Seminar at Roskilde University February 20th - 21st 2011
Hybrid qualifications
in Denmark
Results from interviews
1. The context for hybrid qualifications in Denmark
2. Intentions behind the new hybrid program (eux)
3. Target groups and recruitment of hybrid program
4. Hybrid qualifications or double qualification?
Bachelor 3 years 34 % 51 %
The context: two tracks in the Danish higher secondary education
General education Preparation for higher education
VET - Dual system
Preparation for the labour market Basic school 9 – 10th grade 56 % 40% Master 5 years Short 17 15 14 12 9-10 Years of education 47% Labour Market Academic skilled .
Until now no regular pathways offer hybrid qualifications
Higher education
3 years duration
From 2010 a new hybrid program offered
HQ
Hybrid qualifications project Denmark • Seminar in Roskilde University Denmark • February 20th21st 2011 •
Interviews: increasing barriers to progression from VET to HE
1. Tracking in Danish higher secondary education (age 16 – 19)
Track ► General education Vocational education
Types of
qualifications
Academic qualifications that give access to higher education:
- Universities
- University colleges
Vocational qualifications that give access to the skilled labour market : - Union membership
- Unemployment benefits
Structure
4 programs:
• Traditional academic Gymnasium, stx
• Business oriented Gymnasium, hhx
• Technically oriented Gymnasium, htx
• Higher Preparatory Exam, hf
12 basic courses (½ - 2 year) 125 main programs with
additional specializations
Institutions Gymnasiums (stx)Vocational colleges (hhx and htx) Adult Education Centre (hf)
Vocational colleges:
- Technical, business, agricultural and care & service work.
School-/work-based
Full time school-based Dual system programs
1. Context: Tracking in Danish higher secondary education
Track ► General education Vocational education
Governance State governed combined with institutional autonomy. Gymnasiums are becoming independent (‘state freehold’)
Corporatist self-governance
Vocational colleges are independent institutions (‘state freehold’)
Access
/recruitment Restricted admission Generally free admission.
Learning culture
Valuing the correctness of codified knowledge.
Structured by school /academic subjects
Valuing the usefulness of vocational knowledge and skills.
Structured by the work tasks
Teachers Teachers with academic education (master
degree plus further pedagogic training)
Mainly teachers with vocational background and work experience.
Funding State funding of Gymnasiums and students grants (for students over 18 years).
Free tuition.
State funding of colleges. Free tuition. Companies pay wages to apprentices.
The new hybrid program is based on Dual VET and adds on general qualifications - Faces the challenge of bridging two separate logics: education vs employment
1. Hybridization of higher secondary education in Denmark
Vocational Gymnasium introduced in 1980es:
Business and technical Gymnasium - give no access to the skilled labour market
Additional general qualifications in VET introduced in year 2000
Very few students use this opportunity
Pilot hybrid program dual of VET + technical gymnasium started in 2005
Pilot project with 5 year programs ran in 3 vocational colleges
Permanent hybrid program of dual VET + Higher Prep: legislation passed in 2010
Christian Helms Jørgensen • Educational Studies • Roskilde University • Denmark
■■■■Schoolbased ■■■■workbased
Vocational education - Dual system 4 years
Technical Gymnasium – full time school based 3 years
Existing two separate tracks: Vocational and general education
2. Intentions behind the new hybrid program (eux)
• To increase permeability in the educational system from higher secondary
vocational education to Higher Education.
• To increase recognition and accreditation of competencies from learning in
irregular pathways .
• To increase the esteem of vocational education
• To increase recruitment of more academically ‘strong’ students to the vocational
2. Intentions behind the new hybrid program (eux)
• To establish a shorter and integrated program for the students who otherwise
would have to go through double education.
• To counteract and diversify the ‘academic drift’ by offering a new hybrid program.
• - Establish a more mainstream and recognized pathway to higher education in
order to replace a number of earlier ad-hoc solutions.
3. Target Group and recruitment
• Students from non-academic backgrounds to hybrid program that provides higher
education entrance qualifications.
• Students from academic backgrounds to a hybrid program that provides
vocational skills and higher education entrance qualification.
• Ambitious students who would normally choose vocational gymnasium, but are
interested in acquiring qualifications to enter the skilled labour market.
• ‘Stronger’ and more ambitious studentsalready in the vocational program. • Students who are tired of school but want to keep their options for higher
New hybrid program (eux)
Some new hybrid subjects – but most subjects separate
Some cooperation in interdisciplinary teams – and
some separate teaching Located at vocational colleges
and companies (placement ) Certain academic levels required,
otherwise free
- training placement required
State funding for the basic
course. Companies pay wages to apprentices most of the time.
Vocational education
Work tasks and vocational disciplines
Teachers with vocational education Located at vocational colleges and companies Generally free admission –
but training placement required to complete program
Companies pay wages to apprentices.
General education
Academic subjects Teachers with academic
education
Located at Gymnasiums and vocational colleges
Restricted admission
State funding of schools and students grants.
4. Hybrid qualifications or double qualification?
5. Position of multiple stakeholders in the hybrid programs
Interests and advantages Challenges
Department of education
• Permeability
• Increase esteem of VET
• Avoid double education
• The pilot hybrid program is regarded as a success
• Integrating elements from two separate systems
• Reconciling multiple stakeholders
• Recognition of qualifications
Social partners
• Raise the image of VET
• Counteract ‘academic drift’
• Partners have maintained control of hybrid program
• The trade unions can lose the most qualified members
• The employers’ confederation are not in line with SMEs
Companies
• Access to more academically oriented apprentices
• Future recruitment of engineers with hybrid qualifications
• Increased costs due to longer periods in college (off-the-job)
• Providing sufficient number of training placements
5. Position of multiple stakeholders in the hybrid programs
Higher education institutions
• Higher potential of student recruitment
• The hybrid program bypasses the lack of RPL/APEL at the
polytechnics
• And some ‘missing links’ in the educational system
• Worried about higher resources requirement for hybrid students
• The hybrid program does give access to all higher education programs
Interests and advantages Challenges
Students
• Double education in the time of just one
• Students receive a wage during their study – higher than state grants
• Keeping the future open – opportunities to progress in higher education later on
• Very demanding program
• Increased competition for internships and displacement effect
• Maintaining a strong social
environment when students have to shift between classes
5. Position of multiple stakeholders in the hybrid programs
Vocational colleges
• Increasing esteem of VET
• Attracting academically ‘stronger’ students
• Compete for students with the gymnasiums
• A mainstream pathway to higher education to replace local forms of hybridization
• Replacement effect of hybrid
programs can reduce access to training placements for ordinary apprentices
• Difficult to complete the very compressed hybrid programs
• Hybrid program = elite program that can reduce esteem of the ordinary program
• Recruitment problems due to high demanding program
• Achieving real integration of teaching and teachers
6. Policy recommendations for improving hybrid qualifications • Success requires support at all levels from ministry to overcome structural
barriers: e.g. in teachers’ cooperation across the two tracks
• Initiatives to secure additional training placements to avoid crowding out effect
• More comprehensive reforms are needed to achieve vertical integration in the
educational system (permeability)
• Hybrid programs do not by themselves solve the problem of low esteem of
vocational education in Denmark.
• Establishment of new educational opportunities in higher education for
students with hybrid qualifications.
• Establishment of joint campuses for Gymnasiums and vocational colleges
6. Policy recommendations for improving hybrid qualifications
• More transparency in higher education institutions´ recognition of vocational
qualifications – today left to the individual institution to decide.
• Higher education institutions should offer more flexible and part-time studies
with evening classes for adults with a vocational education so that it is possible to combine part time work with part time study.
• Some high level programs in vocational colleges should be assigned status as
post secondary educations and thus contribute to raise the esteem of vocational education.
7. Questions and dilemmas
• Length should be sufficient long to obtain a high quality, but short enough to
make a difference in comparison with taking a double education.
• Length should be short to attract more students, but long to avoid that only
elite students can complete.
• An option for the many - or the elitist few? Will EUX provide the missing step
on the educational ladder towards Higher Education for ordinary vocational students - or is it just another competing offer to ‘elite’ students?
• Will the hybrid program increase the esteem of vocational education by
attracting more ambitious students or reduce the esteem of vocational
education by drawing the strongest students out of the ordinary programs?
Hybrid qualifications project Denmark • Seminar in Roskilde University Denmark • February 20th21st 2011 •