall emphasis is laid on giving the individual pupil more options and on
target-orienting these options more towards the subsequent education and profession. This
is obtained by setting aside more lessons for optional subjects organised as "subject
packages" and for totally free options and at the same time by allocating fewer
lessons to the obligatory subjects. These subject packages ensure a greater interaction
between the subjects. General themes of subject packages may for instance be: modern
languages; classical languages; mathematics and natural sciences; mathematics and social
studies; natural sciences and philosophy; biology, chemistry and social studies.
Within a specific framework, the individual school combines subjects and levels within
the individual subject package. Furthermore, it will be possible for the individual pupil
to choose free optional subjects, for instance creative subjects or a further subject at
high level.
The teaching must take as its point of departure the fact that the pupils come from the
9th form of the Folkeskole. The teaching must be organised so that the pupils' curiosity
and commitment are encouraged, and experimenting approaches to the subject-matter should
be promoted. There should be more personal and subject-specific challenges, and the
working methods and examination forms must set the stage so that during the course the
pupils will assume an increasing responsibility for their own education.
The pupils are to be presented with central subjects and with the characteristic
methods of these subjects as well as to problem complexes which can be analysed from the
point of view of several subjects. Emphasis is laid on the fact that the pupils experience
both the strength and fascination of the individual subjects and the qualities of a
greater interaction between the subjects.
The Gymnasium must have a more significant subjectspecific profile. Rather than the
many specialised subjects in the present Gymnasium, the individual pupil must have fewer
subjects and more time for immersion and studylike work forms, including more major
independent assignments and projects. An innovation of the content must be provided on the
basis of target management rather than content management. Target management is to
a give greater degree of freedom with regard to achieving the targets and is thus to make
room for dynamic proficiency and competence.
The development from pupil to student must be given great importance. Clear criteria
must be established for the achievement of targets, and evaluation forms must be developed
which reflect to a greater extent the aims of the teaching. Emphasis must be laid on
extensive use of IT in the teaching and in examinations.
There must be a general strengthening of the natural sciences subjects. The teaching
must be modernised with a view to promoting the pupils' motivation for and interest in
technology, natural sciences and scientific ways of thinking. Authentic problem complexes
must be included in the teaching, and the cooperation with the business sector must be
strengthened.
Today, the pupils must choose a subject line, before they know anything about the
contents and working methods of the subjects at the general upper secondary level. In
order to ensure that the individual pupil acquires a better basis to choose the final
subject combination as well as a better basis for a target-oriented immersion into the
subjects, the present division into subject lines will be replaced by a short common
introductory period, followed by a choice of new subject lines/subject packages. The
introductory package must contain humanities, social sciences and natural sciences
subjects.
A conference is planned for the autumn 2002 on targets and contents in the pending
reform of the Gymnasium with a view to drawing up a report for the Parliament in January
2003.
The government will present a bill on a reform of the Gymnasium in the autumn of 2003
with effect from August 2005.
Reform of the
higher preparatory examination (HF)
Like the Gymnasium programme, the higher preparatory examination or HF programme is an
academically oriented general upper secondary programme which, since the beginning of the
1970's, has had a double target:
- A 2-year coherent programme for pupils coming directly from the 10th form of the
Folkeskole and for young people who to begin with have chosen another programme at upper
secondary level and who wish to make another choice, or who have been in the education
system for a while ("second chance" education). The 2-year programme is offered
primarily by Gymnasiums
- Single-subject education for adults wishing to study at general upper secondary level.
Single-subject HF is offered at adult education centres, so-called VUCs.
Throughout the 1990s, serious problems were observed with the HF programme, in
particular with the 2-year HF programme. After the most recent changes of the Gymnasium
and HF, the contents of the two programmes had become too much alike. At the same time,
there were problems with the proficiency and competence level of the HF programme. This
was on the one hand due to those on the course having a too low proficiency and competence
level when entering the programme and a lack of motivation, and on the other hand it was
due to the short duration of the programme. Furthermore, there was a relatively big
dropout from the programme (approx. 25%). These problems motivated the initiation of
comprehensive experimental work with a 2 and 3-year HF from the school year 1997/98.
From the school year 2000/2001, the experiments were also extended to also comprise
single-subject HF at VUC, where new types of participants - some quite young and others in
employment - have led to a need for new pedagogical methods and for more flexible forms of
organisation.
The round of experiments has now ended, and the final evaluations of the experiments
have been published. A good basis for a reform of the programme is thus available.
The aim of a reform of the 2-year HF programme is to ensure a well-functioning 2-year
general upper secondary education programme regarding proficiency and competence improving
the HF pupils' real study competence and providing a relevant basis for a choice of
education and profession. Through the introduction of pupil-activating working methods and
a strengthened interaction between the subjects, the HF pupils must be stimulated to take
a personal responsibility for their own course of education and thereby acquire
competences which are more relevant than those provided by the present HF programme.
The reform of the single-subject HF programme for adults is - through flexible
organisation methods - intended to ensure an adult group of course participants better
possibilities of qualifying themselves both for further studies and for better job
prospects.
The aim of the reform is to give the structure, content and pedagogical organisation of
the HF programme an independent profile, which distinguishes itself clearly from that of
both the other general upper secondary programmes (Gymnasium, HHX and HTX) and the other
adult education programmes.
Basically, the HF programme is to continue to address itself to young people and adults
who want to pursue a programme at general upper secondary level with a view to continuing
in higher education. In structure and content, the HF programme must be characterised by
flexibility so that the teaching can be organised in accordance with the students' very
different prerequisites and goals. In accordance with the typical subsequent choice of
study, this implies that there are still not to be any requirements about having to take
optional subjects at the highest level A as a condition for acquiring a HF examination.
The students must however have the possibility of choosing subjects at level A.
HF maintains the general study competence, and dependent on the individual student's
choice of subjects and levels it may give access to admission to all higher education
programmes. At present, it will be possible to supplement a HF examination through the
system of supplementary examination courses at general upper secondary level (GSK), and
the possibility of participating in, for instance, commercial and technical programmes at
the vocational colleges, will be established.
The flexibility in the programme is, in combination with the requirement of a high and
strengthened proficiency and competence level, among other things an expression of the
fact that there are different forms of and approaches to qualifications, proficiency and
competence. As part of this flexibility, the role of HF as a power centre for
subjectspecific/ pedagogical innovation in the general upper secondary programmes is to be
re-established and developed with an increased emphasis on an individualised and IT
supported approach to the teaching.
The reform is to lead to a number of quality improvements, which:
- Provide an innovation of the content on the basis of target management rather than
content management with emphasis on the core of the subject as well as a subjectspecific
degree of freedom: this will allow for local decision-making with regard to methods and
ways of doing things
- Comprehensively strengthen the proficiency and competences in a new form of which to a
greater extent than before will stress the connections between the subjects, for instance
through project-organised teaching
- Ensure the interaction between the subjects through a thorough reorganisation of the
major part of the teaching in "subject groups", consisting of related subjects:
"culture and society"; "mathematics and science" and "practical/
aesthetical subjects". The subject groups do not operate with fixed numbers of
lessons per subject, it is left to the individual course establishment to plan the
teaching so that the aims in the curriculum guidelines are met
- Change the teacher and pupil roles and thus the traditional teaching concept, not least
with emphasis on workshop teaching and on IT as a catalyst for individualised teaching
- Lay increased emphasis on the practical and presentation perspective of the subjects
- Increase the commitment of the students and stimulate them to
take responsibility for and take active part in their course of education through the
introduction of modern working and organisational methods
- Ensure the achievement of targets through the introduction of new evaluation forms which
reflect to a greater degree the aims of the teaching
- Make it possible for the individual HF course establishment to create its own profile of
the programme through certain subject packages (e.g. such as "languages",
"health", "the environment", "pedagogy" and
"communication"), which aim at certain short- and mediumcycle higher education
programme both in the public and the private sector.
With a reform of the single-subject HF courses, it is the main aim, not least
through a clearer distinction between singlesubjects for adults and the coherent 2-year
programme for young people, to create better conditions so that a very heterogeneous group
of adult students can qualify themselves for further education or strengthen their
qualifications with a view to getting better job prospects.
A special Ministry of Education executive order will be drawn up for single-subject HF
in full consideration of the connection and interaction with general adult education at
lower secondary education level (in Danish AVU). The pedagogical improvements of the
quality, for which the stage is set in a 2-year course, may fully apply to singlesubject
HF in those cases where HF-subjects are offered in packages aiming at certain higher
education programmes. Also in the case of actual single-subject teaching, there will be a
thorough revision of the traditional teaching concept and the traditional subjects, such
as:
- The highest possible degree of flexibility is ensured with the many forms of
organisation and varying number of lessons which can accommodate adult participants' very
diverse prerequisites - and their wishes and needs in relation to further education and
work
- A possibility is established for introducing new subjects and offering new teaching in
parts of subjects
- Changes will be made in the provisions concerning compulsory attendance in order to
accommodate the adult participant's work and life situation. This is done in connection
with the introduction of virtual working methods and evaluations and documentation of the
subjectspecific benefit during the course.
The government will present a proposal to Parliament for a reform of the HF in the
autumn of 2002 with effect from august 2004.
The HHX and HTX are general upper secondary education programmes with a significant
business-related content the HHX with the main emphasis on business and socioeconomically
oriented subject areas as well as on foreign languages, and the HTX with the main emphasis
on technical and technology subjects as well as on natural sciences subjects. They are
offered by vocational colleges, and in the 1st year to some extent they have common
subjects with the basic course of the vocational education and training programmes. The
experience gained from this makes it necessary to carry out a more detailed analysis of
how the subject-specific progression in particular in the 1st year can be organised with
an increased benefit to the pupils.
In connection with the reforms of the general upper secondary area, the focus will be
set on the profile and proficiency and competence level of the programmes, including their
vocationally related content and the study competence of the pupils. Furthermore it is
necessary to make an effort regarding strengthening the completion rate.
This will take place in the period up to 2004.
The vocational education and training programmes at upper secondary education level (in
Danish EUD) and the continuing vocational training programmes for adults (in Danish AMU)
are facing major challenges at present from the labour market which demands an
increasingly vocationally well-founded and flexible workforce. The programmes must
accommodate a labour market, subject to continuous changes with new production methods,
technologies and ways of organising work.
It is therefore essential that the EUD and AMU programmes are adapted to the
requirements of increased flexibility and a strengthening of the competence level. The
education and training institutions must offer vocationally programmes with a strong and
flexible vocational profile. The supply of education and training must be broad, flexible,
transparent and innovative and provide the individual with a real possibility of lifelong
development of his or her competences. The point of departure is to a greater extent to
meet the needs and expectations of citizens, companies and the sectors when programmes are
designed and organised.
The general principle in the vocational and training programmes must be that the
individual is able to obtain the desired and demanded competences in many different ways
and with varying lengths of study. Systems and rules must not create barriers for the
individual or for companies in order to promote employability and ensure a wellqualified
workforce. The learning opportunities must be visible and immediately comprehensible for
the individual as well as companies.
In the EUD programmes, the alternance training principle is to be assessed and
reconsidered with involvement of the relevant stakeholders. Especially the requirements
with regard to the duration of education and practical training at the workplace are to be
reduced. A more differentiated supply of education and training must be developed with
varied forms of organisation and admission requirements. The balance between practical
training at the workplace and schoolbased education must be reconsidered, in particular
the schoolbased practical training. Generally, the proficiency and competence level must
be strengthened, and it should be considered whether some EUD programmes should be turned
into short-cycle higher education programmes.
The situation regarding the practical training place, the proficiency and competences
and the labour market relevance must be reconsidered. Strengthened guidance must
contribute to reducing the dropout and double qualifications, in particular within the
commercial EUD-area. Among the technical EUD programmes, it is in particular within the
new or rapidly changing employment areas, e.g. the IT area, that new solutions must be
found to problems with demand for labour and shortage of practical training places.
For the AMU programmes, focus must be on the development of competences with
immediate relevance for the practical training, including the interaction between the
qualification needs of the company and the development of the individual's competences.
The AMU programmes must have a greater flexibility, and the numerous training plans must
be transformed into more flexible plans which can respond to needs occurring at local
level.
It should be considered merging the EUD and AMU programmes, when need for this
occur in the labour market. Among other things, the credit transfer possibilities between
the programmes must be reconsidered and rendered visible, easier access must be provided
to electronic information about the programmes, and a common evaluation system must be
developed for systematic quality and result measurements.
A strengthened European cooperation on mutual recognition within the EUD and AMU areas
is on the agenda during the Danish EU presidency in the 2nd half of 2002. Through this,
the international dimension in education and training and mobility will be strengthened.
In the following, concrete proposals are presented which take up the challenges and
formulate initiatives that contribute to a strengthening of the overall effort within EUD
and AMU areas.
The EUD programmes are facing great challenges in connection with recruitment,
practical training place problems and a huge dropout. The programmes, which cover a great
and differentiated field of employment with very different conditions and development
features, need differentiated solutions, which accommodate the needs of the individual
branch or employment areas rather than standardised solutions for the entire area.
The government will therefore present proposals for a renewal of the commercial EUD
programmes, which will specifically ensure that:
- More flexible basic and main courses are developed for the commercial programmes
- Courses of different duration and depth are created which are connected with different
job profiles and provide a recognised vocational competence at different levels, and which
subsequently make it possible to start the programme at different levels
- The pupil gets a better basis for and access to further education and continuing
training
- Methods for assessment of prior learning are developed so that credit can be obtained
for already acquired competences in relation to the admission requirements and final
objectives of the commercial programmes as well as in the case of a change of programme
between the commercial specialisations and in the case of a change of programme to and
from other programmes.
The interaction between the short-cycle higher education programmes and the EUD
programmes will form part of the work, and new solutions will be developed to replace the
school-based practical training.
Proposals will be presented in the spring of 2003, and the legislation will enter into
force in 2004.
The constant practical training place problems within the technical EUD programmes
prove that in spite of the increase in the possibility of flexibility in the EUD reform
2000 there is a need for an initiative which makes the technical EUD programmes even more
flexible.
The problems have in particular appeared within new areas of employment and areas where
there are great shifts in employment, e.g. the IT related area of education.
An assessment will therefore be made of the practical training place situation,
proficiency and competences, the labour market relevance etc cutting across all technical
EUD programmes with a view to taking initiatives and presenting proposals which ensure
flexible courses of education of different duration and depth, and which provide a
recognised vocational competence with a possibility of later upgrading it to a higher
level.
Furthermore, an assessment will be made of the types of institutions which are best
suited to offer the various vocationally oriented programmes, e.g. in the field of
agriculture.
The interaction between short-cycle higher education programmes, the vocationally
oriented general upper secondary programmes (HTX) and the EUD programmes will form part of
the work. The reflections about new solutions in replacement of the school-based practical
training will furthermore form part of the work.
Proposals for legislation and amendments will be presented to Parliament in 2003.
The government's aim of improving the qualifications of the workforce must be ensured
through vocationally oriented basic, adult and continuing training programmes. The
programmes are to meet the needs of a labour market subject to constant changes, where new
and more traditional production methods, technologies and ways of organising work exist
side by side.
There is a need to ensure a EUD system (vocational upper secondary education) and an
AMU system (continuing vocational training) of high quality with strong vocationally
oriented basic courses and flexible adult education and continuing training programmes.
The education and training supply must be broad, flexible, transparent and functional so
that the individual has a real possibility of lifelong development of his or her
competences.
Therefore, a process will be initiated in which the legal basis and the forms of
description in the EUD- and the AMU programmes are harmonised. This is to contribute to:
- An optimisation of the supply of single subjects in EUD and AMU programme
- The award of credit for completed labour market training in EUD/adult vocational
training programmes
- A systematic evaluation and measurement of results
- The coordination of the development work in and transversely to EUD and AMU programmes.
There is furthermore to be easier access to electronic information about EUD and AMU
programmes.
In 2002, amendments will be proposed to the Parliament concerning the harmonisation of
the legal basis, and in 2003 the administrative systems will be adapted, and in 2004
systematic evaluations and measurements of results will be initiated.
There are more than 2,000 different training plans in AMU. Each individual training
plan is described in a centrally approved plan, which indicates the targets and framework
of the programme. All plans, irrespective of activity level, are subject to the same
development and approval process. Each individual programme is assessed in relation to the
training places which should be able to offer it. It is unclear for the users where they
are to go and administratively burdensome for the training places, who may have to borrow
course approvals from each other. This implies an inflexible and confusing system, which
does not to a sufficient extent meet the user's specific local and regional needs in the
shortest possible time.
Therefore, a new AMU concept must be developed, which is more target-oriented,
flexible, transparent and dynamic, and which can ensure that:
- The training places get a greater local/regional liberty of action so that significant
parts of the decisionmaking competence is close to the users
- The approx. 2,000 training plans are to be replaced by much fewer user-friendly, broad
and future-oriented descriptions of competence areas within which there must be a dynamic
development of national training targets in step with the development in the labour market
- The users and the training institutions are able to put together AMU programmes from the
whole range of training targets so that a bridge can be built between the learning that
takes place in the programmes and the formal and non-formal learning which is acquired at
the workplace
- The training places are able to organise the AMU programmes flexibly in relation to the
needs of the users, e.g. in the companies in the form of distance learning, and they may
shorten the programme in relation to the needs of the individual participants
- The users can have their previous learning assessed and obtain credits for them in
relation to the individual programme or for a competence development plan
- Assessment types and quality assurance tools are suited for assessing the participants
and the programmes and thus make the training places' output visible
- The approval procedures of the individual programmes are simplified
- The approval of training places for competence descriptions is given in such a way as to
promote proficiency and competences, economic sustainability and transparency, in
particular seen in connection with approvals for vocationally oriented basic courses
- An efficient interaction between AMU and singlesubject EUD etc. with a view to obtaining
educational synergy and optimal resource exploitation.
In the autumn 2002, the government will present proposals for a new Act on vocationally
oriented adult education and continuing training. The proposal is the 3rd phase of the
government's effort to merge and strengthen the education and training offered within the
EUD and AMU programmes. The two first phases concerning financial management and
institutional structure were adopted in the spring 2002 through the Act on the financing
of labour market training and the Act on institutions for vocationally oriented education.
Increased
European cooperation on mutual recognition within the EUD and AMU areas
The European Council has encouraged the implementation of measures in the vocational
education and training area concerning mutual recognition of vocational qualifications and
competences in relation to transnational employment and participation in education and
training corresponding to those adopted in the area of higher education (the socalled
Bologna process).
The background is the increasing importance that is being attached to vocational
education and training when it comes to increased employment, mobility etc. Inspired by
the Bologna process within higher education, the Commission has taken the initiative to
establish a strengthened European cooperation regarding mutual recognition of vocational
qualifications and competences. The Danish government has therefore decided that the
vocational education and training area is to be given a higher priority during the Danish
EU Presidency.
This specifically implies that the government will work for the adoption of a
resolution on a strengthened cooperation between European countries in the vocational
education and training area. The resolution is to contribute to overcoming the obstacles
to mobility and ensuring the recognition of qualifications in relation to employment and
participation in education across national boundaries.
At national level, the initiative is to contribute to the achievement of the targets
regarding an increase in the workforce, and in particular foreign citizens' access to the
labour market and the education system.
At European level, the initiative is to contribute to increased mobility, transparency
and the development of a closer cooperation on quality development in the field of
education as well as to support the prioritised targets set by the EU, among other things
in relation to the employment area, as well as targets in relation to the development of
the education systems.
The government would like all young people who are studying to meet challenges which
match their competences. This also applies to pupils participating in vocational education
and training courses.
The legal framework must therefore be provided so that EUD students can acquire a
general study competence in addition to their vocational competence. The study competence
is to be acquired through a course of education which is adapted and which utilises the
relevant parts of the EUD programme, including both periods of time in the school and
practical training at the workplace.
The vocational competence of the pupils is obtained in a course which comprises the
ordinary EUD programme, but it requires the student to complete a number of the basic and
optional subjects of the programme at general upper secondary level. It may furthermore be
required that the practical training is organised in such a way that the aims of the
practical training are attained within a shortened period of training practice. By
building on the synergy between the vocationally and educationally qualifying elements of
the total course, the total duration of the programme must still be held within a
framework of approx. 5 years. The organisation of vocational education and training
programmes with this addition will require a more flexible credit transfer system so that
different subjects or courses can to a certain extent replace each other and will require
the possibility of distance learning, in particular during the students' practical
training periods.
A bill will be presented to Parliament in the autumn of 2002.
A number of production school pupils do not acquire sufficient skills for continuing in
an ordinary programme or in employment. A flexible EGU programme (short vocational basic
courses) can contribute to countering this problem through its strong guidance element and
the very wide possibilities of acquiring vocational competence within all employment
areas, e.g. as farm workers, cleaners or social and health service assistants. The close
professional and pedagogical environment of the production schools is found to be an
adequate point of departure for organising and carrying through EGU programmes. Among
other things the schools have good contacts with the local business sector, and they
therefore have the possibility of finding practical training places for the EGU
participants. Furthermore, through an in-depth knowledge of the individual EGU
participant, the schools are able to follow the participants in the EGU course, which as a
main rule will take place outside the production school (with practical training hosts and
at other training places, e.g. technical colleges). Today, the EGU is organised by the
municipalities. For special target groups, the vocational colleges are responsible for the
organisation. Approx. half of the municipalities, primarily urban municipalities, use the
EGU.
There is thus a geographical imbalance. As the production schools are primarily located
in small municipalities, it will be possible to complement the municipal effort through an
EGU organised by production schools. Through the close contact between the municipalities
and the production schools, it should be possible to ensure a coordinated effort. It is
thus the aim that the EGU is to be developed all over the country to be offered to the
target group of academically weak young people or young people who have not made up their
minds about their future career.
The production schools must be provided with the same possibility of organising EGU
programmes as the vocational colleges - i.e. for the often academically very weak group of
young people who do not have the prerequisites for following one of the ordinary upper
secondary programmes.
A bill will be presented to Parliament in the autumn of 2002.
To meet the challenges in the global economy Denmark needs an education system of high
quality and with a high proficiency and competence level measured on an international
scale if we are to ensure growth and welfare both for the individual and for the Danish
society. In the global economy, production and the use of new knowledge are the keys to
increased growth, increased employment and greater welfare. Therefore today, education and
research are central competition parameters of decisive importance regarding Denmark's
competitiveness.
The constant changes in the needs of the labour market necessitate a constant
development of research and education, so that they match the needs of both the
business sector and the citizens for the development of skills as well as the changed
requirements with regard to proficiency and competences. A decreasing workforce will to an
ever increasing extent necessitate that our citizens are able to complete courses of
education without any unnecessary waste of time and at the same time ensure the intake of
new graduates to the labour market as quickly as possible. An improved real coherence must
be ensured between the upper secondary programmes and the higher education programmes,
among other things in connection with the reform of the Gymnasium. The proficiency and
competences of the students within a number of central subjects must be in order, the
study competence should be ensured in the upper secondary programmes, and educational
guidance must be strengthened.
Against the background of analyses, charting and discussions with the social partners,
it must be considered when the job functions and needs of the labour market require
programmes which build on professional orientation, research affiliation as well as when
there are specific needs for research-based bachelor- and master's degree programmes and
PhD programmes. In this context, it is of central importance to determine whether the
educational institutions have research and teaching competences at a level which is
sufficiently high for entering into strategic alliances and networks between institutions.
The government will consider the composition and supply of programmes within the short,
medium and long cycle higher education programmes, respectively.
The subject-specific requirements with regard to the contents of
research-affiliation agreements between universities and medium-cycle higher education
institutions must be specified with a view to ensuring that national and international
research results are utilised both in medium-cycle higher education programmes and in
diploma programmes. External evaluations must be made of those improvements in subject
quality which occur through research affiliation agreements.
The Act on medium-cycle higher education, which was adopted by the Danish parliament in
the summer of 2000, has created the basis for ensuring of the students' theoretical and
practical qualifications at a high proficiency and competence level. With this act, the
programmes have acquired a professional bachelor's degree level - and a title at the level
of the bachelor programmes of the universities, but which at the same time distinguishes
itself through a higher degree of vocational and practice orientation. A professional
bachelor programme thus allows for immediate employment or direct credit in connection
with further education within diploma and master's degree programmes.
There is to be a reform of the university programmes within most areas. The
overall target with the education reform is to offer a comprehensive choice of university
programmes, where both the quality of the teaching and the social relevance are in focus.
It is the aim to reduce the dropout and ensure that even more graduates enter the labour
market sooner. The content and applicability of the bachelor and master's degree
programmes must be strengthened, among other things with a view to meeting the future
needs of both private and public companies for labour with a research based education.
The content of the bachelor and master's degree programmes must be reformed, the
recruitment basis for the researcher education must be strengthened, the coupling between
teaching and research must be investigated, and the admission requirements to the bachelor
programmes must be reconsidered. The individual bachelor and master's degree programmes
must have a clear subjectspecific coherence and a socially relevant competence profile. A
greater focus will be placed on the bachelor programme and the master's degree programme
as independent programmes. The bachelor programme offers the possibility to enter the
labour market or to continue with several different master's degree programmes. The
master's degree programmes build upon relevant bachelor programmes. The quality of the
teaching and the relevance of the bachelor and master's degree programmes may be increased
through a closer cooperation with sector research institutions. Their competences can to a
greater extent be used in the programmes offered by the universities.
Strategic alliances and different forms of cooperation between the universities
themselves and between universities and sector research institutions can in general be one
of the central way of improving the quality of the teaching.
Better researcher training programmes require an increase in the number of new
graduates and an increase in the range of their knowledge so that an adequate recruitment
basis is ensured. This is of central importance if we are to avoid a reduction in the
quality, proficiency and competence level of the researcher training.
With the point of departure in Danish and foreign experience, it must be investigated
how the connection between the international quality level of the research and the level
of the teaching in the programmes can be documented. Against this background, a concept
must be developed which links research and education together and ensures that the
subject-specific research content in the individual programmes continually reflects the
latest research results in the area.
When admitting students with a professional bachelor education to the universities'
master's degree programmes, a balance must be ensured between the consideration for
increased credit/flexibility and the consideration for the academic level of the teaching
and the social relevance. This balance must be ensured without creating unnecessary
obstacles or limitations for the students. The mapping of the actual practice in the
universities' master's degree programmes when admitting students and awarding credits to
a.o. persons with a medium-cycle higher education will be useful in this respect.
Users and recipients of graduates from the further education system for adults require
a flexible system, where the educational possibilities of the further education programmes
for adults, diploma programmes and Master programmes (which are at the level of the short,
medium and longcycle higher education programmes, respectively) can be adapted both to the
individual's needs and to changing needs in the labour market. The programmes are directed
at adults with occupational experience.
In order to be admitted at present to the further education programmes for adults, the
diploma programmes or the Master programmes under the further education system for adults,
the requirement is a minimum of 2 years' occupational experience. The interpretation of
this must however be reconsidered and made more flexible so that not only the number of
years in the labour market, but just as much the prior learning the individual has
acquired, is taken into consideration. It may entail a reduction of the required period,
if a concrete clarification and assessment of the applicants' prior learning form part of
the admission procedure. In this context, problems have been observed for certain groups
of persons and programmes, including for instance the programmes at the IT universities.
In the following, we will present a number of proposals which specifically take up the
challenge, and which contain initiatives which may contribute to strengthening the total
educational effort within the areas of higher education and further education and
continuing training.
The short and medium-cycle higher education programmes must be further developed with
the point of departure in the needs of the recipients. New interdisciplinary educational
combinations will among other things be able to support an increased application
orientation in the programmes.
In the short-cycle higher education programmes there is to be a continued strengthening
of the proficiency and competences and an innovation of the programmes as well as an
assurance of the interaction with the business sector, among other things as a follow-up
to the reform, where the new programmes were offered for the first time in 2000. On the
background of the experience gained so far, more systematic methods and procedures must be
developed for a continuous assurance of the quality. In particular, focus will be on three
areas:
- A close dialogue between the business sector, the institutions and the Ministry about
the needs of the labour market and the role of the programmes as a basis for a continuous
development of the proficiency and competences.
- Upgrading of the teachers' competence profile, e.g. through "job swopping" as
well as in-service training and further education.
- A systematic monitoring of the relevance of the programmes, on the one hand through
clear measurable standards for proficiency, competence and quality supported by the action
areas in the pluri-annual agreement for higher education (in this context documented via
reporting from the institutions). And on the other hand through requirements as to a
systematic evaluation of the proficiency, competences and the quality through the use of
different external and internal evaluation methods (including selfevaluation).
Furthermore, the interaction with the vocational education and training programmes must
furthermore be analysed - in particular the extent to which young people continue in a
short-cycle higher education programme upon completion of an EUD programme.
With the reform of the medium-cycle higher education programmes in 2000, the
professional bachelor title was introduced. The professional bachelor programme is at the
same level as the universities' bachelor programmes, but distinguishes itself from these
by containing both theory and practice. The programme gives immediate access to performing
a job function - and it also gives direct credit for further education through the diploma
master's degree programmes.
Before the end of 2003, the medium-cycle higher education programmes will have been
subject to adjustments, upgradings or reforms with a view to reaching the professional
bachelor level - such as it has been the case with the health education programmes, the
nutritional programmes and most recently the social work programme. In the process, the
focus will be on:
- The possibilities of research affiliation of centres for higher education and other
institutions for mediumcycle higher education which offer professional bachelor
programmes. The work will among other things build on the experience gained from the
action area on knowledge and development functions in the multi-annual agreement.
- Whether the existing quality assurance mechanisms (examinations, external examiner
schemes and continuous evaluations) are enough, or whether there is a need for new tools
and procedures.
In those instances where short-cycle higher education programmes are too short, a
dialogue must be initiated between recipients and suppliers of medium-cycle higher
education programmes with a view to making an assessment of the need for developing
medium-cycle higher education programmes directed in particular towards the private
sector. The universities and the recipients of the new graduates from the universities are
involved in this dialogue. It must be decided which new programmes there is a need for, on
the one hand within the ordinary education system, and on the other hand within further
adult education as well as the diploma and Master area. The new programmes must exploit
strengths in the private labour market, in particular within areas related to
MEDICO/health, information and communication technology, biotechnology, food technology
etc. The programmes must meet the needs of the labour market when it comes to being able
to constantly meet the challenges of continuous innovation and product development.
In 2002 and 2003, there will be a follow-up on the reforms of the short and
medium-cycle higher education programme with the development of new programmes and
adjustments and an upgrading of the proficiency and competences in certain existing
medium-cycle higher education programmes.
With the rapidly changing requirements and demands of the labour market for a workforce
with relevant skills, it is essential that education and training are offered which can
improve competence and ensure the possibility of further education and continuing training
for adults in the work force.
The first further education programmes for adults have been established. These
programmes will all be placed within the newly established vocational academy cooperation
so as to ensure a geographical coverage of the courses offered in close proximity to the
citizens and with a regional set-up which can at the same time cover the companies'
further education and continuing training needs.
In order to ensure that the needs of the users - including those of the business sector
- are met, systematic methods and procedures are to be established for a continuous
documentation of the achievement of the targets for the quality development and for the
strengthening of the proficiency and competences.
The diploma programmes are directed at adults with occupational experience. The need
for new diploma programmes will be established under consideration of existing programmes,
against the background of the development in the needs of the labour market and the demand
from the individual users.
Both the further education programmes for adults and the diploma programmes are to be
organised in modules. And the need for new adult education programmes will also be
established under the consideration of existing programmes.
In 2002 and 2003, new programmes will be developed and offered.
Public and private companies, the research sector and the education system, including
the Gymnasium, are dependent on graduates and researchers from the universities with
qualifications at the highest scientific level.
The international competition in the knowledge society constitutes new challenges for
Danish education and research. Production and the use of new knowledge are the keys to an
increased growth, increased employment and greater welfare. Therefore, education and
research are today central parameters of competition. Furthermore, in the coming years,
there will be a need to employ many new graduates in general upper secondary education,
among other things due to the arrival of another generation.
This gives rise to new and higher demands on the university programmes. The content of
the subjects as well as the quality and relevance must be strengthened. The interaction
between teaching and research and the connection between the bachelor and master's degree
programmes and the researcher programme must be in focus. It requires a multi-pronged
effort in relation to the university programmes.
The reform of the university programmes brings together several initiatives under
the same heading: regarding a) a reform of the contents of the universities' bachelor and
master's degree programmes, b) improved researcher education, c) an investigation of the
link between research and education, d) a reassessment of the specific admission
requirements of the bachelor programmes within certain subjects, and e) cooperation on
subject-specific competences for teaching in general upper secondary education.
The content and relevance of the bachelor and master's degree programmes must be more
apparent to students, teachers and recipients.
The new approach to the content of the bachelor and master's degree programmes must
contribute to:
- Ensuring that both the bachelor programmes and the master's degree programmes have their
own subjectspecific identity and competence profile, as well as ensuring a real
progression from bachelor to master's degree, thus strengthening the competence and
quality of both programmes
- Determining what is/should be a bachelor level and what is/should be a master's degree
level. This distribution into levels has become more topical in the light of the Bologna
Declaration and the introduction of the levels in the new further education system for
adults, where in particular the Diploma and Master's levels are relevant
- Focussing to a greater extent on the bachelor programme as an independent programme
which may lead to employment or to further studies in a master's degree programme
- Giving greater focus on the master's degree programme as an independent programme, which
builds on relevant bachelor programmes, and which together with these can be
target-oriented towards different job functions
- Independent bachelor and master's degree programmes, (and the deciding of their levels),
ensuring increased flexibility, and better opportunities for credit/equivalence in the
case of changes to the same or related programmes at another institution.
It is thus of decisive importance that a greater transparency is created for the
students. They must experience that the different elements of the study programmes are
interconnected to make a whole. At the same it must be perfectly clear exactly which
professional competences the studies will provide. The students must also feel that the
master's degree programmes are at a higher level than the bachelor programmes.
Improved researcher education
The graduates of the universities must primarily find employment upon completion of
their studies as the employment of graduates is an efficient source of knowledge
dissemination to public and private companies. The private business sector and the public
research sector however, also have an increasing need for staff with a researcher
education in the form of a PhD degree. One of the prerequisites for a high quality level
in the Danish researcher education is a sufficiently strong "food chain" from
the master's degree level. In several areas, approx. 25% of a master's degree year group
continue in a PhD study programme. The "threshold pain" has thus been reached,
as the quality of the researcher education drops, if the transition frequency exceeds this
proportion.
One of the aims of strengthening the content of the teaching and reducing the dropout
from the bachelor and master's degree programmes is to ensure the food chain to the
researcher programmes. Moreover, in the 2nd term of 2002, the Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation is initiating a study of the perception of the PhD programme
among "near-graduates". It is among other things the intention to discover why
qualified graduates opt out of the PhD programme. The study is furthermore intended to
contribute to the continued work of making the PhD programme even more attractive.
The central element in the programmes offered by the universities is that the teaching
is based on research, which among other things must ensure the highest scientific level
and a continuous innovation of the theoretical and methodological content of the teaching.
It must therefore be investigated as to how it can be possible to develop a new concept
for an integrated evaluation of education and research. The aim of initiating such a
process will be to document a connection between the international quality level of the
research within the individual subject-areas and the level of the teaching in selected
programmes.
Bachelor programmes'
admission requirements
Most of the academic bachelor programmes set subjectspecific requirements to applicants
meaning that they must have passed certain subjects at a certain level, A, B or C level
(where A is the highest level). It should be considered whether these subjects should as a
minimum have been passed in order for the applicants to meet the admission requirement.
Today, if a student has taken these subjects in one examination, and has passed them,
then the specific admission requirement will be met, irrespective of the mark obtained in
the subject in question. If a student has not passed for instance mathematics, but has
passed the general upper secondary school leaving examination as such, he still meets the
admission requirement for mathematics.
A student's study-related qualifications are of great importance for the benefit gained
from the teaching, for the change of studies and dropout, in particular in the first year
of the bachelor programme.
The aim of students having improved starting level for the bachelor programme is
therefore to ensure a better real subject specific coherence between the upper secondary
programmes and the university programmes. Most university programmes have - as a
supplement to the requirement of a qualifying examination, also subject and levelspecific
admission requirements. In a number of programmes, there is thus a requirement that the
applicant must have taken certain general upper secondary subjects, such as mathematics or
English, at a certain level.
These requirements have been established after an assessment of what is necessary in
order to be able to complete the programme. The requirements are laid down centrally, but
the educational institutions may lay down additional requirements as to marks obtained,
i.e. either requirements with regard to average or to marks in special subjects.
The government is looking into whether the consideration of the fact that a student has
sufficient subject-specific qualifications justifies a demand to the effect that the
applicant must have passed the subjects which are comprised by the specific admission
requirement. As a minimum, it should be required that the average of several subjects
comprised by the admission requirement should be at least 6.0 (13 being the highest
possible) in order to meet the specific admission requirements.
More students complete interdisciplinary university programmes, such as nano-technology
(physics, chemistry, biology, technology) and bio-informatics (computer science,
statistics, mathematics, molecular biology) rather than the more traditional 2-subject
programmes.
It must be investigated how the question of these graduates' subject-specific
competence for teaching in general upper secondary education is to be handled. This must
be seen in the light of the impending shortage of general upper secondary teachers in
natural sciences subjects.
When admitting graduates from a professional bachelor programme/medium-cycle higher
education programme to the master's degree programmes of the universities, a balance must
be struck between on the one hand the consideration for increased credit and flexibility
and the consideration for the proficiency and competence level, on the other.
The aim of the admission of graduates from a professional bachelor
programme/medium-cycle higher education programme to relevant master's degree-programmes
is thus that graduates from a professional bachelor programme are to have direct access,
i.e. without requirements regarding subject specific supplements, whereas graduates from
mediumcycle higher education programmes from before the adoption of the Act on
medium-cycle higher education can be required to do a subject-specific supplement of up to
6 months.
The Ministry of Education and the universities entered into an agreement in 2001 about
the registration of practice for the awarding of credits in connection with the intake to
master's degree programmes. In accordance with the sharing of competence, this agreement
is now administered by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. As part of the
agreement, credit practice is registered as far as applicants with a medium-cycle higher
education programme are concerned. As far as the universities are concerned, the procedure
was initiated from the winter intake 2001/02.
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will supplement this agreement with
a demand to the universities to the effect that they are to compile information regarding
how graduates from a medium-cycle higher education programme cope in the master's degree
programme, in particular when it comes to completion time and dropout rates, compared with
persons with a research-based bachelor education from a university. It will subsequently
be possible to use the results of this compilation of information in the development work
which is taking place in the centres for higher education.
Art and Architecture programmes
If the growth potential of the cultural sectors, which has among other things been
described in a government review on the cultural and business-related policies, Denmark's
Creative Potential, is to be realised, the professionally oriented elements in the
programmes must be strengthened, and the interaction between the professions and the
educational institutions must be intensified.
Improved possibilities of credit transfer and flexibility in the artistic programmes
(i.e. design, music, architecture etc.) are to make it easier to combine these programmes
with more business-oriented elements from other higher education programmes. In those
programmes, where it may be relevant, practical training schemes are introduced, and the
possibility of establishing advisory business panels will be investigated.
The initiatives of the action plan will form part of the agreement for the programmes
under the responsibility of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs which will run for a number
of years and which the Minister wishes to implement. The initiatives will be the point of
departure for the subsequent result contracts which the Ministry of Cultural Affairs will
enter into with the educational institutions in the area.
The work will be initiated in 2002.
In accordance with the Bologna Declaration, the artistic programmes must, where it is
possible, in the future be organised according to a 3+2 structure corresponding to the
bachelor and master's degree structure in the other higher education programmes. It is the
aim to ensure a more flexible, transparent and coherent education system with a greater
liberty of choice for the individual students, better coherence between the programmes and
better possibilities of adaptation in relation to the demand in the labour market.
Where it is possible, the artistic programmes are to be structured with bachelor and
master's degree programmes. The work with the development of the artistic programmes will
continue to be organised in such a way that the programmes correspond as far as possible
with the other higher education programmes. The development of common courses of study
will be initiated for students in the higher education programmes offered within the
framework of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and other ministries.
According to the government's report on the cultural and industrial policies, Denmark's
Creative Potential, the design area among others disposes of a particularly extensive
growth potential. If this potential is to be realised, it is of decisive importance that
the Danish research in the design area be strengthened. Research-based design education is
a prerequisite for ensuring a 3+2 structure and full credits and flexibility for the
design programmes so that they follow the international development and meet the needs of
the business sector.
Research in the field of design must be strengthened and coordinated. The Ministry of
Cultural Affairs must set aside more funds for design research, and the cooperation
between the design schools and the schools of architecture on design research must be
extended. It is the aim to make it possible in the course of the coming years to offer
researchbased design education in Denmark.
In a time of rapid professional development, the geographical distribution of the
artistic educational institutions represents a risk that the professional environments
become so small that it may hamper the competence level obtained in the programmes. In
order to maintain a high competence level and a fruitful study environment, the division
of labour between the institutions must be increased so as to ensure bigger and more
specialised professional environments. Hereby, it will both be possible to improve the
competence level and maintain the geographical distribution of the institutions and at the
same time ensure that there is as far as possible a balance between the supply and the
demand in the area.
The distribution of the subjects between the institutions must be revised and adjusted
with a view to ensuring a high proficiency and competence level in the individual
educational environments and a dimension that is in accordance with the needs of the
labour market.
The programmes under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs are largely directed towards the
professions of the information and media sector. In order to ensure a high proficiency and
competence level in these programmes and an immediate desire on the part of the graduates
to participate in practical training, it is a decisive prerequisite that the programmes
have IT competences and production equipment which is state-of-the-art in relation to the
professions in which the graduates will subsequently seek employment.
Funds are set aside for investments in state-of-the-art IT competences and production
equipment for the programmes under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
In order to ensure that lifelong learning is also available within the programmes under
the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, it should be made possible to pursue further education
and continuing training courses within the artistic programmes. It is the aim to improve
the graduate's competences', in order to improve their employment prospects and meet the
demands of the professions for new competences.
Funds are set aside for the development, establishment and operation of further
education and continuing training within the programmes under the Ministry of Cultural
Affairs.
In the maritime area, there is a tradition for establishing programmes to meet any need
in the industry. Furthermore, the time and structure-related framework is used as a
management parameter in connection with credit transfer between the programmes. There is
therefore a relatively extensive supply of programmes, the duration of which has been
extended in step with new requirements from the industry, and credit transfer across
programmes has become more difficult.
Since 1997, the programmes have been subject to major restructuring. Instead of central
content management with focus on the syllabus and examinations, target and framework
management has now been introduced. All programmes are now described through aims and
targets thus showing the professional competences of the individual programmes. Target
management thus makes it possible to look at prior learning to a greater extent than at
time and structure, and hereby it becomes possible to create a better coherence between
the programmes and more effective courses.
In 2002, the Ministry of Business and Economic Affairs will initiate a review of the
total package of maritime programmes with a view to identifying core competences and
finding ways of reducing the duration of the programmes. This will thus form the basis for
adaptations of the programmes so that they can be offered in more coherent courses with
the possibility for all categories of students to withdraw from the courses at a given
time or to continue with further education. In 2003, the necessary adjustments will be
decided.
Quality
measurement and "taximeter" structure
In the future, all the maritime educational institutions will become private,
self-governing institutions receiving "taximeter" grants in line with the other
areas of education. The institutions will themselves be responsible for all planning,
implementation and evaluation of the programmes and will document the achievement of
targets in a formal quality system with external auditing.
The high degree of decentralisation of the responsibility for education and evaluations
creates a need for management by incentive, where both the quantity and quality of the
production of the educational institution will have an influence on the total grant
awarded. When grants are awarded both in relation to the production of graduates and to
the relevant professional qualifications of the graduates, the incentive will be
maintained so that the institutions provide education in relation to the relevant needs.
First and foremost, this form of management requires a relevant indicator for the
quality of the programme. In the course of 2002, the Ministry of Economic and Business
Affairs will identify indicators which are to form part of a new quality index. In 2003,
the possibility of making part of the institutions' grants dependent on the index will be
investigated.
In maritime Denmark, around 10,000 people are employed at sea, whereas approx. 35,000
are employed on land. More and more jobs on land require education at an academic level.
The maritime programmes are of a duration of 5-7 years, of which the longest in level
correspond to a mediumcycle higher education programme. Experience shows that a relatively
large proportion of the graduates seek employment on land. There is still an increasing
demand and a desire for the possibility of further education for these persons up to
academic level so that they can continue a career on land instead of having to "start
all over again".
So far, when it comes to further education, it has been difficult, not to say
impossible, to obtain recognition of a maritime qualification in connection with further
education. It is probably due to this that maritime staff leave the profession, as they
have limited career prospects due to the lack of further education possibilities. A
consequence of this may, among other things, be that the profession loses experience and
knowledge instead of maintaining a strong body of competences.
A basis for academic further education possibilities must be created for persons with a
maritime background. In 2002, the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs will look into
the possibility of academic credit for maritime programmes and the establishment of a
Master programme in relation to the maritime profession. In this connection, the financial
framework conditions will be clarified. The study is to form the basis for a decision
about necessary initiatives.
Within the maritime professions, there is a large group of adults with a low level of
educational attainment. In order to ensure these persons' continued employment in relation
to the needs of the industry, a wide range of targetoriented education and training
courses must be organised in the near future, and they must be organised on conditions
which make them attractive to the target group.
The maritime programmes have several qualifying education courses of short duration,
which are all organised with young people as the target group. In order to ease the access
of the adult group to further education there is a need to organise the education and
training courses offered in relation to them, in particular with the right financial
support conditions (adult education grand, in Danish SVU).
A package of further education courses for adults is to be organised, including
qualifying courses. In connection with the review of the maritime programmes in the course
of 2002, the financial aspects of the support schemes must be elucidated. In the course of
2003, the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs will organise the establishment of the
initiatives which have been decided.
The following topics in relation to improvements of the education system in the health
area must be taken up:
- An increased, all-round effort of recruitment and education of more students for the
many health education programmes, where there is, or where in the short or long term will
be, a shortage of staff in the health sector. A greater emphasis must be laid on
management according to need and occupational relevance in the recruitment situation, and
proposals should be made for better educational guidance and study supporting measures,
among other things with a view to countering dropout and the making of wrong choices.
- Maintenance and strengthening of the practical training in the health education
programmes and a closer cooperation between theory and practice in the institutions.
- A broader effort in the basic programmes to ensure among other things the health staff's
further use of IT for diagnostics, treatment, communication etc.
- A continued strengthening of the specialist doctor's area, including documentation and
clarification of results and effects of the specialist doctors' reform programme through
continuous evaluations and quality measurement and development.
- Assurance of continued further education and continuing training for other groups with
health qualifications, e.g. nurses.
The government wishes to improve and strengthen the education system over a
broad front. Parallel with the abovementioned education-specific conditions, the
government therefore wishes to implement a number of crosscutting initiatives which
concern all the areas of education.
An essential action area in the effort to ensure better education is improved
educational and vocational guidance. There is a need to create more coherence in and
coordination of the guidance given in connection with the transition between basic school
and upper secondary education and between upper secondary education and higher education.
The effort in this area must ensure a better and more efficient exploitation of resources.
Improved guidance must also discourage wrong choices and dropout.
The guidance must be target-oriented in relation to those young people who have the
greatest needs. There is to be a better coordination of guidance in the adult education
area, and there is a need for a professionalisation of the guidance counsellors. These
needs have most recently been mentioned in the "Report on cross-sector guidance -
follow-up to B131" as well as in the OECD's country note on guidance in Denmark. In
order to ensure a coherent cross-sector guidance, the government will investigate in more
detail the institutional and organisational framework of this guidance.
The guidance offered will be made more transparent and accessible to the individual
citizen. The access to relevant guidance and information about programmes, educational
institutions, job prospects on completion of the individual programmes, and about the
expected employment prospects, will be made easier. The citizens will have a better basis
on which to make choices regarding education and training.
Better access to relevant information is to become a reality through an increased use
of IT in guidance. An increased use of IT will mean a possibility to move resources over
to groups with a need for special guidance. Here it is a question of young people who need
close individual and personal guidance and counselling, which will motivate and qualify
them to be able to choose education and training courses or employment. An increased use
of IT will also allow for computerised registration for the upper secondary and higher
education programmes.
It is also being considered whether or not to change the composition of the National
Council for Educational and Vocational Guidance (RUE) and the tasks and resources of the
Council.
Finally a new guidance counsellor course will be established which can be used for a
number of guidance schemes.
A proposal is expected to be presented to Parliament in the autumn of 2002.
The intake to the technical-natural sciences programmes is too low. Children and young
people have a too limited interest in the subject area, and in international studies
Danish young people score poorly in these subjects. This necessitates a unified and
target-oriented effort in order to strengthen the natural sciences subjects in the entire
education system. The following initiatives will therefore be implemented:
- An analysis group is to draw up proposals for a modernisation of the natural sciences
teaching in the entire education system with emphasis on core competences and teacher
qualifications
- A conference on natural sciences will be held in connection with Denmark's EU Presidency
with a view to enhancing international cooperation
- The role of the business sector in relation to education is to be strengthened and made
visible. The focus of attention should be on cooperation with the business sector and on
the possibilities of sponsoring, e.g. in connection with the modernisation of class rooms
- A survey should be made of the development of the teachers' competences and need of
continuing training with special emphasis on the subject of science in the lower school
classes, the development of a new course concept, including IT based courses and
programmes for course providers
- The development of new, better and inspiring teaching material-including IT based
teaching material
- The strengthening of the natural sciences' research and education through a closer
interaction with the relevant sector research
- The establishment of interdisciplinary research schools, in which private companies
participate
- The development of new scientific bachelor and master's degree programmes with a high
intake and completion rate.
All initiatives are to be implemented in 2002. An evaluation group will compile
experience on a continuous basis and assess the achievement of targets.
If Denmark is to be among the leaders in the global knowledge society it is of the
utmost importance that Danes have the necessary cultural competences to enable them to
cope in an international knowledge-based labour market. The education system must to a
greater extent be able to deliver the relevant competences which are currently in demand
with students and companies. At the same time, it must to a greater extent be possible to
get prior learning acquired abroad recognised in Denmark.
A strengthening of the international dimension in education among other things
comprises the following topics:
- Openness, guidance and information regarding the supply of education internationally
- The Bologna cooperation and the coming cooperation in the field of vocational education
and training
In order to achieve the Government's target that Danish education and training courses
are able to match the best in the world, Denmark has to take active part in international
quality development, evaluation and benchmarking.
Denmark must continue to take part in, and to a greater degree, make use of the results
of international studies such as the OECD reviews and PISA. In the EU, Denmark is working
on the follow-up to the target report, which is to improve the quality and the efficiency
of education systems in the EU. The focus is in particular on an improvement of the basic
skills, proficiency, competences and IT knowledge. In addition, Denmark should take
advantage of the opportunity to be inspired by international cooperation through good
examples from other countries of how education and training can be organised.
International cooperation often leads to the result that when it comes to one's own values
and functions they are seen in a new constructive perspective.
A higher degree of international mobility for students, teachers and employed people
can contribute actively to giving the individual citizen a better education and to
enabling Denmark to cope better in the knowledge society.
If Danish students are to benefit to a maximum degree from international education and
training opportunities, it must to a greater extent be possible to get results and credits
transferred from education received at recognised foreign educational institutions. Danish
educational institutions must also be willing to receive foreign students. The
institutions must also be encouraged to enter into strategic alliances with foreign
institutions, in particular in cooperation with the Danish exchange organisation Cirius,
and to participate on a continuous basis in international cooperation. This requires more
and better available information on education systems in other countries, including the
use of the so-called ECTS system (European Credit Transfer System) and the Diploma
Supplement etc.
The Bologna process concerning higher education is proceeding satisfactorily both on
European and on a national level. The most important objectives (descriptions of
educational structures the Diploma Supplement and ECTS) have been fulfilled by Denmark.
Furthermore, in the areas of vocational education and training and labour market training,
an initiative has been taken to create the basis for a strengthened European cooperation
on the mutual recognition of vocational qualifications and competences.
Good foreign language competences are not only an absolute necessity in the labour
market of the knowledgesociety, they are also a requirement, especially if Danish students
are to gain access to a rapidly expanding international educational environment. The
students must have a command of English at a high level, both oral and written English, so
that they are able to communicate appropriately. In addition, there is often a need to be
able to express oneself in at least one more main language.
As far as the Gymnasium programmes are concerned, the government would like pupils to
have the possibility to acquire competences by completing part of their education abroad
and by doing it in such a way that the study visit abroad may form part of their Danish
programme without any waste of time. Various possibilities will be studied in order to
establish a model for the general upper secondary programmes, which among other things
builds on the vocational and organisational experience gained in the previous vocational
college model. The vocationally oriented general upper secondary HHX and HTX programmes
previously used a model whereby special groups spent a semester of their Danish programme
in a school abroad. The teaching was organised according to Danish education regulations,
and in this way the study visit abroad formed part of the usual 3-year programme. The
scheme required user payment from the pupils for travel and accommodation.
In 2002, the government will present a model for all four types of general upper
secondary programmes by which the pupils can complete part of the programme abroad.
Denmark has, as part of the strategy for lifelong learning, taken the first step
towards the recognition of results of non-formal learning with its further education
system for adults. So far, the issue has been regarded from the perspective of the
education system, but there is now a greater need for it to be perceived and dealt with on
the basis of the needs of the citizens, companies and the different trades.
In the short term, methods must be developed for an individual assessment of
competences in connection with the basic adult education programmes (GVU). A common
concept for the assessment of competences must be developed which can be used as a
replacement for both Individual Assessment of Competences (IKV) and Individual
Clarification of Competences (IKA), which are laid down by law. The transparent and
coherent system of assessment of prior learning must be used on a broad scale in relation
to the labour market training programmes, the adult vocational training programmes and the
basic adult education programmes.
Furthermore, methods must be developed in order to assess the suitability of relevant
occupational experience as a basis for access to higher levels in the further education
systems for adults.
In the somewhat longer term, the following areas should be investigated and
prioritised, with emphasis on quality:
- The introduction of general access for applicants who do not have the formal
qualifications to have their corresponding prior learning assessed and recognised
- The shortening of courses in the ordinary programmes on the basis of the use of
non-formal competences
- The possibility of registering for examinations or having diplomas issued exclusively on
the basis of nonformal competences
- The definition and description of subsets of known competences from the education system
- The establishment of documentation schemes in working life, in an interaction with
companies' educational planning.
The development work will be initiated in 2002. The implementation will be initiated in
2003.
A flexible education system and good credit transfer systems constitute a basis
enabling young people to move rapidly through the educational programmes and thus avoiding
double qualifications. In this way one can ensure the citizens' possibilities of lifelong
learning. The education system must be able to live up to the recipients' expectations of
flexible employees with relevant qualifications and competences. For the programmes under
the Ministry of Education, among others, it must be made possible that competences,
including admission competences, can be acquired in different ways which may vary from
individual to individual. In this context, also the work with credit transfer must be
given higher priority with a view to obtaining flexibility and increased mobility in the
education system, nationally as well as internationally.
In upper secondary education, there is a need to improve the possibilities of obtaining
credit transfer, both in general and in vocationally-oriented upper secondary education.
Therefore, a new ministerial order on credit transfer must be issued with broader
possibilities of getting recognition of previously completed subjects - or parts hereof.
The new order Executive must build on the principle that pupils who have already
completed/passed the same subject at least at the same level, have a legal claim of
recognition as in the past, but without a schematic list of what are the same subjects.
Pupils, who have only completed parts of a subject, must have the right to have their wish
of recognition dealt with.
Pupils, who have already completed a subject or a course, which in accordance with the
aims of the programme can replace another subject or another course, are entitled to have
their wish of recognition dealt with by the school. The school must attach its
subject-specific grounds for making the decision in question. The basis for the school's
treatment of the pupils' wishes regarding recognition must appear in the new order on
credit transfer in the form of a description of the procedure. It must lay down
requirements both to the school and the pupil and establish a number of criteria for when
it is possible to award credits. These criteria must build on the fact that the school's
assessment of the competences must be seen in relation to the aims stated for the
programme in question.
In higher education, a project has been initiated for the mapping of practice when it
comes to credit transfer. The aim of the project is to identify possible barriers for
credit transfer and to propose possible solutions.
In connection with the completed reforms of the short and medium-cycle higher education
programmes, horizontal credit, i.e. credit for the same programme completed at different
institutions all over the country, has been established through formal rules. Formal rules
regarding credit transfer also exist in university education programmes.
The principle of deciding centrally regarding horizontal credits will be systematically
pursued in connection with coming reforms, reviews of existing and development of new
higher education programmes. The credit transfer possibilities must furthermore be
strengthened in those cases where a student has interrupted a study programme or completed
a study programme and wished to start a new one.
A new Executive ministerial order on credit transfer in upper secondary education will
be issued in 2003. For the higher education area, a situation report will be drawn up in
2002 on the credit transfer practice in the institutions, and this will be followed up on
in 2003.
Improved
educational achievement through the use of IT
In the past few years, the educational sector has invested significant sums in IT both
in equipment and in the continuing training of teachers. Good progress has been made
within the different programmes when it comes to learning to use IT. The next steps will
be to reach the result that IT becomes the pupils'/students' personal tool so that they
can use IT for learning. An effective pedagogical use of IT will, in addition to the
possibility of strengthening the level of the teaching, also give a better possibility of
organising the teaching flexibly and getting better access to teaching at a high
proficiency and competence level. IT also provides easy access to the significant learning
resources that can be found locally, nationally and internationally. It will contribute to
strengthening the level of the teaching, subject to the necessary quality assurance of the
contents.
Through an increased differentiation, IT must support individual learning both for
strong and weak pupils. All users of the education system must gradually learn to use IT
at examinations. The experience gained up till now with IT based examination papers must
form the basis for the elaboration of new examination forms.
Apart from including a continued integration of IT in the teaching, the initiatives
should consist in net-based knowledge sharing systems for both administrative and
pedagogical purposes as well as the development of flexible elearning through
pilot-projects and the dissemination of examples of "best practice".
Furthermore, the government will promote the development of internet-based teaching
materials and focus on the use of IT at examinations, and in particular on the development
of new examination forms, which are to take advantage of the potential of the information
technologies in both the content and form of the examinations. The focus must moreover be
on the head teachers' use of IT in an offensive development strategy. Finally, a
strengthening of the e-learning possibilities must provide a much greater flexibility in
the supply of programmes, independent of time and place.
The work will be initiated in 2002.
Greater efficiency and flexibility must be ensured in the teaching of Danish as a
second language to adult foreigners.
Against the background of the government's target of a significant increase in the
employment of foreigners, the government wishes to optimise the municipalities'
integration of foreigners with a view to a more rapid affiliation to the labour market and
self-support. It is therefore proposed that the teaching of Danish and its financing is
made more efficient, among other things by placing a larger part of the teaching in
companies.
The Danish teaching at the language centres must not hinder the foreigners in getting a
job. The important thing is coherence between teaching and the practical use of the
language at the place of work. It is among other things required that the planning and
organisation of the teaching be carried out more flexibly and be individually adapted to
the teaching needs of the individual and the company. At the same time, it is a
prerequisite that the many years of experience with the learning of Danish, both basic,
general Danish and technical language, is maintained and developed.
Quality and proficiency must be ensured and developed through an interaction between on
the one hand the participant's practical use of the language and on the other hand the
teaching. There is a basic assumption in the proposal that greater motivation and the
opportunity to acquire Danish will be provided by sending foreigners out to a Danish work
place together with Danish colleagues who will make an effort to integrate them.
This makes certain demands on Danish language teachers and the language schools to
establish teaching in the companies. The Danish language teachers must be able to combine
teaching in general language proficiency and teaching in technical language in the company
and perform continuous evaluations of the language proficiency as well as prepare the
individual for the final centrally organised language examinations. Cooperation is to be
established between companies on joint language classes, the establishment of teaching in
smaller classes, and greater use of IT and net-based teaching.
A working group has been set up which is to come up with proposals by the end of 2002
on how the teaching of Danish can become more efficient.
Innovation and entrepreneurship can contribute significantly to economic growth in
Denmark. A positive attitude towards innovation and entrepreneurship is therefore of
central importance to the labour market. The education system must contribute to creating
a positive attitude towards a culture which encourages innovation and entrepreneurship.
This must be carried out openly and in a dialogue with companies and organisations etc.
The openness may for instance be created through exchange schemes between educational
institutions and private companies, project cooperation, mentor schemes, the involvement
of business people in the evaluation of work carried out by pupils and increased research
in entrepreneurship and innovation etc.
The entrepreneurship policy in the area of education is anchored in the special
competences of the individual areas of education, including the subject-specific and
pedagogical methods which are characteristic of the field.
The new initiatives in the primary and secondary areas must not be in the form of
actual entrepreneurship teaching, but in upper secondary education they may be in the form
of project work or other forms of learning and teaching which may encourage the pupils'
independence, initiative and future ability to participate in innovation and
entrepreneurship projects. The teaching may be related to everyday issues, preferably
typical of the companies in the local community. In order to further inform and offer
guidance about the possibilities of becoming an entrepreneur, a number of visits will be
organised to Gymnasiums, business and technical colleges in the school year 2002- 2003.
In the field of higher education, development work is being carried out with a view to
increasing the information concerning the application of research results for business
purposes as well as a strengthening of the interaction between the business sector and the
educational institutions. In the university field, new educational courses within
entrepreneurship and innovation are expected to be initiated, and they will be based on a
greater research effort in the area.
These efforts must however not be too narrowly defined. There is entrepreneur potential
to be found within all groups of pupils, at all levels and within all programmes, and with
a target-oriented effort it will be possible to develop entrepreneurial skills. In the
autumn, the government will publish an action plan entitled More Entrepreneurs,
which among other things will deal with the area of education. The action plan is an
initiative under the government's growth strategy, Determined Growth.
Better institutions for
better education
In order to meet the government's expectations for better education in the areas
covered by the Ministry of Education, it is necessary that the educational institutions
live up to the accepted standards of proficiency and competences; that they make an
efficient and target-oriented use of resources, and that they are financially sustainable
as well as regionally accessible.
Better institutions are therefore a corner stone of the government's educational policy
of better education. In continuation of the presentation of this report on Better
Education, the Ministry of Education will issue a special publication on better
educational institutions, which will make an in-depth account of the particular
institutionpolicy initiatives in relation to the Ministry's educational institutions.
The educational institutions must be strengthened by improving the basic prerequisites,
structures and framework conditions and by improving the possibility of a better and more
target-oriented use of the resources, including output management incentives. The
institutions must have freedom with responsibility.
Together, the initiatives are to give the educational institutions prerequisites,
tools, responsibility and a degree of freedom so that they are able to meet the new
requirements for increased quality and competence. A consistent reorientation must be
carried out in order to create a coherent and development-oriented management concept with
focus on principles of self-management and which includes: a further development of the
financial management; a strengthening of the institutional structure, in particular in the
vocationally oriented area of education; a realisation of the requirements for greater
transparency and openness; a strengthened basis for an optimal use of the resources; a
special use of teaching resources as well as management development.
The initiative Better institutions for better education amplifies the following
institution policy initiatives:
- Further development of the financial management system so that it will to a greater
extent promote the objectives of the institutional structure and contribute to the
development of the quality of the programmes; and further development of the
"taximeter" system
- Regional educational institutions with increased selfmanagement. Adaptation of
institutional structures and regulation of courses supplied with a view to creating
regionally strong, flexible and less vulnerable educational institutions. A one-stranded
institutional structure will among other things be established between AMU centres and
vocational colleges, and the vocational academies (short cycle-higher education
programmes) will be further developed
- Transparency and openness: output indicators. Further development of output indicators
in order to render them visible to stakeholders as an incentive to improve institutional
and educational quality
- Pedagogical methods and flexible organisation of the work. The teachers must to a
greater extent focus on the teaching of the individual pupil and on those skills which the
individual pupils should acquire through his or her course of education. This requires a
flexible organisation of the work and a chance to use a broad spectrum of pedagogical
methods
- Good management. Those responsible for the running of an institution must be able to
make use of all necessary management tools. Demands must therefore be made on them when it
comes to education policy management, pedagogical management, staff policy management,
financial management and administrative management.
This page is included in the publication "Better Education" as the whole
publication
© The Ministry of Education 2002
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