5 Transition to the main programme

Students who do not yet have an apprenticeship agreement when they finish their basic programme and are about to start the main programme are at risk of dropping out. Schools make great efforts to help such students by either finding an apprenticeship place or counselling students to switch to related programmes with better job opportunities.

Close contact to enterprises

Proactive outreach pays off

It is not enough for vocational colleges merely to maintain good relations with enterprises that already take on apprentices; schools must also take a proactive outreach approach to getting new enterprises approved for apprenticeships. The Technology and Communication entryway at Vejle Technical College is running a campaign this year to get a greater number of apprenticeship places approved. All of the vocational teachers were assigned a number of enterprises to contact; 40% of these contacts have subsequently resulted in a visit to the enterprise. The next important step will be rapid approval by the local educational committees. Approval should not wait until the first student has contacted the enterprise, but should be granted as soon as enterprises show interest in taking on an apprentice.

Outreach can also mean contacting enterprises that have previously had apprentices and asking if it is not time for another round. The Building and Construction entryway at Herning Education Centre systematically contacts masters when a student graduates, to point out that it is time for a new apprentice.

Information material and courses in coaching

Other vocational colleges have produced information material for existing and potential apprenticeship enterprises. The material provides an easy-to-understand introduction to the process of having an apprentice. Aalborg Business College offers a course in coaching to the persons in enterprises who are responsible for apprenticeships, in order to create better school-enterprise cohesion. This has been a great success.

Schools invite enterprises

Several schools have invited enterprises to open house and branch arrangements where, for example, suppliers present their products. In this way enterprises get a positive introduction to the school and its programmes, and the school gets in touch with a greater number of potential apprenticeship places.

Applying for an apprenticeship

Several schools have had good experience with job hunting courses for students applying for apprenticeships. Continuous advice as to the content and form of student applications also works well; vocational teachers, contact teachers, and education and careers counsellors, can all contribute their different skills to this process.

Apprenticeship café

Aalborg Business College runs an apprenticeship café where students learn to write good applications and handle job interviews. This is run as an elective a half year before the end of the basic programme. The school considers it important that students start systematically searching for an apprenticeship place early in the basic program rather than towards the end. Those who first sign an apprenticeship contract are often those who have frequently visited the apprenticeship café.

Personal branding

Schools increasingly emphasize helping students improve their self-presentation, since this is a prerequisite for getting your foot in the door of an enterprise. Ballerup Business College has worked with a personal branding project, which results in students getting a clearer idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Self-knowledge and communication skills are important parts of the process of finding an apprenticeship place.

Spare-time jobs

Several schools encourage students to get a spare-time study-related job within their branches. This gives students a chance to familiarize themselves with their coming vocations at an early stage, even if they merely carry out a series of varied odd jobs. Students get an idea of the tone of the workplace and learn to get to work on time; often, such jobs result in an apprenticeship contract.

Jobzonen.dk

A few schools have started using www.jobzonen.dk as a supplement to www.praktikpladsen.dk,^[6] since Jobzonen is more frequently used by enterprises.

Rethinking apprenticeship choices

Supplementary basic programme subjects and area subjects

Some students are so set on a specific vocation that they would rather keep on with their wild goose chase for an apprenticeship place than be counselled to changing their specialization. Schools can see that as time passes, these students become less particular about their dream vocation. It is important for schools to tell students about alternative choices, since students themselves often have no idea about related educational programmes. Students often reject an educational possibility because of lack of knowledge. The Service Industries entryway at Odense Technical College, in collaboration with Dalum Education Centre and Tietgen Business College, arranges a supplementary basic programme subject for hairdresser students in the form of a project called “Finished with School - What Then?” The project employs enterprise visits and counselling in an effort to guide students towards other programmes. The College also has plans for the establishment of supplementary area subjects^[7] for the cosmetician programme.

Placement consultations

Many schools have a Trainee and Apprenticeship Office that registers students who have finished the basic programme but who have still not found an apprenticeship place. This helps maintain contact with the students, even if they take temporary jobs. Some schools use placement consultations to counsel students and inform them of alternatives. It is important that the schools implement procedures and systems that enable students to keep in touch, so that information about new apprenticeship places can be quickly forwarded to the student.

Foot notes

6) A website where students looking for an apprenticeship place are obliged to register, where all approved apprenticeship places are registered, and where companies looking for apprentices may post advertisements.

7) Area subjects are subjects which are common to one or more VET programmes.

8) See “Statusundersøgelse. Praktikpladsopsøgende arbejde på erhvervsskolerne,” http://www.emu.dk/erhverv/doc/pub/generelt/statusundersoegelse.doc, Teknologisk Institut, 2003, for more information (Danish only).

This page is included in the publication "Retention in Vocational Education in Denmark – A best practice study" as chapter 5 of 7
© The Ministry of Education 2004