The Adult Education and Continuing Training Reform

The Danish Government  

Adult Education and Continuing Training in Denmark 

Introduction
Objectives of the reform - in brief
Present situation
Vocational training programmes for adults
The adult education system
Preparatory adult education
The individual levels of adult education
Advanced levels in the adult education system
Financing
Income basis
Who decides?
Ready for the creative knowledge-based society

Introduction
Denmark is right now introducing a major reform of the vocational education and continuing training system. In May 2000, the Folketing (the Danish Parliament) adopted a number of acts which will tie continuing training and further education programmes together into a single coherent and transparent adult education system. The adult education reform implements a political agreement from 1999 between the Government (the Social Democratic Party and the Social Liberal Party) and a number of other political parties. The agreement was based on a proposal from the Government concerning a reform of the adult education and continuing training activities. This proposal had been drawn up in a co-operation among those ministries which are responsible for adult education in Denmark, i.e. primarily the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour.


Objectives of the reform - in brief
The adult vocational reform has three main objectives:

1. To provide relevant adult education and continuing training offers to all adults at all levels, from the low-skilled to university graduates
The offers of education/training are to constitute a system of competences which will give all adults formal recognition of the knowledge and qualifications they acquire, whether this takes place at the job or by participation in formal education/training programmes.

2. Improving opportunities for those with the lowest levels of education
Courses for adults in general subjects, such as reading, spelling, mathematics and continuing vocational training play an important role in the efforts to enhance education/training opportunities for the low-skilled groups. The same applies to the new possibilities for having work experience and participation in continuing training credited as part of an education programme which will give the participants formally recognised vocational competences.

3. Better utilisation of resources
In 1998, the Danish State spent 12.7 billion DKK on continuing and advanced training. The adult education reform will make it possible to use the huge resources for adult education in a more cost effective way.

The education programmes within the adult education system are characterised:
- by being organised for adults in employment,
- by having a content which takes into account the work and life experience of   the adults, and
- by their flexible organisation.
With the adult education reform, Denmark is already now living up to the Conclusions of the European Council in Lisbon in March 2000, to ensure 
vocational competences for all adults

Present situation
Compared with many other countries, Denmark is in a favourable position in the field of education/training. 83 per cent of a youth class today complete youth education which either give vocational competences or study competence and about 40 per cent of a youth class complete higher education. But for one third of the labour force, basic schooling continues to be the highest education level. There is a need for strengthening the basic and occupational skills and qualifications of this group of employees. There are several reasons for this:

• in order to ensure a well-functioning labour market,
•  in order to be able to meet the needs of the enterprises for qualified labour, and
•  in order to give the individual adult persons better opportunities for continuing to learn and develop competences on the basis of the work and life experience they already possess.

In brief: the adult education reform has a double objective; a labour market objective and an educational policy objective.

Vocational training programmes for adults
Denmark has a very broad range of vocational training programmes for adults. They are in the form of short or longer training courses organised for adults in employment and may be targeted on both low-skilled adults (i.e. with basic schooling as the highest level of education) and skilled adults (i.e. adults who have completed a vocational training programme after basic schooling). Vocational training programmes normally have a duration of 3- 3½ years and are organised as alternance training, i.e. theoretical instruction in school alternating with periods of practical training in an enterprise.

Today, a vocational training programme for adults may qualify the participants for going into a vocational education programme or may give them recognised competences in relation to specific job functions, for instance a welding certificate or a truck driving certificate.

It will still be possible for all adults who need to strengthen their occupational skills to participate in any vocational training programmes they may need - throughout their working life. But these adult vocational training programmes also play a very important role in the adult education reform. The programmes will constitute an important part of the activities in connection with the new basic education for adults mentioned below. It will therefore be a determinant factor in connection with the implementation of the adult education reform to ensure that there is a good and relevant supply of vocational training programmes for adults which will make it possible for the individual to maintain his or her labour market attachment and to be credited for participation in these programmes as part of a basic education programme for adults.

The adult education system
The main principles of the adult education system are:

•  good and relevant opportunities for continuing and advanced training for all,
• adult education programmes shall be at recognised and comparable levels, and
• good possibilities for building bridges between education programmes and educational levels.

It is a characteristic feature of education programmes within the adult education system that the work and life experience of the adults plays an important role in connection with the organisation of the education programmes as well as their content, profile and duration.
The new adult education system can grossly be split into two levels of education:

1. Basic Adult Education (BAE) in the form of education programmes which give the same competence as ordinary youth education programmes up to and including the level of vocational education.
   
2.  Advanced education levels which are comparable with ordinary education levels, but different from these as regards organisation and content; short, medium-term and long higher education programmes.

A very important element of the adult education reform is to strengthen basic skills such as reading, writing and mathematics. About one million adult Danes with labour market attachment have readings skills at a level which is considered insufficient compared with the literacy skills required in a knowledge-based society; this is one of the results of a study published by the OECD in the spring of 2000. This is why the adult education reform comprises an additional education level, i.e. preparatory adult education.

Preparatory adult education
Preparatory adult education (PAE) will be an offer to all persons over 18 who wish to improve their general skills so that they will be better equipped to get along on the labour market and as citizens in a democratic society. This will also greatly enhance their opportunities for undergoing further education or training within the framework of the adult education system.
The teaching at PAE-prorgrammes will be organised so that it will be in interplay with the daily life of the participants. This means that many of the activities will take place at the daily workplace rather than in educational establishments.


The individual levels of adult education
Basic adult education (BAE) is a framework for education programmes up to the level of vocational education. At this level, the former education and work experience of the individual participants may be further supplemented by courses in order to achieve a skilled level (= vocational education).

The target is the same for basic adult education as for the corresponding formally qualifying youth education. Adults who complete a BAE-programme pass the same final examinations as young persons in youth education, but a BAE-programme is organised in a more flexible manner and the concrete content of the programme will depend upon the practical work experience of the adult person as well as qualifications attained by participation in various courses, etc. In other words, a BAE-programme is based on the experience and qualifications of the individual in order to make the best possible use of them.

Before starting on a BAE-programme, participants will go through a 
competence assessment where an assessment takes place of previous courses and work experience. The school then draws up a personal education plan which shows what the individual is lacking in having a full education.

Advanced levels in the adult education system
The adult education system comprises three advanced education levels:

• Advanced adult education (AAE) which corresponds to the level of a short advanced education programme within the ordinary educational system
  
• Diploma level education which corresponds to an intermediate level higher education programme within the ordinary educational system.
  
• Master level education which corresponds to the level of a long higher education programme within the ordinary educational system.

Education programmes at the advanced levels within the adult education system may be advanced in depth and in breadth, i.e. either vocational specialisation within or outside the ordinary vocational field of the participant. The organisation of the content and teaching methods of the continued education programmes within the adult education system is also to a high degree based on the life and work experience of the adults.
It is a condition for starting in continued adult education that the participants have a relevant educational background and at least two years of work experience. It should be possible for the individual to participate in advanced education while still performing the daily work. This is why adult education at the advanced levels mainly takes place as leisure-time education, i.e. open education.

Financing
In Denmark, it has always been seen as a public task to finance continuing and advanced education and training. This will also be the case in the future.

In the case of preparatory and general education at the level of the "Folkeskole" (primary and lower secondary education) and "Gymnasium" (upper secondary education) the State will finance the activities 100 per cent, maybe with a modest participants' fee.

As regards education/training up to the level of vocational education, the social partners will to a high degree be responsible for the allocation of the resources through their membership of the board of the new body which will be set up, "Arbejdsmarkedets UddannelsesFinansiering" (the Labour Market Institution for Financing of Education and Training), and will be given the possibility of making recommendations to both the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Education concerning a number of matters of importance to the financing and organisation of adult education and continuing training up to the level of vocational education. One of the main tasks of the board will be to make recommendations concerning the total need for education/training and the expenditure entailed in the field of vocationally oriented adult education and continued training activities.

It will also be possible for the social partners to streamline and rationalise the system so that the focus will be shifted to formally qualifying education/training and programmes of a broad and generally qualifying nature. The board of the Labour Market Institution for Financing of Education and Training may recommend that the enterprises should to a higher degree contribute to the financing of very narrow or very specialised education/training programmes and the board may also recommend the imposition of an employer contribution to co-finance adult education and continuing training measures.

As regards adult education at advanced levels, the financing of the State will be supplemented by participants' fees.


Income basis
Participants in continued and advanced training programmes will continue to receive public financial support to cover their costs of living. There will be two possibilities: State educational support for adults (SESA) or the special allowance paid mainly to low-skilled workers under the Labour Market Institution for Financing of Education and Training.

State educational support for adults (SESA) is to ensure that adults who participate in education at the levels of primary school, lower secondary school, upper secondary school and in higher education may obtain financial support.

SESA falls into two parts. The first concerns support to participation in PAE-programmes and in general education at the levels of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school. Support for this type of general education can only be granted to persons with a low level of educational attainment. The second concerns support for participation in advanced education at short, medium-term or long higher education levels. This means that SESA covers education at the level under and the level over the allowance to vocationally oriented adult education and continuing training.

The special allowance in connection with participation in vocationally oriented adult education and continuing training aims to ensure that adults who participate in such programmes up to the level of vocational education may receive financial support to do so.

The special allowance is given as compensation for loss of earnings or loss of a job opportunity.


Who decides?
Denmark has a long tradition for involving the social partners in the organisation of adult vocational education and training programmes. In order to ensure the continuance of this practice in the future, a new inter-ministerial Adult Education Council has been set up. The task of the new Council will be to act in advisory capacity to the Minister of Education, the Minister of Labour and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in matters concerning the needs in the field of adult education and continuing training. The Council will offer guidance concerning, inter alia, open education, state educational support for adults and the inter-action between state educational support for adults and the special allowance paid in connection with participation in vocationally oriented adult education and continuing training schemes.

A Council will also be set up for general adult education at the basic level. This Council is to act in advisory capacity to the Minister of Education concerning the needs for education/training as well as the inter-action between preparatory adult education, general adult education and other education programmes at the basic level.

One of the tasks of the board of the new Labour Market Institution for Financing of Education and Training will be to submit an annual recommendation to the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Education concerning the total need for vocationally oriented adult education and continuing training.

In the field of adult vocational training, the existing Training Council for Adult Vocational Training will be continued. The Council acts in an advisory capacity in relation to the Minister of Labour in matters concerning adult vocational training programmes and submits opinions concerning other matters of principle in relation to adult vocational training.


Ready for the creative knowledge-based society
Denmark has a high educational level. With the adult education reform, the framework has been set for a good and flexible system for continuing and advanced education and training; a system which will give all adults opportunities for continuing to learn and develop competences on the basis of the work and life experience they already possess. This development of competences is a sine qua non in the future creative knowledge-based society.

Adult Education and Continuing Training in Denmark

Published by the Danish Ministry of Labour and the Danish Ministry of Education
1st edition, September 2000
ISBN (WWW) 87-603-1776-0
Printed in Denmark 2000