A developing system

The Danish VET system is undergoing continuous change due to the pressures of globalisation, including the enhanced cooperation and compatibility of VET policies in Europe. Over the past 15 years, the pace of reform has intensified. The overall aims of these reforms have been

• to improve the system’s responsiveness to changes in the labour market and in the production system;
• to increase the attractiveness of VET programmes vis-àvis the general upper secondary education programmes (gymnasiet);
• to make the system more flexible in order to meet the needs of the trainees and the enterprises;
• to make the system more inclusive by introducing partial qualifications and shorter VET programmes aimed at weak learners and introducing additional qualifications for strong learners;
• to improve the interaction between the two learning contexts in VET (the college and the enterprise);
• to renew the pedagogical methods applied in VET with more focus on the individual trainee and his/her capabilities and preferences;
• to make the system more coherent and transparent.

A brief outline of the major reforms and the elements thereof from the late 1980s to present time is provided below:

Reform 1989

In 1989, a major reform of the VET system was adopted by the Danish Parliament. The reform introduced new overall steering mechanisms in the VET system. Instead of fixed national rules and curricula, the colleges were to operate within a system of management-by-objectives. The new regulations and guidelines on VET became framework regulations, and the colleges now had to draw up local education plans and adapt them to the needs of local industry and the local labour market. The overall aim was to make the VET system more responsive to changes in technology, production and the way work was organised.

The new system changed the status of the vocational colleges. They became independent public organisations, and instead of a fixed budget, their finances were now based on a combination of fixed grants and taximeter rates based on trainee intake and completion rates. The intention was to make the colleges more market-oriented, more competitive and more professional in their overall management.

Granting the providers greater budgetary control and greater autonomy with regard to adapting VET provision to local needs and demands accentuated the need to implement national quality approaches in order to ensure the homogeneity of national provision and maintenance of national standards. The reform of 1989 changed the entire institutional and administrative set-up of the VET programmes. In addition, the 1989 reform was a pedagogical reform that introduced the pedagogical principle of interdiciplinary and holistic teaching.

Reform 1996 – commercial training

In 1996, the objectives, framework and content of the commercial training programmes were reformed. The main aim of the reform was to make the programmes more flexible and more competence-based. Six areas of commercial competency were defined: personal; economic; communicative and technological; commercial and service; international and cultural; and societal competencies. It was new, and difficult, for the commercial colleges to plan competence-based training activities. The reform was the first step towards the reform of the technical training programmes which was implemented in 2000: more flexible access routes were introduced (please see Reform 2000, page 43); interdisciplinary and holistic teaching was further strengthened, including new elements, such as SIMU enterprises, and the focus was on the individual trainee and his or her learning processes.

Reform 2000

In 2000, a major reform of primarily the technical training programmes was implemented. The background for the reform was the fact that technical training did not attract enough trainees, and that a considerable number of trainees dropped out during the training. In order to make the programmes more transparent, more flexible, and more attractive, the structures were changed. Instead of choosing among 83 different VET qualifications from the start of their training, the trainees could now choose between 7 different broad basic courses which are highly flexible and individualised both in terms of time and content (please see Flexible in time and content, page 32). The reform implied major pedagogical changes, putting the vocational teachers to the test in regard to interdisciplinary teaching, team-working, differentiation and coaching. The reform marked the paradigmatic shift from teaching to learning and from focus on the class to focus on the individual trainee. It introduced a number of new elements: the contact teacher, the education plan, the log-book, the possibilities for partial and additional qualifications, etc. (please see page 37 and 39). The reform required quite a cultural change at the colleges to handle the new flexible VET programmes, and the broad basic courses have been criticized for discouraging the students who expect the training to focus on specific vocational skills right from the beginning of the programmes.

Act no. 448

In August 2003, the VET programmes were adjusted in regard to vocational proficiency and flexibility. The aim of the amendment was primarily to renew the commercial training programmes and to create a common legislation for both commercial and technical training. The commercial training programmes have been criticised for being too theoretical and school-based, so one of the aims was to introduce the vocational specialisation earlier in the programmes. In order to achieve this goal, the rules concerning the basic area, special and optional subjects were changed (please see Flexible curriculum, page 33). The programmes still had to include general educational aspects, but the vocational aspects of the programmes were to be strengthened. This included a vocational “toning” of the basic subjects.

Act no. 448 also emphasised the issue of creating a more inclusive system. The programmes were to be flexible enough to be able to include both the trainees who want additional qualifications, by ensuring access to further and higher education, and the trainees who want a partial vocational qualification. The amendment therefore specified that the personal education plan should be based on an APL. Adults in VET had been able to do this via the individual competence assessment (Grunduddannelse for voksne – GVU), but in principle, all trainees in VET should now be assessed individually and have their formal, non-formal and informal qualifications recognised and taken into consideration when drawing up their personal education plans.

Act no. 1228

In December 2003, another amendment to the Act on Vocational Education and Training was adopted. The aim was to renew the dual training principle and offer especially weak learners the possibility of shorter, more practically-oriented training programmes and established partial qualifications in an existing VET programme. Act no. 1228 also directed focus on increasing the number of training places available and limiting access to the compensatory practical training scheme at the vocational colleges.

Act no. 561

In June 2007, a more comprehensive amendment of the Act on Vocational Education and Training was adopted, the implementation of which will take place throughout 2008. One of the major changes is the inclusion of the agricultural and social and health care programmes under the same act as the commercial and technical programmes. The purpose is to make the VET system simpler and more coherent. At the same time, the reform meets a need for creating a more dynamic interplay between the sectors (production, trade and service) as one trend is towards qualifications running across the sectors.

The main driver of Act no. 561 is the overall political goal that, by 2015, 95% of a youth cohort should complete a youth education programme. This goal has led to a number of minor and major adjustments of the Reform implemented in 2000. The changes encompass both structural and pedagogical changes:

• First of all, the number of basic courses has been extended from seven to 12 and they are described in a way that should make it easier for young people to recognize job prospects related to the basic course.
  
  
• The curricula of the basic courses have been revised in order to make it easier to relate the general parts of the programmes more closely to the vocational parts, hereby enabling the trainees to acquire knowledge about work tasks and processes within the chosen trades at an early stage of their vocational education and training.
  
  
• Objectives for teaching in innovation, entrepreneurship and internationalisation have been laid down in the overall legislation and have hereby been strengthened in the VET programmes. Globalisation is expected to lead to a demand for competences, such as holistic perception, flair for business, flexibility, self-management, the ability to acquire and apply new knowledge, to communicate and to take initiatives. These competences are now included in the overall curricula.
  
  
• As VET plays a major role in attaining the overall political objective of getting 95% of a youth cohort to complete a youth education programme, a major challenge is to make the VET system inclusive enough to attract and retain very heterogeneous groups of young people. In the new reform, the colleges are obliged to develop “basic course packages”, i.e. specially designed courses aimed at either very qualified trainees or less qualified trainees who may have additional needs, such as improving language skills and knowledge of Danish culture. The colleges may develop the basic course packages together with other institutions in their geographical area, e.g. production schools or language schools. Based on the APL assessment taking place within the first couple of weeks at the college, the basic course is to be adjusted to the individual trainee’s needs.
  
  
• Another important element of the reform intended to ensure that the system is inclusive enough to attract both highly qualified and less qualified trainees is the introduction of streaming. All basic subjects are provided at different levels (F to A), and streaming offers the opportunity for the individual trainee to choose a suitable level. For proficient trainees, streaming provides the possibility of choosing higher levels than those which are compulsory and thus qualifying themselves for further or higher education.
  
  
• The individual VET programmes, which have existed since 2001, have become an opportunity for all trainees. The individual programmes encompass parts of one or more ordinary VET programmes and normally take two years to complete, including 20-40 weeks of school-based education.
  
  
• An important element to reduce the overall drop-out rate is the strengthening of the guidance provided at basic course level, including career and educational guidance. As part of clarifying their occupational and educational choices, trainees who have chosen the school pathway are offered short periods of work placements in enterprises during their basic course or immediately upon completing their basic course. It is hoped that one effect of these work placements may be that they pave the way for the settlement of an actual training contract with the enterprise. Guidance on the possibilities for apprenticeships is currently being improved through a simple and transparent indicator system. This system is intended to help the colleges guide the trainees and the local enterprises on the possibilities for apprenticeships within the various industries or trades and – through information and motivation – increase the trainees’ vocational and geographical mobility. A further objective of the indicator system is to inform the trade committees and the Advisory Council for Initial Vocational Education and Training (REU) (please see page 17) of the current provision of and demand for apprenticeships. Cooperation has been strengthened between VET colleges and the municipal authorities, including the centres for educational guidance of young people (UU centres). Furthermore, the colleges are obliged to contact young people with special needs and their parents.
  
  
• The drop-out rate in VET is high (see Facts and figures about VET in Denmark). By standardizing the registration of drop-out in the colleges, it will be easier to specify the reasons for the high drop-out rate. This will enable the colleges and the municipal guidance centres to help trainees who are on the verge of dropping out. The colleges must draw up plans of action, including concrete strategies for reducing the drop-out rate. The plans are public and evaluated annually. Colleges that do not succeed in reducing the drop-out rate satisfactorily will have to enter a contract with the Ministry of Education. The contract will include the college’s specific initiatives to reduce its dropout rate, financial support to reach the targets and plans for documenting the effects on the numbers of trainees dropping out. Among the initiatives that have proved to have a positive impact on reducing the drop-out rate are initial interviews with the trainees, clarifying their qualifications and competences; the provision of social and psychological guidance at the colleges; the provision of extra tuition (help to do homework) at the colleges, varied methods of teaching and mentoring and other kinds of support from (significant) adults. Mentorship has proved to be efficient, particularly in relation to ethnic minorities that have the highest drop-out rate.
  
  
• Another important measure of the latest reform is to ensure sufficient numbers of apprenticeships. During recent years, the number of apprenticeship contracts has increased from approximately 26,000 to 37,000 per year. However, the main challenge remains to create a better match between the trainees’ wishes and the companies’ requirements for labour. In particular, it is necessary to increase the number of apprenticeships available for ethnic minorities. Although, these groups, in general, have benefited from the overall increase in the number of apprenticeships, ethnic minorities still constitute the majority of the applicants who cannot obtain apprenticeships.
  
  
• A measure aimed at strengthening the interaction between the world of school and the world of work is the establishment of partnerships between the colleges and local enterprises. Strengthening the cooperation between the colleges and the local training committees, the aim is to ensure better coherence between school-based and workbased learning, e.g. through identification of specific tasks or problems that enterprises need to solve and subsequent alignment of the contents of school-based education and training.
  
  
• The provison of VET programmes should be better tuned to the developments within trades and industries. In order to follow developments closely, analysis and prognosis activities have been strengthened, including close cooperation with VET research activites. The aim is to provide a foundation both for developing the VET system including the individual curricula and for planning the school-based education, the workplace-based training and the coherence between the two.
  
  
• Finally, the training of teachers is an important element of the reform. Teachers’ technical and pedagogical competences are to be brought up to date in order to match the new challenges, not least that of meeting the 95% completion target. Special funding has been earmarked for expanding the training programme for VET teachers and for providing continuing training activities.

Next steps

The next steps in developing VET will focus even more on creating and realising the inclusive and flexible VET system which offers individualised training pathways to all kinds of trainees and which leads to qualifications that are recognized internationally. Thus, one of the main tasks is to develop the National Qualification Framework (NQF) in correspondance with the European Qualification Framework (EQF).

The numerous reforms take quite a toll on the VET system and managing the diversity and flexibility of the “new” VET system keeps posing quite a challenge for the colleges. Some colleges have come a long way in the process towards a competence-based, flexible and individualised system, whilst others still have a lot to learn. One thing is certain, though, the system will continue to be adapted and changed in order to meet the challenges of a globalising world.

This page is part of the electronic publication "The Danish Vocational Education and Training System. 2nd edition"
© The Ministry of Education 2008