Overview

Key features of the Education System

Principles for education in Denmark and key features of the Danish education
system include:

Equal and free access to education for all: The Danish education system
aims to ensure that all people acquire knowledge and competencies that
qualify them to take an active part in society and contribute to its further
development. Education is open to all and generally tuition-free;
Compulsory education: Education is compulsory for ten years and consists of
one pre-school year (form level 0) and nine schools years (form level 1-9);
High standards: The quality of Danish education is assured in many ways. All
public educational institutions are approved and evaluated on an ongoing
basis;
Relevance: Danish educational institutions must provide their students with
knowledge and competencies for them to use in future careers and life in
general. Accordingly, institutions seek to ensure that education programmes
are of relevance to society and oriented towards meeting the needs of the
labour market;
Lifelong learning: In Denmark, there is a tradition of taking part in education
through all phases of life. Lifelong learning is supported and promoted
through initiatives in the lifelong learning strategy;
Active participation: Treating pupils and students as independent individuals
with a right to form their own opinion and a duty to participate actively in
discussions is a matter of course in Danish education. This also prepares
students to become active and democratically minded individuals who are
engaged in society;
Project work: In addition to attending classes, pupils and students carry out
project work at all levels of the education system;
Academic freedom and autonomy: Higher education institutions have a long
tradition of academic freedom and autonomy. The Ministry of Higher
Education and Science lay down the overall regulations for all higher
education institutions, while the individual institutions draw up and update
 their study programmes, indicating the aims, scope and duration, form and
content of the courses.

Stages of the Education System

The Danish education system consists of an ordinary education system and a

parallel education system for adult education and continuing training.

The ordinary education system consists of early childhood education and care,
integrated primary and lower secondary education, general and vocational upper
secondary education and higher education.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) (ISCED 010-020)

The Danish ECEC system consists of day care centres that can be established as:

Age-integrated institutions for children up to age six (Aldersintegrerede

institutioner);
Separate settings consisting of nurseries (Vuggestuer) for children under the
age of three and kindergartens (Børnehaver) for children over the age of
three.

In addition, there is a system of regulated day care in private homes.

Primary and lower secondary education (ISCED 1-2)

The Danish public school (Folkeskole/Grundskole) is an integrated municipal

school covering primary and lower secondary education. It consists of:

One year of pre-school (form level 0);

Nine years of primary and lower secondary education (form level 1-9);
A one-year optional tenth form.

Education is compulsory for ten years starting from the year the child turns six.

Alternatives to the public primary and lower secondary school include private
schools, private independent schools and continuation schools (form level 8-10).

Upper secondary education (ISCED 3)

Upper secondary education programmes are divided into:

General upper secondary education programmes;

 Vocational upper secondary education and training programmes.

General upper secondary education programmes take place at several

institutions:

The three-year Higher General Examination Programme (STX) takes place at

upper secondary schools (Gymnasium);
The three-year Higher Commercial Examination Programme (HHX) takes
place at business colleges (Handelsgymnasium);
The three-year Technical Examination Programme (HTX) takes place at
technical colleges (Teknisk Gymnasium);
The two-year Higher Preparatory Examination Programme (hf) takes place at
upper secondary schools (Gymnasium) or adult education centres (VUC).

The STX, HHX and HTX are for students aged 16-19, whereas hf attracts both
young people and adults.

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are combination

programmes in which theoretical and practical education alternates with practical
training in an approved business or organisation. The VET programmes take place
at vocational colleges (Institutioner for erhvervsrettet uddannelse).

Students can begin a VET programme when they have completed their primary
and lower secondary education. That is when the student is 16 years old.
Generally, the duration of the VET programme does not exceed four years and six
months.

Primarily, general upper secondary education qualifies for further studies at

higher educational level and vocational upper secondary education qualifies for
the labour market.

Higher education (ISCED 5-7)

Higher education takes place at different educational institutions:

Business academies (Erhvervsakademi) offer short-cycle programmes;

Maritime education and training institutions offer professionally oriented
vocational upper secondary education programmes, short cycle and first
cycle degree programmes;
University colleges (Professionshøjskole) offer medium-cycle programmes;
Universities (Universitet) and higher education institutions within the fine
arts offer long-cycle programmes.
Structure of the Danish Education System

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Useful links

The following links may be useful when seeking further information on the Danish
education system:

The website of the Ministry of Children and Education for further information
on early childhood education and care, primary and lower secondary
education, general and vocational upper secondary education, and adult
education and continuing training;
The website of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science for further
information on higher education, grants and loans;
The website of OECD Education GPS for an overview of the Danish education
system and figures about education in Denmark;
The Education Guide for information on education programmes, adult
education and continuing training as well as job and labour market
conditions in Denmark;
Study in Denmark for information on how to apply to a Danish institution of
higher education, tuition fees and scholarships as well as information on
living in Denmark, including information on visa, residence permits,
accommodation, transport etc.
Common European Reference Tools Provided by the Eurydice
Network

National Student Fee and Support Systems

Organisation of the Academic Year in Higher Education
Organisation of School Time in Europe (Primary and general secondary
education)
Recommended Annual Instruction Time in Full-Time Compulsory Education in
Europe (Presented by grades/stages for full time compulsory education as
well as by subject and country.)
Teachers and School Heads Salaries and Allowances in Europe (Salaries and
allowances of teachers and school heads at pre-primary, primary, lower
secondary and upper secondary education levels.)

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