Cross-cutting initiatives

Guidance

Young people must be ensured a better basis for making their educational choices. The dropout rate and wasted time must be reduced. The government wishes for more coherent educational and vocational guidance. This guidance must to a greater extent be oriented towards those young people with the greatest needs.

Natural sciences

The intake to the technical-natural sciences programmes is too low. Danish children and young people have little interest in this subject area, and in international studies they do not score as well as we would like. The government will therefore strengthen the natural sciences throughout the entire education system. The teaching must be modernised. The role of the business sector in relation to the programmes must be strengthened and made visible.

Internationalisation

Denmark must be ahead in the global knowledge society. It requires professional and cultural competences to cope in an international labour market. The Danish programmes must be internationalised, and the students' transnational mobility must be increased. It must be easier for Danish students to get results recognised and receive credits for stays in educational institutions abroad.

IT in education

IT gives great possibilities when it comes to organising the teaching in a flexible manner. IT must be used to differentiate the teaching so that the individual pupil is faced with challenges that correspond to his or her proficiency and competence level. It is the aim that all pupils and students should be able to use IT in examinations and tests. IT-based 10 examination forms and Internet-based teaching materials should be developed.

Recognition of prior learning

Reliable and accepted methods should be developed for the assessment of the individual's prior learning or real competences. 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 - the qualification and competence requirements must however be maintained.

Danish for adult foreigners

The employment level among foreigners should be raised. The individual must more rapidly gain a foothold in the labour market. This demands a better coherence between the teaching and the practical use of the language in the workplace. It must be possible to combine the teaching in general Danish with the technical language in the business firm. Teaching should be established in the businesses, and be organised in such a way as to be more flexible and adapted to the individual's and the business's need for teaching.

This page is included in the publication "Better Education" as chapter 3 of 3
© The Ministry of Education 2002