6. The curriculum

Actors in the field

In Denmark there is a systematic cooperation between local businesses, education institutions, associations, local authorities and state supervisory bodies. The outstanding features of Danish vocational education include the state_s unobtrusive control function, cooperation between employers and employees and the extensive autonomy of the individual vocational colleges with regard to syllabus and budget administration. The Danish Ministry of Education has a restricted role which consists of controlling by means of objectives and framework governance. The cooperation between employers and employees in bodies where they are equally represented at all levels is exemplary.

Sectoral Trade Committees, where both parties are equally represented, decide on vocational training qualifications and stipulate the training conditions. A college board of governers comprising representatives from the social partners and local authorities appoints the head of the vocational school, monitors his/her work and approves the budget. This leads to an ongoing adaptation to the current requirements of companies. Local vocational training committees advise the vocational college and establish links with the regional job market. Competition in terms of the quality of supply is thus stimulated through budgeting and educational planning autonomy in vocational colleges, and as a result vocational colleges in Denmark have developed into technical and skill-acquiring centres which can offer services to the regional industry.

Curriculum design principles

The structure of the Danish system of vocational education and training with its two levels is rather simple. Educational policy objectives and frameworks are formulated at central level, while the decentralised level plans the content and types of education with a high degree of freedom with regard to teaching methods.

The social partners are responsible for innovation in respect of VET main specialisation courses (and further training). They have the leading responsibility for all issues of vocational education and training. Continuing vocational training is the area where new training needs are normally identified first and it serves as a catalyst for the formulation of new VET training courses.

The need for new or modified training programmes is identified by the Trade Committees. If they conclude that there is a need for change, they have to underpin recommendations with qualitative and quantitative data, e.g. on employment opportunities and availability of practical training placements in companies. If the Committee finds that changes are needed, a group (technical/professional) is established which has the task of formulating the job profile the training course is aimed at. Normally, representatives of leading enterprises and vocational teachers are involved in projects of this type. Often, external experts are consulted. The second step is the formulation of educational requirements.

The decision-making process can be described as follows: An executive order (a ministerial regulation) must be issued for every training course which lays down provisions on purpose, structure, aims of the course's content in relation to the classroom and practical on-the-job training etc. These orders contain all specific provisions relating to the individual course. They form a basis for the college planning and organisation of teaching and allow the individual college considerable freedom. Once the VET Council (EUR) has commented on the proposal for a new training order, it is submitted to the Minister of Education for consideration.

When the executive order has been approved by the Ministry of Education, it is submitted to the vocational colleges. On a local level, the colleges decide to what extent the particular course will actually be offered by the individual school.

Curriculum delivery

The VET reform is very much a pedagogical reform. Many recent development projects have documented the importance of finding new ways to organise learning environments in vocational colleges. The students must be more active in their own learning processes. This implies radical changes also for traditional teaching and the role of the VET teachers.

Vocational education and training is a complex sector. As a simple example we can take the organising principles of the curriculum. It is possible to have a course based, subject based or modular approach to the organisation of the curriculum. The "VET Reform 2000" has the ambition to enhance individual learning pathways, flexibility and, possibly, the links between initial and continuing training. The use of modular approaches are especially supportive to this. Modularised structures will be created which may combine the effort to individualisation with systemic coherence. Modularisation allows for the accreditation of smaller, well-defined sequences of a programme, thus enabling students to change track. The VET colleges will offer modules in a catalogue or a matrix so that students have the option, in principle, to compose their study menu as they see fit during their foundation programme.

The reform supports the aim of creating new pedagogical environments which promote self-directed learning based on the needs, capacities and goals of the individual learner. Open pathways to learning in vocational education and training must be enhanced in the coming years. Two new essential instruments will be implemented to support this pedagogic effort to focus on the student_s learning at college and in the company: the introduction of the student_s personal education plan and the student_s portfolio (or "log-book").

The personal education plan

Students who want to follow a VET programme must follow a track or path which, in principle, is individual and therefore has to be planned, argued and agreed upon, and so has to be written down in a personal education plan. The path starts with a foundation course and is followed by a main (principal) course of vocational specialisation.

Under the new reform all VET students will have their own education plan, the aim of which is to balance the wishes, interests and talents of students with the actual learning sequences all through the education, including the practical training periods. The individual education plan is a tool for the student to make rational use of the flexible provision structure in VET programmes, as well as to formulate and to keep the attention of the student on his or her vocational and personal qualifications and goals. The drafting of the personal education plan is carried out between the individual student and the college - underlining the fact that the student is responsible for composing his own education plan within the overall requirements fixed in the regulation of the specific course. The formulation of the personal education plan offers a new learning experience which, on the one hand, contributes to meet the individual learning needs of the student and, on the other hand, to develop the personal competencies of students.

The personal education plan shall contain information on the student_s choice of supplementary teaching during the whole education. For students without an apprenticeship contract, initiatives to be undertaken to get a training contract with a company must also be drafted in advance. The education plan should not contain pieces of information of a personal nature.

The initiative to formulate (and to keep updated) the personal education plans is taken by the college, typically by the so-called contact teacher. At the start of a programme all learning sequences are stipulated but may of course be revised and supplemented during the course.

For students having signed a training contract the training company is required to take part in the formulation/revision of the education plan with a view to ensuring that the alternating learning in college and in company forms a continuum which upgrades the learning perspectives.

The personal education plan shall be accessible and open to the school and to the company, which has signed an apprenticeship contract with the student.

The educational portfolio (or "log-book")

The modernised Danish version of the old apprenticeship system implies that the apprentices in all programmes are alternating between periods in a company and periods at college. The effects and results of an alternating programme are very much dependent not only on the quality of the different parts but also on how these parts interact. It must be an important and integral part of the curriculum that the student learns how to handle the situation and is empowered to learn how to be his own learning agent. The introduction of the personal log-book is here a new pedagogical tool which may contribute to improve the positive "resonance" in the alternating course plan.

While the personal education plan contains intended learning pathways, the educational portfolio binds together and documents the actual study sequences and learning outcomes. The portfolio must contain the personal education plan, VET college recommendations and VET college examination documents as well as a description of the qualifications and competencies achieved by the student during the overall learning process in college and company. Furthermore, the portfolio must include ministerial orders and the specific course regulation pertaining to the course as well as a copy of the apprenticeship contract.

The educational portfolio is an important instrument with a number of essential functions and must:

• ensure that the student has a good overview of his or her overall education
• constitute a tool to document what has been achieved in the various elements of the programme
• enhance the attention of students and companies to the specific function of company training as an integral part of learning in VET
• form a platform for a better content-related coordination of college teaching and practical in-company training.

The college is responsible for handing over an educational portfolio to each student. The document is owned by the student and is only to be used during the course of the education.

Vocational school teachers

Vocational school teachers play a key role in this radical transformation of curriculum delivery. The reform has implications for future teacher training and for developing the teacher role among those already employed. As part of the overall reform implementation in Denmark, a vast teacher training programme has been developed to support the changed focus from teaching to learning. Teachers today are already to a wide extent working in teams and planning, organising, teaching and evaluating together. But teachers will get a new role as tutors/contact teachers and must have an overall view of the total educational offer to the students and must be capable of guiding students in their progression within individual programmes. Thus, teachers also have to become learners in the coming years.

Danish VET teachers, however, have a good background for supporting the school-company interplay. A critical factor, which raises awareness for new requirements and provides an insight into the learner's professional world and their job functions, is the way in which VET teachers are recruited and trained. Teachers are employed by the VET colleges - and only then do they start their actual pedagogical teacher training at DEL, the national vocational teacher training institution. In this context, it is of paramount importance for the teachers to have extensive job experience to ensure optimum interaction between classroom-based education and on-the-job training in a company.

Denne side indgår i publikationen "New structure of the Danish Vocational Education and Training System" som kapitel 6 af 8
© Undervisningsministeriet 2000