- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
Background
Political agreements on upskilling led to several initiatives by different stakeholders aiming to reduce the number of unemployed people and to meet the demands of a labour market in need of competent professionals.
Objectives
The objective of the initiative is to reduce the number of unemployed over the age of 30. This is in line with the general objectives of the Danish National implementation plan (NIP) for the 2020 Council Recommendation on VET and Osnabrück Declaration and also with the objectives set in the Agreement on better and more flexible continuing vocational education and training.
Description
Through the education lifts, unemployed persons over the age of 30 who are unskilled or skilled with an obsolete education can take part in vocational training while receiving benefits. Since August 2020, there have been two ways of participating in education lifts.
Education lift (80% unemployment benefits).
Unemployed persons who receive unemployment benefits can participate in vocational training while receiving 80% of their benefits. Recipients of cash benefits can participate in a basic course (the first part of a vocational training programme).
Temporary right to education lift within areas with labour shortages (110% unemployment benefits)
There is an education lifts funding pool of EUR 16.8 million (DKK 126 million) providing recipients of unemployment benefits the opportunity to be granted parts of or an entire vocational education programme. Job-ready recipients of benefits can be granted a basic course via the pool. It is a requirement that the person must be at least 30 years old and be either unskilled or skilled with an outdated education.
The municipalities receive 80 per cent of the costs of purchasing vocational training from the pool.
The training programmes included in the education lift are indicated in a ‘positive list’ of vocational areas with shortage of skilled people. These programmes are part of the adult vocational training system (AMU-arbejdsmarkedsuddannelser) and so include both IVET and...
Through the education lifts, unemployed persons over the age of 30 who are unskilled or skilled with an obsolete education can take part in vocational training while receiving benefits. Since August 2020, there have been two ways of participating in education lifts.
Education lift (80% unemployment benefits).
Unemployed persons who receive unemployment benefits can participate in vocational training while receiving 80% of their benefits. Recipients of cash benefits can participate in a basic course (the first part of a vocational training programme).
Temporary right to education lift within areas with labour shortages (110% unemployment benefits)
There is an education lifts funding pool of EUR 16.8 million (DKK 126 million) providing recipients of unemployment benefits the opportunity to be granted parts of or an entire vocational education programme. Job-ready recipients of benefits can be granted a basic course via the pool. It is a requirement that the person must be at least 30 years old and be either unskilled or skilled with an outdated education.
The municipalities receive 80 per cent of the costs of purchasing vocational training from the pool.
The training programmes included in the education lift are indicated in a ‘positive list’ of vocational areas with shortage of skilled people. These programmes are part of the adult vocational training system (AMU-arbejdsmarkedsuddannelser) and so include both IVET and CVET.
Education lifts are under the jurisdiction of the employment ministry. The Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment is responsible for the implementation, including managing the ‘positive list’. The regional and local authorities (Jobcentres) are implementing bodies in close cooperation with VET schools.
The education lifts are one of a number of initiatives aiming to upskill groups in need of competence development.
According to an evaluation of 2021, 2 718 individuals had participated in the education lifts since 2015. The main vocational areas were industrial operator, warehouse and terminal education and service assistant.
The temporary right to education lifts within areas with labour shortages (110% unemployment benefits), the second ‘entrance point’ since 2020, expired at the end of 2022. It should be noted that the education lifts funding pool is a permanent scheme with no expiry date.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of Employment
- Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment
Target groups
Learners
- Adult learners
- Low-skilled/qualified persons
Entities providing VET
- VET providers (all kinds)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to the ways VET is funded at the system level. Policies include optimisation of VET provider funding that allows them to adapt their offer to changing skill needs, green and digital transitions, the social agenda and economic cycles, e.g. increasing the funding for VET or for specific programmes. They can also concern changing the mechanism of how the funding is allocated to VET schools (per capita vs based on achievement or other criteria). Using EU funds and financial instruments for development of VET and skills also falls into this sub-category.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Modernising VET offer and delivery
This thematic category looks at what and how individuals learn, how learning content and learning outcomes in initial and continuing VET are defined, adapted and updated. First and foremost, it examines how VET standards, curricula, programmes and training courses are updated and modernised or new ones created. Updated and renewed VET content ensures that learners acquire a balanced mix of competences that address modern demands, and are more closely aligned with the realities of the labour market, including key competences, digital competences and skills for green transition and sustainability, both sector-specific and across sectors. Using learning outcomes as a basis is important to facilitate this modernisation, including modularisation of VET programmes. Updating and developing teaching and learning materials to support the above is also part of the category.
The thematic category continues to focus on strengthening high-quality and inclusive apprenticeships and work-based learning in real-life work environments and in line with the European framework for quality and effective apprenticeships. It looks at expanding apprenticeship to continuing vocational training and at developing VET programmes at EQF levels 5-8 for better permeability and lifelong learning and to support the need for higher vocational skills.
This thematic category also focuses on VET delivery through a mix of open, digital and participative learning environments, including workplaces conducive to learning, which are flexible, more adaptable to the ways individuals learn, and provide more access and outreach to various groups of learners, diversifying modes of learning and exploiting the potential of digital learning solutions and blended learning to complement face-to-face learning.
Centres of vocational excellence that connect VET to innovation and skill ecosystems and facilitate stronger cooperation with business and research also fall into this category.
VET standards and curricula define the content and outcomes of learning, most often at national or sectoral levels. VET programmes are based on standards and curricula and refer to specific vocations/occupations. They all need to be regularly reviewed, updated and aligned with the needs of the labour market and society. They need to include a balanced mix of vocational and technical skills corresponding to economic cycles, evolving jobs and working methods, and key competences, providing for resilience, lifelong learning, employability, social inclusion, active citizenship, sustainable awareness and personal development (Council of the European Union, 2020). The thematic sub-category also refers to establishing new VET programmes, reducing their number or discontinuing some. It also includes design of CVET programmes and training courses to adapt to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and re-skilling needs.
Supporting lifelong learning culture and increasing participation
Lifelong learning refers to all learning (formal, non-formal or informal) taking place at all stages in life and resulting in an improvement or update in knowledge, skills, competences and attitudes or in participation in society from a personal, civic, cultural, social or employment-related perspective (Erasmus+, Glossary of terms, https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/programme-guide/part-d/glossary-common-terms). A systemic approach to CVET is crucial to ensure adaptability to evolving demands.
This broad thematic category looks at ways of creating opportunities and ensuring access to re-skilling and upskilling pathways, allowing individuals to progress smoothly in their learning throughout their lives with better permeability between general and vocational education and training, and better integration and compatibility between initial and continuing VET and with higher education. Individuals should be supported in acquiring and updating their skills and competences and navigating easily through education and training systems. Strategies and campaigns that promote VET and LLL as an attractive and high-quality pathway, providing quality lifelong guidance and tailored support to design learning and career paths, and various incentives (financial and non-financial) to attract and support participation in VET and LLL fall into this thematic category as well.
This thematic category also includes many initiatives on making VET inclusive and ensuring equal education and training opportunities for various groups of learners, regardless of their personal and economic background and place of residence – especially those at risk of disadvantage or exclusion, such as persons with disabilities, the low-skilled and low-qualified, minorities, migrants, refugees and others.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of incentives that encourage learners to take part in VET and lifelong learning; VET providers to improve, broaden and update their offer; companies to provide places for apprenticeship and work-based learning, and to stimulate and support learning of their employees. It also includes measures addressing specific challenges of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) willing to create work-based learning opportunities in different sectors. Incentives can be financial (e.g. grants, allowances, tax incentives, levy/grant mechanisms, vouchers, training credits, individual learning accounts) and non-financial (e.g. information/advice on funding opportunities, technical support, mentoring).
This thematic sub-category refers to providing the possibility for individuals who are already in the labour market/in employment to reskill and/or acquire higher levels of skills, and to ensuring targeted information resources on the benefits of CVET and lifelong learning. It also covers the availability of CVET programmes adaptable to labour market, sectoral or individual up- and reskilling needs. The sub-category includes working with respective stakeholders to develop digital learning solutions supporting access to CVET opportunities and awarding CVET credentials and certificates.
This thematic sub-category refers to making VET pathways and programmes inclusive and accessible for all. It concerns measures and targeted actions to increase access and participation in VET and lifelong learning for learners from all vulnerable groups, and to support their school/training-to-work transitions. It includes measures to prevent early leaving from education and training. The thematic sub-category covers measures promoting gender balance in traditionally ‘male’ and ‘female’ professions and addressing gender-related and other stereotypes. The vulnerable groups are, but not limited to: persons with disabilities; the low-qualified/-skilled; minorities; persons of migrant background, including refugees; people with fewer opportunities due to their geographical location and/or their socioeconomically disadvantaged circumstances.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET agile in adapting to labour market challenges
Osnabrück Declaration
- Establishing a new lifelong learning culture - relevance of continuing VET and digitalisation