Politics and Analysis

Denmark raises the Flag for Vocational Education and Training

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2025 should be the Year of Vocational Education and Training. This is the opinion of the Danish government and a number of organisations, who will celebrate vocational education and training throughout the year with several initiatives. The government and all other political parties of the Danish Parliament have allocated approximately 671,000 EUR (DKK 5 million) to the project.

In 2025, Denmark will host EuroSkills – the European Championships for the best skilled graduates from vocational education and training programmes. It is an important international event that will take place in Herning in September. The main focus will be on professional skills and the good opportunities in vocational education and training programmes; a focus that will continue throughout the year – and in the coming years.

‘2025 will be the Year of Vocational Education and Training to shed light on the many good opportunities offered by enrolling in a vocational education and training programme and becoming a skilled worker. Good salaries, stimulating and meaningful jobs. Very good opportunities to become an entrepreneur, to become self-employed or to continue your studies. There is a lot of professional pride in the trades themselves, but also in the opportunity to cultivate talent and go all the way to EuroSkills and WorldSkills.’

This is stated by Jannik Bay, Head of Integration and Qualifications at the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA) and chair of the project group Year of Vocational Education and Training 2025. He explains that it makes sense to use the unique opportunity of EuroSkills 2025 as a lever to promote vocational education and training throughout the year. The Year of Vocational Education and Training project also plans to initiate a number of specific sub-projects to ensure a more lasting impact so that more primary and lower secondary school pupils and their parents will gain more nuanced knowledge about the different educational paths.

The organisations involved in the project include Local Government Denmark (KL), the Danish Teachers’ Association, the Confederation of Danish Industry, 3F (a trade union), the Danish Metal Workers’ Union, the Danish Association of VET Institutions, the National Centre for Science Education – Astra, EuroSkills 2025 I/S, the Danish Chamber of Commerce, HK (a trade union), Horesta – the trade association for the hotel, restaurant and tourist industry in Denmark, FOA (a trade union), Tekniq – the Danish mechanical and electrical contractors’ association, House of Natural Sciences, Must, FH – the Danish Trade Union Confederation, and DA. The organisations agree that vocational education and training should be the subject of an extraordinary celebration this year, and they have inspired the government to designate 2025 as the Year of Vocational Education and Training.

‘All of the actors involved in vocational education and training on a daily basis can't help but be enthusiastic. Instead of talking to each other about the strengths of vocational education and training, our aim is to improve our outreach activities and convey the message to other groups. We should talk to pupils in primary and lower secondary schools and their parents about the strengths of becoming really good at something concrete. It can lead to a profound professional and personal pride that many young people could use today,’ says Nanna Højlund, Vice President of the Danish Trade Union Confederation, FH, and Vice President of the Year of Vocational Education and Training.

Among other things, the work carried out in connection with the Year of Vocational Education and Training 2025 will result in new inspirational materials on work experience, which will be mandatory for all pupils in the final years of lower secondary school from now on. A guide for primary and lower secondary school programmes will be developed in order to help pupils understand – across subjects and earlier than before – the opportunities in education, jobs and working life. Another concrete product will be inspirational materials about ‘MiniSkills’ to allow more municipalities to organise hands-on training days for 6th and 7th grade pupils; events that a number of municipalities are already running successfully.  

The government and the remaining political parties of the Danish Parliament have allocated approximately EUR 671,000 (DKK 5 million) to the project.

‘We need to demonstrate to young people the many opportunities they get with a vocational education and training programme and how many programmes they can choose from. A lot of people don't realise that there are just over 100 different vocational education and training programmes. When EuroSkills takes place in Herning in September, it will give thousands of children and young people a unique opportunity to experience the trades in real life. I'm pleased that employers, the trade unions and a wide range of organisations are working together to raise awareness of vocational education and training. The Danish government is committed to enhancing young people’s awareness of vocational institutions, and we will soon be presenting a new proposal to make vocational education and training even better than today,’ says Mattias Tesfaye, Minister for Children and Education.

The above article is an English translation of a press release that was published on 7 February 2025 by the organisations behind the Year of Vocational Education and Training 2025 and the Ministry of Children and Education. Please, see the project website for more information (in Danish only): Erhvervsuddannelsernes år 2025