Work Experience Placements in Lower Secondary Education in Nordic Countries

Career education in lower secondary school

In Denmark, career guidance is seen as a continuous process within the education system to help young people to become more aware of their abilities, interests and possibilities, enabling them to make qualified education and employment decisions (Undervisningsministeriet, 2022). In Denmark’s lower secondary schools, career education falls within the topic of ‘Education and Work’ (‘Uddannelse og job’ in Danish) (Undervisningsministeriet, 2023, §7). This compulsory topic is integrated into all compulsory school subjects at every grade. There is no specified individual timetable, and the extent of teaching is not regulated. The Education and Work curriculum is divided into three themes: personal choice, from education to work and working life. Competence, skills and knowledge targets are specified for these themes, and it is up to the school principal to decide which subjects will incorporate the compulsory themes. The syllabus describes the topic’s progression through different levels (Ministry for children, education and gender equality, 2018). Students in grades 7 to 9 can choose an elective subject called ‘Knowledge of work,’ but it’s not mandatory for schools to provide this option (Undervisningsministeriet, 2023, §9). Students in grades 6 to 9 have the right to participate in WEP. Schools have the option to offer organised WEP, but are not obliged to do so. No specific competencies are required for teaching the topic of Education and Work, but new proposals for teacher education in Denmark allow students in training to choose an elective subject related to the topic if they wish (Uddannelses- og forskningsministeriet, 2022).

The legislation states that Education and Work activities should be planned in cooperation with the municipal youth guidance units (‘Den kommunale ungeindsats’ in Danish) (Undervisningsministeriet, 2023, §7); these employ full-time career counsellors, who must hold legally defined qualifications. Building on the knowledge and skills that students acquire in Education and Work, career guidance should help them to make informed and qualified choices that facilitate the transition from compulsory lower secondary education to vocational or general upper secondary education or to full-time work (Undervisningsministeriet, 2022, §6).

In Greenland, the Compulsory School Act (Grønlands hjemmestyre, 2003) describes the subject ‘Personal Development’ for grades 1 to 10. One of the subject’s purposes is to support students to understand the significance of their education, career and lifestyle choices for themselves and for society. Teachers must also help students to develop tolerance towards others and value everyone’s role and contribution to a democratic society (Grønlands hjemmestyre, 2003, §34). As part of the Personal Development, the theme ‘Education and Profession’ requires students in grades 8 to 10 to familarise with at least one profession of their choice and to evaluate its potential benefits and their future interest (Grønlands hjemmestyre, 2003, §34–37). School can offer WEP but participation is not mandatory. All students are entitled to educational and vocational guidance (grades 4 to 10 in the capital Nuuk and grades 6 to 10 in other municipalities).

In Finland, the Basic Education Act (628/1998, § 11) entitles every student to adequate career guidance services (§ 30). The national core curriculum promotes a ‘whole school’ approach to career education which means that all staff members share responsibility for career education. Career educations is both a transversal theme in all subjects and a compulsory element of the curriculum, comprising 76 hours of scheduled activities for lower secondary students in grades 7 to 9. In addition, students are entitled to receive individual guidance, group counselling and a practical introduction to working life (TET/PRAO) that includes personal experiences as a foundation for educational and career choices and a better general appreciation of working life. TET/PRAO is implemented in cooperation with other school subjects, building on their content and working methods (Finnish National Agency for Education, 2016).

Comprehensive school education providers have a duty to ensure that students receive individual guidance and counselling in grades 8 and 9 of compulsory school to prepare them for the next phase of their studies. Students with challenges in career planning, planning for further studies and/or entering to upper secondary level are entitled for more targeted and intensive guidance counselling (Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, 2020). Once students have completed their comprehensive education, those providers remain responsible for guiding and supervising compulsory education until students move on to their next phase of education and begin their studies.

The Finnish National Agency for Education specifies the core curriculum for comprehensive education (2016), which sets key learning objectives that include career education. Local education providers are required to implement an institutional curriculum, that incorporates provisions for cooperation with the local labour market and business community. Classroom visits by labour market representatives, workplace visits, project work, WEPs and the information about different sectors are central parts of this cooperation. Subjects must include modules that link subject knowledge and skills to the demands and possibilities of working life. Beyond choices related to the next level of study, emphasis is placed on promoting acquisition of lifelong career management skills as a transversal learning objective and competence area. In general, guidance services and career education are provided and co-ordinated by full-time school counsellors, who are employed by the school and must hold legally defined qualifications. These counsellors are responsible for timetabled career education sessions, group activities, individual guidance and cooperation with parents, employers and other stakeholders. School counsellors work with group tutors who support their students on daily activities. The task of all teachers is to guide students in studies in the subjects they teach and to help them to develop their learning-to-learn skills and capabilities for learning. Although career education is afforded the same legal status as other curriculum subjects, it is not graded. Instead, formative evaluation is based on self-assessment, interactions and feedback related to different guidance activities.

In Iceland, the national guidelines for career education are set out in the Compulsory School Act (Lög um grundskóla 91/2008). Career education is first mentioned in article 24: “The National Curriculum Guide should include an emphasis on educational and vocational guidance (education) and the presentation of different occupations and study programmes as an aid in the choice of future studies and employment” (p. 9). Although all students have the right to receive career counselling from an appropriate specialist during compulsory schooling (Lög um grunnskóla, nr. 91/2008; Lög um náms- og starfsráðgjafa no.35/2009), career education is not defined as a separate subject, and no hours are allocated to it in the general timetable (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, 2014). There is no national curriculum for career education and no written statement regarding the nature of work experience, meaning that WEP is not mandatory. Administrators and educational institutions must operate without clear public policy or institutional goals for career counselling (Menntamálaráðuneyti, 2007, 2008; Vilhjálmsdóttir, 2016). Nevertheless, during compulsory schooling, teachers of natural and social science subjects must ‘discuss how different competences are useful in modern occupations and identify occupations that require specialised knowledge’ (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, 2014, p.174). Similarly, for teachers of crafts and innovation, ‘The main objectives … are to enable pupils to work independently, promote job satisfaction and respect for work and develop concentration, diligence and work skills’ (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, 2014, p. 159).

In Norway, career education is organised as a compulsory subject with its own curriculum. This involves 110 hours of education over the three years of obligatory lower secondary schooling (grades 8 to 10). Known as ‘Educational Choice’ (‘Utdanningsvalg’ in Norwegian), the name of the compulsory subject emphasises the singular choice of an educational trajectory rather than a broader focus on career learning. In order to teach the subject of Educational Choice, no subject specific competencies are required. School counsellors, often in part-time positions, either teach or cooperate with teachers who teach the subject. The subject is graded by participation.

Since its introduction in 2008, the subject has focused strongly on the transition from lower to upper secondary school (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2008). A second revision of the curriculum focused more on the world of work as a context for student exploration (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2015). The latest version (introduced in 2020) is less immediately work-focused, but knowledge about working life through testing and exploration is still described as a competence goal (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020). This curriculum is linked to an interdisciplinary public health and life skills across the whole school curriculum. As a statement of general values and principles for primary and secondary education, the core curriculum emphasises the value of cooperation between school and working life (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2017, p.18). School can offer WEP but it is not mandatory.

Sweden conforms to a ‘whole school’ approach to career education which means that all staff members share responsibility for career education. While the legislation does not stipulate the extent of teaching or number of lessons, it states that students should have access to a qualified career guidance counsellor. Formulated in general terms, the curriculum specifies that ‘The school is responsible for ensuring that each pupil on completing compulsory school can make well-informed choices regarding further education and vocational orientation’ (Lgr22, 2022, p. 14).

In its general recommendations, the National Agency for Education provides a more detailed description of how the work of career guidance should be conducted (Skolverket, 2013). To fulfil the goal of meeting students’ needs for educational and vocational guidance, the recommendations identify three forms of intervention: career interviews, teaching and information provision. While the first is the sole responsibility of counsellors, teaching and information responsibilities are shared by counsellors and teachers. In particular, teachers have a responsibility to ‘support individual pupils when making choices regarding their further education and to assist in establishing contacts with schools that will be receiving the pupils, as well as with organisations, companies and others who can help to enrich the school’s activities and to establish it in the surrounding society’. Similarly, career guidance counsellors or staff members who perform an equivalent role should ‘inform and guide pupils prior to the next stage of their education and vocational orientation, focusing particularly on opportunities for pupils with functional impairments, and assisting the study and vocational guidance efforts of other members of staff’ (Lgr22, 2022, p. 17). A new act implemented in July 2018 makes it mandatory for schools to promote a practical working life orientation (Prao), reinstating this provision following it in 1994 (Regeringskansliet, 2017).

Work experience placements in lower secondary school

In Denmark, schools have the option to provide WEP for student in grades 6 to 10. If a school doesn’t organise WEPs, students still have the right to arrange their own one-week WEP in grades 8 and 9 if they and their parents decide. This right is outlined in the educational guidelines (Undervisningsministeriet 2023, §9). For grade 10 students, WEP with an educational focus is also a right, but it’s not compulsory for either the school or the municipal youth guidance unit to offer it (Undervisningsministeriet, 2023, §6).

The topic ‘Education and Work’ should be integrated in the various compulsory subjects at all grades (Undervisningsministeriet, 2023, §7). WEP is mentioned as one of the possible actitivites in the topic’s curriculum (Undervisningsministeriet, 2018). In such cases the WEP must be organised in collaboration with the teachers and the school leader. In grades 7 to 10, WEPs run by municipal youth guidance units can also be offered at the school as an element of career guidance activities (Undervisningsministeriet, 2022). In practice, whether and how WEPs are organised varies from school to school (Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut, 2021, p. 14). In 2019, 62% of the students had participated in WEP either in 8th or 9^th grade (Danmarks Evalueringsinstitut, 2019, p. 8). More than half of grade 8 students who had participated in a WEP reported that the placement had helped them to reflect on their educational and vocational interests and on their personal strengths. As well as discovering new job options and learning more about their educational choices, they said they had gained greater insight into the benefits of a vocational education (Louw, 2020).

Beyond general targets related to competence, skills and knowledge, legislation framing the Education and Work topic offers no further clarification of the purpose or learning aims of WEPs as a component of careers education and career guidance at the primary and lower secondary levels, and there is no curriculum or guidelines for workplace experience. The Agreement on strengthening practical expertise in compulsory school states that WEPs are intended to give students a sense of how a workplaces work, including the different work functions and educational backgrounds within a company (Regeringen, 2018).

In Greenland, WEP participation is not mandatory; it is up to the individual schools and guidance counsellors to decide whether to include WEPs as part of the subject ‘Personal Development’ and the theme ‘Education and Profession’ (Grønlands hjemmestyre, 2003). In practice, many students participate in WEPs in grades 8 and 9, but not in grade 10, which is their last year of compulsory school.

In Finland, a WEP called ‘Introduction to Working Life’ (TET) is a compulsory student entitlement defined in the national core curricula for all students aged 13–16 years (Finnish National Board of Education, 2016). These are organised to support students’ educational and occupational choices. During the WEP, students obtain knowledge about working life, the links between different fields of education and industry, requisite qualifications and relevant study opportunities. They also develop a greater awareness of their own capacity to plan and make decisions about their own future. In grades 8 and 9, each student joins a local company or organisation for a week to gain personal experience of working life and the professions. At the beginning of the school year, a detailed schedule for WEP periods is jointly prepared by schools in the region to ensure that employers receive a reasonable number of students inquiries at a given time.

Students are informed about the ‘job offerings’ and are encouraged to contact potential employers directly for more details about likely responsibilities, enabling them to apply for those that interests them. Each student makes that decision independently and signs a contract with both the school and the company. Students are not paid for their work, but they are usually entitled to one free meal per day. Before entering the working environment, students develop a plan with their school counsellor. At the end of the WEP, students can share their experiences using a common reference structure that facilitates comparison, knowledge exchange and mutual learning. This material can be shared with their school counsellor and/or among their peer students. In addition, students can use this common reference point to reflect upon their own values, interests, skills and future aspirations. According to the Finnish Education Evaluation Centre (Goman et al., 2020), 80 % of the students who had participated in the WEP in 2019 reported that the experience improved their knowledge of the labour market, and 42% said it was useful in their career choices. WEPs have efficacy in changing students’ attitude domains of independence and flexibility toward future education and occupation (Friberg, 2020). Grade 9 student who had participated in a WEP (TAT & T-Media, 2020) reported that both the school and the employers did their part well and for them the WEP has been a positive experience. Students had learned about different roles in work and how organisations function whilst also developing relevant practical skills and knowledge, and 37% said it increased their interest to the sector (TAT & T-Media, 2020).

In Iceland, work experience activities are not mandatory but are nevertheless found in many schools. Rooted in the Nordic tradition of gaining work experience during lower secondary education, this approach has been common since the late 1990s. Although no statistics are available, students in grades 9 or 10 are typically offered an opportunity to visit a workplace of their own choice for 2–3 days. This practice has become a tradition in many schools, regardless of whether they have a career education programme (Vilhjálmsdóttir, 2020). These visits are mostly organised by students themselves, with the support of a career counsellor or supervising teachers.

In Norway, despite a strong praxis for offering WEP in lower secondary schools, these activities are not a mandatory element of career education. In the latest revision of the curriculum, competency goals include a provision that students must acquire knowledge about working life through experimentation and exploration, but there is no specification of where and how this is done (Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020).

Career education includes a legal provision for career counselling in each lower secondary school, and students have the right to ‘necessary guidance’ about education, job opportunities and occupational choices (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2006). Regarding the right to necessary counselling, the Norwegian Education Act, §22–3, requires that: ‘[…] The school, as far as possible and appropriate, involves external partners to provide students with the best possible information and offers advice on career and educational choices. Relevant partners are, for example, the second level of education, local business, partnerships for career guidance and the home’ (Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2006).

Although not mandatory, different opportunities are commonly provided for work experience as an element of career education in Norway, and visits to companies have been common practice for several decades (e.g. Birkemo, 1997; Haug, 2017). In general, students in grade 8 grade are afforded opportunities for job shadowing by following a parent or relative during their working day, enabling them to know more about themselves and about working life. In grade 9, students can choose a profession or a company they are interested in and follow someone for up to one week. During that week, they explore a vocational route that may be of interest to them and gain an insight into the culture of working life. This is followed up in grade 10 by visits to various upper secondary schools. This progression of activities throughout the school years assists students to gradually develop an awareness of the choices they will make after grade 10. Suggestion on how to work pedagogically with these activities is provided in literature or online.

For schools in Norway, activities involving cooperation with workplaces can be challenging to organise (e.g. Andreassen, 2011; Røise & Bjerkholt, 2020), as the logistics seem to conflict with regular subject-based schooling. In some cases, this issue has been resolved by organising and coordinating one-day work visits to local companies (e.g. Bergen kommune, n.d.).

In Sweden, ten days of WEP (Prao) is mandatory during the last two years of compulsory schooling (grades 8 and 9). The responsible authority of compulsory schools is responsible for arranging WEP. Responsible authority can be a municipality or private school. WEP must be arranged in the first place at a workplace and in the second place by the student participating in teaching in a vocational program in upper secondary school (SFS 2018:105). The purpose of WEP is to enable students to ‘gain knowledge about working life before future study and career choices’. As well as gaining work-related insights and experience, students learn how specific industries work (Skolverket, 2022). The ten days of mandatory WEP cannot be replaced by activities such as job shadowing, study visits, company collaborations, labour market days and job fairs.

Although WEP is currently mandatory, the relevant law is quite new, with few regulations to indicate how it should be organised, and some new educational institutions (private school enterprises) lack the necessary experience. As a result, schools differ widely in terms of how they assign responsibility for organising WEP and how they implement it. In most cases, the responsible authority leaves this to the school’s career guidance counsellor/s (Malm Lindberg & Herrström, 2016; Rosvall, 2020). In some municipalities, WEP is a special function assigned to a school or municipality administrator. How WEP is organised may also differ within municipalities; in Gothenburg, for example, career guidance and counselling are offered through a service centre. Both public and private schools can buy the service from the centre, while some schools choose to organise WEP themselves or in another way (Malm Lindberg & Herrström, 2016; Rosvall, 2020). While students and parents can help to secure placements, the school and/or municipality has the overall responsibility for the provision and distribution of placements.

Similarities and differences in organisation of work experience placements in lower secondary education in Nordic countries

Analysis of the Nordic countries’ policy documents, curriculum, and research concerning organisation of WEP in lower secondary education indicates that similarities as well as differences prevail. In all the education acts of the Nordic countries and self-governing areas career education and guidance are legally mandated but differences on realisation exists. In Denmark, Greenland and Sweden, career education or related topic is compulsory but integrated in other subjects. In Iceland career education is vaguely mentioned but somewhat integrated in some subjects while in Finland and Norway it is a timetabled subject in its own right.

All the Nordic countries emphasise work experience placement-related activities, but these differ in terms of how strongly or weakly they are framed. As can been seen from the comparisons in table 1, WEP is regulated or recommended and mandatory in Finland and Sweden but optional in other countries (Denmark, Greenland, Norway). Finland is the only Nordic country that describes WEP in greater detail in the curriculum. WEPs are vaguely mentioned in the curriculum for career education in Sweden and Denmark whereas lacking from curriculum in Greenland, Iceland and Norway. While WEP is clearly linked to career choice in Sweden, it serves a much broader purpose in Finland: to provide knowledge about labour market dynamics. Denmark do not specify the purpose of WEP although it is mentioned in curriculum. Denmark, Finland and Sweden respectively specify WEP duration of 1–2 weeks. In Norway, Iceland and Greenland the curriculum does not specify WEP or its duration. In Finland, WEPs are assessed by the workplace and self-assessed by the participating student; assessment provisions are not specified/instructed in any of the other Nordic countries. There are also differences in the allocation of responsibility for finding WEPs. In Denmark, this is the responsibility of the students and parents; in Sweden, the school or municipality is responsible. In Finland, students themselves seek the WEPs based on their interests, supported by study counsellors. Regarding employer’s role, Finland alone describes them as ‘partners’.