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The next steps in the Danish approach to qualityThe Danish approach will be developed in a number of areas in the years to come. The Danish Ministry of Education has defined three main priorities in the fields of quality assurance and development: Introduction of an annual resource reportIntroducing and anchoring a systematic approach to quality in an organisation takes time. It is quite clear that VET providers in Denmark are at different stages in this process. In order to bring forward this process, the quality rules were changed in 2007 introducing new measures for documentation of quality approaches (see Internal Evaluation, p. 21) and setting up new objectives for monitoring completion and drop-out rates, especially to support trainees of another ethnic origin than Danish or socially disadvantaged young people. The next step in the internal evaluation is the introduction of an annual resource report for the educational system in Denmark – also including VET. This is to be a parallel to the annual financial report. In the resource report, college performance will be calculated in terms of indicators set up by the Danish Ministry of Education. These indicators evolve around the overall policy objectives for the education system:
Objective: High vocational quality:
Objective: Education for more people:
Objective: Strong, development-oriented educational
institutions
Objective: Efficient management
The aim of the annual resource report is to provide a documentation basis for managing the quality of the IVET system and to simplify the present documentation requirements for vocational colleges. The annual resource report will also facilitate systematic bench-marking of the colleges and document the relations between input, process, output and outcome. The main focus of the annual resource report will be on output, however, the report will also include more descriptive elements to give the colleges the opportunity to describe the interrelationship between their quality strategy, activities, context and output. The annual resource report facilitates the efforts of the Ministry to monitor education and training. It makes it possible to focus on specific priority areas, such as completion and drop-out rates as well as the efforts of the colleges to tackle these issues. The annual resource report should be seen as the next step in the Danish quality strategy within VET and a method of meeting the demands of collecting and systematising data, which are of relevance to the continuing development of the Danish VET system. Danish experiences relating to the introduction of the annual resource report may contribute to the continuous discussion and study of indicators, which have been laid down on a European level. One of the issues which the work on indicators has brought to the fore is how to ensure the quality of the training in the companies. The social partners are responsible for the incompany training and for ensuring the quality of this training. However, it is a rather unclear issue, as quality measures and procedures vary from sector to sector. Whereas vocational colleges are required to document their quality approach, there is no such obligation placed upon trade committees or companies. Voluntary benchmarking among VET providersIn a decentralised education system like the Danish system, responsibilities have been distributed between the state and the local VET providers. The Ministry lays down objectives and frameworks, and the providers are very autonomous in their efforts to comply with the national framework. At the colleges, the management is responsible for the day-to-day running and development of the VET provided. The colleges have a double responsibility concerning quality assurance and development: on the one hand, they must document their procedures and results to the Ministry, and on the other hand, they must ensure that quality is systematically anchored within the organisation, and that a culture of evaluation is developed. School leaders and teachers are responsible for the planning, organisation and execution of teaching. The Danish Ministry of Education is not to be involved at school level. Development is a question of commitment, and the desire to do better. In this respect, experience from existing networks shows that cooperation among providers on benchmarking, i.e. comparing and discussing data, is a suitable method for furthering local quality assurance and development. In order to take the benchmarking forward and contribute to the establishing of networks, a number of network projects have been initiated to test new approaches to benchmarking. An example of such a project is “From Benchmarking to Benchlearning” initiated by the ES Benchmarking network, which includes 35 member colleges. The project is financed by the Danish Ministry of Education, the SCKK (Statens Center for Kompetence- og Kvalitetsudvikling – The Centre for Development of Human Resources and Quality Management) and the colleges. 12 of the network colleges participate in the project, which aims at identifying the prerequisites necessary for ensuring that documented evaluation results lead to changes in practice, a step which has proven hard to take in many cases. The aim is to find out which structures, functions and processes have to be established in order to make evaluations and benchmarking result in organisational learning, not just empty bureaucratic rites22. Another example of a benchmarking network is the UddannelsesBenchmark consisting of 28 commercial colleges. The aim of this network is to make quality assurance at the colleges concrete, transparent and development-oriented. An important element in the network is the concept of coaching whereby three consultants from the network visit a college and enter into a dialogue with management, teachers and students on specific priority areas. The aim is to promote critical reflection on own practices and provide examples of “good practices” from which other colleges might learn23.
The ambition is for ALL providers to be included in such networks to ensure mutual and continuous inter-organisational competence development. Active participation in the European cooperation on qualityIn the same way that local and national networks are excellent methods for assuring and developing quality, European cooperation is a precondition for knowledge sharing and dissemination of “good practices”. As a consequence, the Danish Ministry of Education aims to motivate Danish VET providers to get involved in European initiatives. This will be done by informing providers about the possibilities of European cooperation, and encouraging them to participate in projects under, for instance, the auspices of the Leonardo programme. The Ministry will also continue to participate actively in the work that lies ahead in ENQA-VET, thus continuing the ambition of the Copenhagen process to ensure up-todate, relevant and high-quality VET programmes, allowing a comparison of qualifications across Member States. The aim of the network is to develop, disseminate and promote best European practice and governance in the field of quality assurance at both system and provider level. The Danish Ministry of Education continues its commitment to this work. In the Copenhagen Declaration, quality was identified as an important area of cooperation. Denmark has played an active part in the work to complete the agenda. The CQAF is considered to constitute a fruitful basis for this work, both on a European level, and in Denmark. Footnote
22) For further information, see http://www.es-benchmarking.dk/.
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This page is part of the electronic publication "The Danish Approach to Quality in Vocational Education and Training"