Teachers and Trainers in Denmark

There are different requirements for teachers’ and trainers’ skilled and pedagogical qualifications in terms of the responsibility for teaching VET students to become skilled workers.

In-company trainers

An in-company trainer must have a qualification as a skilled worker (or equivalent) within the trade in question. They should have some years of practical experience, but do not necessarily need any pedagogical trainer qualification. However, the AMU system (adult vocational training programme) does have some courses aimed at in-company trainers in how they should train and work with apprentices, but these are scattered and not compulsory.

Trainers are normally recruited from the company and appointed by the head of the company or a specific department.

Teachers

Teachers are recruited by the VET colleges based on their qualifications and competencies. They are expected to be skilled workers and if they are specialised subject teachers they are required to have a qualification at level 6 in the National Qualifications Framework (EQF 6). The board of governors formally employs all staff members, but in practice this is done by the school leadership, based on the delegation of authority from the school board.

After employment, teachers must complete a consecutive pedagogical programme at the diploma or Bachelor’s level (60 ECTS points). The programme alternates with periods at school and periods in the workplace, where the teachers have the opportunity to apply their competencies in practice. These programmes will usually be provided at university colleges all over Denmark. The programme must be successfully completed no later than four years after employment in order to achieve permanent employment.

In 2014, it was decided that all VET teachers without the diploma mentioned above should complete at least one module from a similar programme (10 ECTS points) before the end of 2020 as a part of a major systematic CVET initiative based on the VET reform of 2015.

Pedagogical methods (didactical approaches) 

All VET colleges must work strategically with a common pedagogical and didactic base to be formulated at the college and documented to the Ministry of Children and Education. In addition, all levels of management must complete a module in pedagogical management (10 ECTS) at EQF level 6. The pedagogical plans and initiatives must be reflected in the college’s action plans.

Qualifications are described in terms of learning objectives by the trade committees. They have been greatly inspired by the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and are included in the National Qualifications Framework (Den Danske Kvalifikationsramme) with eight levels like the EQF.

The local curriculum (lokal undervisningsplan) contains the same competence goals as the national curriculum, which in general is broadly described. The decentralised approach is reflected in how learning objectives are specified. It is up to the school, in cooperation with the local trade committees and the students, to operationalise and adapt the nationally set general competence goals to the local context. The goals are used for both formative and summative assessment. Key competencies are reflected and included in curricula. They may vary somewhat from school to school, due to different strategies and different pedagogical-didactical bases.