Vocational education and training in the trades and industries take place at 55 technical colleges, five of which offer both technical and business programmes.

Technical colleges cover a very broad spectrum of education and training programmes, for instance, programmes in the metal industries, building and construction, electronics and data, the food industries and trades, transports, agriculture, the graphic industries and service trades.

Only the largest colleges can offer all programmes. As a general rule, colleges specialize in certain programmes and specialized lines.

The physical interior and fittings of the colleges reflect the method of teaching. Very often, theory is followed up by practical training which simulates work routines from real life on the job. Workshops, laboratories, various technical installations etc. are situated alongside traditional class-rooms. Colleges have at their disposal technological equipment that matches the standards of that being used by enterprises in the different trades.

Technical colleges offer education in three main categories: vocational education and training, technical upper secondary education and technical short-cycle higher education programmes.

Vocational Education and Training Programmes
Approximately 80 different programmes are offered with a total of 200 different specialized lines. Programmes normally have a duration of three to four years.

All programmes qualify for job market entrance as well as for direct admission to the colleges’ technical short-cycle higher education courses, e.g. technician (HND-level). The programmes also provide credits which can be transferred to meet some of the admission requirements for the higher education and training of technicians at an academic level, e.g. engineering studies.

The majority of the programmes offer free admission to everybody who has finished the ninth form of the "Folkeskole".

As a general rule, students start technical college with a six months’ broad introductory course, which is followed by a six months’ college-based introduction course to a special programme. Students who have already decided on a programme may start the programme directly. They may also choose to start with six months’ practical training in an enterprise, followed by the six months’ college-based introduction course to the special programme they have chosen.

After the college-based introduction, all programmes continue in employment (on a contract basis) in an enterprise and with a salary, alternating with short periods in college. This part of the programme will normally take two to three years, and will typically include three or four periods in college, each lasting five or ten weeks.

Students are subject to regular assessment while in college, partly on the basis of general participation in the classes, partly on the basis of examinations. Students end their vocational education and training with final examinations which are externally assessed by the appropriate trade committee, and a standardized national certificate is issued.



The education and training programme for mechanics
Each vocational education and training programme is built up in a flexible system, with a broad introduction and later specialization. The structure of different lines of specialization in each individual education and training programme helps to ensure that the training programme always meets the requirements of the trades and industries. When developments in the labour market require changes in job qualifications, the education and training programmes can be enlarged by adding new lines of specialization.
FASCINATED BY HATS
22-year-old Josefine Christoffersen is training to be a milliner, which is one of the six specialized lines within the education and training programme for the clothing trades. She has a practical training placement at The Royal Theatre - Copenhagen, and is seen here in the workshop at the technical college where she is taking her fourth college-based period of the training programme. »There’s something fascinating about making hats - about moulding a flat material into something so smart and elegant,« says Josefine. »You often have to put a lot of strength into it, but even so, the finished product is always neat and delicate.«


Technical Upper Secondary Education (HTX)
In addition to vocational education and training, school leavers are offered upper secondary education at technical colleges.

The HTX examination is taken after a three-year full-time college-based programme and qualifies students to enter further and higher academic studies. However, the majority of students wish to take up higher technical studies or natural sciences.

The first six months of the programme are divided between general upper secondary education and vocational education and training. After this introductory period, the level of teaching is equivalent to general upper secondary education, and includes general disciplines as well as scientific and technological vocational disciplines. Teaching in technological disciplines is mainly theoretical, but is also communicated in practical workshops.

HTX students always have the opportunity to change to vocational education and training programmes or to general upper secondary education. In both cases, credit is given for already completed subjects and disciplines.

The only admission requirement for HTX is that the school leaver is considered qualified for upper secondary education.

WANTS TO BECOME AN ENGINEER
Mira Nielsen is 16, and likes mathematics and physics. She finally chose HTX (technical upper secondary education), because a great deal of the learning here is based on project work and trying out things in practice. HTX students get their own information by working in the field. »We have just been to see a large local industrial firm,« says Mira, »and now we're going to draw up group reports on subjects such as product development, quality control, business economics and waste disposal problems.« Mira wants eventually to study to be an engineer.

Short-Cycle Higher Education Programmes
The technical colleges' third main category of offers consists of a number of short-cycle higher education and training programmes (technician, HND), of an average duration of 24 months. The programmes qualify for jobs with superior functions including research and development in trade and industry.

To be admitted to these programmes, applicants should have completed some sort of relevant vocational education and training programme, or completed technical upper secondary education (HTX) plus one year's vocational experience. Other applicants should have one year's relevant employment, possibly supplemented by a special introductory course.

Further and higher education at technical colleges take the form of full-time programmes. The programmes give occupational competence as well as access to technical programmes at a higher level, e.g. various types of engineering.

Additional Education Activities at Technical Colleges
Increasingly, Danish technical colleges are developing into qualifying centres which, in addition to youth education, offer quite a large number of supplementary courses and educational programmes specially designed for people in active employment:

  • Short-term or long-term courses improving qualifications and requalifying people in active employment for changed or new job functions.
The courses may either be short-term courses for those in active employment, or long-term courses (lasting up to 18 months) for the unemployed. Especially long-term qualifying courses for young unemployed persons aged 18-25 are given high priority.

  • Education by way of flexible courses built up in modules (open learning/flexible learning) aimed at adults who want qualifications via education and training.
The courses are taken during the participants' spare time.
Both elements of traditional full-time education and special part-time education, for instance middle management courses, are offered as part-time courses (diploma in operations and production planning, and diploma courses in management). These part-time courses all have state-controlled final examinations.

These activities are financed by the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education, and in some cases, also by fees from participants or their employers.

Teachers at Technical Colleges
The profile of the teachers at a technical college comprises three categories, according to content and level of the education and training:
  1. teachers who have completed vocational education and training and who have at least five years' employment in the trade;
  2. teachers having completed vocational education and training, followed by further theoretical education;
  3. teachers with a theoretical background, such as graduates from teacher training colleges or universities.
Teachers with no training in teaching methodology must complete a post-graduate teacher training course of approximately 500 hours' duration, ending with a final qualifying examination. This should be completed within the first two years of employment.

It is considered of great importance that teachers have extensive job experience in order to ensure optimum interaction between college-based courses and practical training in the workplace.

HEAVY CURRENT GROWS ON YOU
Dennis Markussen, 23, qualified as a skilled industrial electrician, and then went on to train to be a chartered electrician. During the training programme, he decided to switch to heavy-current engineering. »I would like a job dimensioning and planning control systems. That sort of thing really grows on you once you get started,« says Dennis.