Career Education in the final years of Compulsory School in Denmark

Document analysis

We approached the documents as valuable sources of information regarding national-level career education policy (Karppinen & Moe, 2012). Employing a qualitative inductive method for text analysis, we identified categories such as aim (or the absence thereof), target groups, content, responsibility, and organisation, along with a central category emphasising the interconnections among activities within each policy document and across documents. Subsequently, our analysis progressed to trace the interconnectedness of career education activities across multiple legislative texts. Lastly, we connected these findings to evaluations and research outcomes, aiming to ascertain whether these activities can be considered a systematic effort to support students’ career development, aligning with the framework outlined by Niles and Harris-Bowlsby (2009).

Education and work

It is mandatory for Danish schools to teach the topic of ‘education and work’ in grades 0–9 (BUVM, 2022b, § 7). There are no stipulations regarding the amount of teaching, no specific number of lessons allocated. The legislation states that the school and the municipal youth guidance unit are to work together in planning lessons in ‘education and work’ (BUVM, 2022a, § 6).

The framework for the topic education and work consists of 1) common objectives, 2) a syllabus, and 3) teaching guidelines. The common objectives for the topic comprise three binding and interconnected competence areas: 1) personal choice, 2) from education to work, and 3) work life (BUVM, 2017). The teaching guidelines describe how working with the common objectives can support pupils’ career learning and how the topic should be integrated in lessons in compulsory subjects and part of everyday teaching (BUVM, 2018a,b).

The stated objectives involve pupils:

We argue that the process of choice-making can be seen as the focus of the objectives for the topic of ‘education and work’. This is apparent in highlighting of ‘necessary competences to make career choices› and of ‘knowledge and skills preparing them to make educational and vocational choices and to understand these choices as a process’. This interpretation is in line with studies that find a relatively large focus on educational choice in the teaching of education and work and in the educational guidance offered to pupils in the final years of compulsory school (EVA, 2021; Poulsen et al., 2016; Skovhus, 2014, 2018).

Evaluations of the teaching of ‘education and work’ at Danish primary and lower secondary schools have found significant between-school variation in the amount of time spent on the topic, ranging from 1 to 20 hours per year (EVA, 2022a). Less than half of the schools provide systematic teaching on the topic of ‘education and work’ (DEA, 2018). In a 2022 survey, 76% of municipal youth guidance unit managers reported that closer collaboration is needed between guidance centres and schools in order to support a systematic and coherent plan and process for the provision of the topic ‘education and work’ at this level. Just 45% of municipal youth guidance unit managers reported positive collaboration with schools. 44% of municipal youth guidance unit managers stated that ensuring pupils have access to coherent activities relating to CEG is, to some extent, a priority (EVA, 2022a). Furthermore, Skovhus (2018) has pointed to the arbitrary manner in which teaching of the topic of ‘education and work’ is organised and practised across schools. This leads to significant inequalities in access to information about education and work and different educational and vocational possibilities following lower secondary school.

As such, these evaluations and studies highlight major differences in how the topic ‘education and work’ is prioritised and organised, both at the municipal level and between individual schools. Priorities at the school level are highly dependent on the principal, and, at schools where the principal does not consider the topic of ‘education and work’ a priority, the extent to which it is taught, and the quality of this teaching depend on the individual teacher’s assessment of the topic’s importance (EVA, 2022a, 2022b).

According to the legislation, the topic ‘education and work’ provides the foundation for career guidance provided by the municipal youth guidance units from grade 8. It is stated that this guidance is supposed to build on the knowledge and skills acquired by pupils within the topic (BUVM, 2022a, § 6). In that sense, pupils are expected to have obtained certain learning outcomes, skills, and knowledge from their participation in education and work when they meet the career practitioner in grade 8.

In summary, while the legislation and curriculum for the topic of ‘education and work’ in primary and lower secondary education appears to provide a solid foundation, the implementation seems somewhat fragile and disjointed with inequality in access to career learning opportunities. The inconsistent implementation of the topic also means that the career guidance process starting in grade 8 is based on a more unstable foundation than the legislation and curriculum suggest.

These challenges on implementation of ‘education and work’ may have consequences for the pupil’s outcome of the subsequent career education activities that is provided in grades 7–9 in the Danish Compulsory school. The result of the analysis of these activities are shared below starting with the elective topic ‘knowledge of work’.

Knowledge of work

In grades 7–9, pupils must choose at least one elective subject. One of the electives that the school can offer pupils is the one-year course ‘knowledge of work’ (arbejdskendskab in Danish), but it is not a requirement that the school offers this elective (BUVM, 2022b, § 9). The purpose of the course is to support the pupil in acquiring skills enabling them to assess career paths and opportunities and acquire knowledge about the labour market and working life (BUVM, 2019a). No figures are showing how many schools offer knowledge of work as an elective subject, nor how many pupils choose it. The elective subject is absent from all evaluations and studies of CEG in compulsory education in Denmark included in this analysis.

Collective career guidance

In Denmark, all pupils receive collective career guidance (grades 8–10) from a career guidance professional employed at municipal youth guidance units collective guidance activities are provided at the class level (BUVM, 2022a, § 3,5) but can also involve guidance activities in smaller groups. Since 2014, only pupils ‘not ready for upper secondary education’ have access to one-on-one guidance in addition to the collective career guidance activities.

According to the Danish Ministry of Education and Guidance Order (BUVM, 2022d, § 4), all pupils in lower secondary school (grades 8–10) should, as a minimum, be offered the following activities:

• Introduction to different vocational or general upper secondary programmes

• Introduction to the national digital guidance portal and the digital career guidance service

• Information meetings for pupils and their parents

• Introductory and taster courses for upper secondary programmes (mandatory in grades 8 and 10)

• Work experience placement/job shadowing – schools are not required to organise such activities but cannot deny access to pupils who organise work experience or job shadowing themselves

• Introduction to the application process for enrolment in a vocational or general upper secondary programme, including the study choice portfolio

The municipal youth guidance units are responsible for providing these activities in cooperation with schools as a coordinated programme for all pupils (BUVM, 2022a). Coherence and progression for each pupil across the different activities must be ensured (BUVM, 2022a, § 1).

Below, we take a closer look at these activities and the framework in which they are provided, identifying objectives, expected outcomes, responsibilities, and funding mechanisms. We are particularly interested in relating the activities to the concept of career education, defined as a systematic attempt to support pupils’ career development, and spanning a wide range of informational, instructional, educational, and experiential activities.

The level of detail varies in the descriptions of the different activities in the legislation and in recently published fact sheets produced by a national committee appointed by the Danish Ministry of Children and Education on ‘Better transition for pupils from compulsory school to secondary education’ (BUVM, 2022c). This will be reflected in the upcoming sections.

Introduction to different vocational or general upper secondary programmes

During grades 8–10, pupils are entitled to an introduction to the range of upper secondary programmes, both vocational and general (BUVM, 2022b). No specific objective is stated for this activity. The introduction, usually conducted as an oral presentation of the six different upper secondary programmes that pupils can apply for, is part of the school-based collective guidance activities provided by the municipal youth guidance units. Sometimes the various upper secondary programmes are also introduced at a parents’ evening at the school.

Introduction to the national digital guidance portal (ug.dk) and the digital career guidance service (eGuidance)

According to the ‘Act on guidance and choice of education,’ municipal youth guidance units must ensure that digital tools are an integral part of guidance provision (BUVM, 2022a). It is in this respect that an introduction to the national guidance portal (UG.DK) and eGuidance becomes important. No other objective is stated regarding this activity. UG.DK provides descriptions of the Danish education system, of all education programmes and related job prospects, and of access to career guidance and counselling. eGuidance is an ICT-based service where a team of professional guidance counsellors provide a personalised service to anyone seeking guidance on education and employment, supporting their choice of upper secondary education, higher education, and continuing training.

The online information portal and access to guidance play a vital role because the classification of pupils as either ‘ready for upper secondary education’ or ‘ready for other activities etc. than general upper secondary education and vocational upper secondary education’ means that only the latter group has the right to individual guidance or guidance in smaller groups, while the pupils classified as ‘ready for upper secondary education’ are expected to make use of the various digital tools and the eGuidance service. This is probably why the legislation provides very detailed information about activities such as the introduction to online tools and guidance. There is little research on the use of the national guidance portal (UG.DK) and eGuidance (for a detailed description of the development of digital tools and the challenges involved, see e.g., Jochumsen, 2020), but according to internal figures, there were 11.5 million visits to the website UG.DK in 2020. It is not clear how many of these visitors were lower secondary pupils and their parents as UG also covers higher education and adult and continuing education (BUVM, 2022a). The Ministry of Education has stopped conducting user-satisfaction surveys among pupils, but the last survey from 2016 showed that pupils who visited UG.DK had a satisfaction score of 4.2 measured on a 5-point grading scale (internal figures from UG.DK).

As such, consideration is given to the systematic introduction of digital guidance tools and services to pupils as part of class-based collective guidance. However, evaluations and studies have shown (EVA, 2017, 2019) that when these tools and services replace the opportunity to receive individual career guidance from a career guidance professional, many pupils feel excluded and isolated, without support during the process of transitioning to upper secondary education.

Information meetings for pupils and their parents

As part of their official mandate, municipal youth guidance units are expected to provide parents with information about the career guidance offered to pupils and about the educational opportunities after completing lower secondary education (BUVM, 2022d, §4). The guidance they provide must be organised in a way that involves parents in the guidance process and the children’s educational planning. The Ministry of Education stipulates that the information provided, as far as possible, should also cater to parents whose mother tongue is not Danish (BUVM, 2022d). No specific objective is described for this activity.

All the activities described above – the introduction to different vocational or general upper secondary programmes, introduction to the national digital guidance portal (UG.DK) and the digital career guidance service (eGuidance), and information meetings for pupils and their parents are mentioned as part of the career guidance provided in compulsory school and do not have individual objectives stated.

Introductory and taster courses for upper secondary programmes

The municipal youth guidance units are required to organise experience-based activities called introductory and taster courses for pupils in lower secondary school (BUVM, 2023a). These courses allow pupils in the final years of lower secondary education to visit (general or vocational) upper secondary programmes, giving them a ‘taste’ of the different conditions, levels, requirements, and environments before making their choice.

In grade 8, all pupils in Denmark must participate in two such introductory courses, at least one of which should be for a vocational programme. Each of these courses spans two or three days.

In grade 9, pupils who have been assessed as ‘ready for other activities’ or have not decided on their next steps after lower secondary education are offered additional taster courses at general or vocational upper secondary programmes for a duration of up to four weeks. Pupils attending the optional grade 10 are obliged to participate in taster courses for at least five days, and this can be expanded to up to five weeks (BUVM, 2023a, § 3, 9, 12).

It is stated that introductory and taster courses are intended to both challenge and qualify pupils’ choice of upper secondary programme. Furthermore, the goals of these introductory and taster courses are to allow pupils to experience different study environments and both practical and theoretical elements of educational and training programmes, as well as to familiarise them with some of the fields of work to which the different programmes can provide access (BUVM, 2022a, § 10a; 2023a, § 1).

The municipal youth guidance units are responsible for organising the logistics around the courses. The responsibility for preparing pupils to take part in introductory and taster courses and for follow-up discussions and reflections in the classroom is shared between teachers and guidance professionals (BUVM, 2023a, § 1). Introductory and taster courses are financed through the taximeter system, meaning upper secondary schools receive a fixed per diem payment from the state for each pupil that participates in an introductory or taster course. In a survey from 2019, 97% of responding pupils reported that they had visited an upper secondary programme at least once as part of an introductory or taster course (EVA, 2019).

All the activities described above – the introduction to different vocational or general upper secondary programmes, introduction to the national digital guidance portal (UG.DK) and to the digital career guidance service (eGuidance), and information meetings for pupils and their parents focus on introduction and information and are expected to add to a foundation of learning outcomes that the pupils have acquired through the topic education and work. As pointed out previously the provision of education and work is very uneven and, in many schools, non-existent.

Work experience placement

Schools can offer pupils at all levels a work experience placement. While schools are not required to organise such activities, they cannot deny access to pupils who organise work experience or job shadowing themselves. As such, pupils are entitled to one-week work experience placements in both grade 8 and grade 9, while ’unpaid work experience with an educational perspective’ is offered to pupils in grade 10 (BUVM, 2022b, § 9; 2023b). Work experience placements during grades 8–10 can also be regarded as part of the career guidance activities offered by municipal youth guidance units.

The national guidance portal informs parents that:

As such, it is underlined that a work experience placement can support a broadening of horizons in terms of education and work, develop greater awareness of different possibilities, and help in choosing a path forward. It is important to note that, although seen as something to which pupils have a right, work experience is an activity where the onus of initiative is on the pupils themselves unless organised by the school or the municipality. The pupils do not receive pay during work placements and schools and workplaces are not financially compensated.

There is no system for the schools or the municipalities to report on work experience placements so there are no official statistics on the number of pupils participating in such activities. A 2019 study of educational choices in grade 9 showed that 62% of the surveyed young people had participated in work experience placements in either grade 8 or 9 (EVA, 2019). This study predates the legislative amendment granting work experience placement entitlement to pupils in grade 8 and 9 (BUVM, 2019c). However, no indications suggest an increased number of work experience placements since then. In the same study, 68% of respondents indicated that participating in a work experience placement had helped them learn about education and work to some or a great extent. This figure was higher among those considering a vocational education and training programme, with 81% responding that the experience of being in a workplace had helped them learn about education and work to some or a great extent (EVA, 2019). Louw (2020) conducted an evaluation that focused on early counselling support and the entitlement to work experience placements based on a questionnaire survey among pupils in grade 8. Here, more than half of the respondents indicated that a work experience placement had given them new insights into their interests and abilities, as well as opened their eyes to new fields of work, thereby providing them with new input when making future educational and career choices, including the options when choosing a vocational education and training programme (Louw, 2020).

Although neither mandatory nor subsidised, work experience placements seem to support young people’s career development. The pupils that take part often report significant outcomes, yet, due to the absence of systematic integration at the national level, not all pupils participate in a work experience placement. After all, it supports pupils’ career development by providing them with new insights into their interests and abilities regarding fields of work they might not have previously considered – insights they consider important when making future educational and career choices. As such, work experience seems to be a core activity in career education in Danish compulsory school.

Introduction to the application process for enrolment in a vocational or general upper secondary programme, including the study choice portfolio

During the final years of lower secondary education, pupils should receive an introduction to the process of applying to a vocational or general programme at the upper secondary level (BUVM, 2022d, §4). As part of the application process, pupils compile a personal study choice portfolio during grades 8–10, describing how they have benefitted from the guidance activities in which they have participated. Schools can decide how to include the study choice portfolio in the teaching but must ensure that pupils in grades 8–10 work systematically with the links between school, upper secondary and tertiary education, and the labour market (BUVM, 2023b, § 12). However, when uploaded during the application process, it should include a questionnaire, called the self-reporting form, to be completed by pupils that includes a broad range of questions on topics such as participation in relevant activities, personal strengths and motivations, and future aspirations. While filling in the online application for enrolment in upper secondary education, pupils are instructed to attach the self-reporting form. Although it is possible to apply for an upper secondary programme without doing so, by designing the system in this way, the Ministry of Education nudges all pupils to complete the questionnaire as part of their enrolment process. The Directorate for Quality in Education under the Ministry of Education, confirms this procedure, in an email correspondence, although stressing that pupils who apply for vocational education are obliged to include their study choice portfolio to maintain their legal right to enrol in vocational education.

The rhetoric surrounding the study choice portfolio has been criticised as overly complex, especially the instructions for parents and pupils – these instructions have a LIX score of 56, which is higher than some academic reports (Schødts & Kjær-Jepsen, 2019). While study choice portfolios have been in use since 2017, there has yet to be conducted research on the content, quality, or effects.

The self-reporting form based on the study choice portfolio can be seen as an activity in which all the various career education activities come together in a coherent process for pupils to reflect upon. According to the legislation, teachers and guidance professionals support pupils in seeing the purpose of the various activities in which they have participated and in systematically reflecting on and noting what they have learnt. In such case, the process of working with the study choice portfolio can function as a supportive frame, bringing the different activities together by encouraging pupils to reflect on how each activity has contributed to their career development. However, this process is dependent on all the previous activities being conducted and that pupils note what they have learned along the way.

Career education in Denmark – a house of cards

Like a house of cards, career education in Danish compulsory education can be seen as having a pyramid structure, where the various activities form smaller triangles that are stacked alongside and on top of each other and where the stability of this composite structure is dependent on the layers beneath. As such, the robustness of career education activities during the later years of compulsory education is dependent on a stable foundation in the form of earlier activities. Meanwhile, as we will argue, these foundations are far from stable – like a house of cards, the Danish system of career education is fragile.

The topic ‘education and work’ can be seen as the first horizontal layer, which should provide the foundation for the delivery of career guidance by the career guidance professionals from municipal youth guidance units. The activities described above – the introduction to different vocational or general upper secondary programmes, introduction to the national digital guidance portal (UG.DK) and the digital career guidance service (eGuidance), and information meetings for pupils and their parents – can metaphorically be seen as triangles in a horizontal middle layer built on the foundation of the topic education and work. The outcomes of these activities depend on the stability of this foundation. The introductory and taster courses can also be seen as a triangle in the horizontal middle layer but as a more solid and independently cohesive than the other activities. The financial support provided through the taximeter system ensures that introductory and taster courses are provided systematically across the nation and are attended by most pupils. One might say that the cards in this triangle are glued together, meaning that were the house of cards to collapse, while this triangle would fall to the ground, it would remain intact. In other words, introductory and taster courses would continue as a career education activity even if other activities were to fall apart. Finally, the self-reporting form based on the study choice portfolio can be seen as the top of the pyramid, completing the house of cards. It is here that all the various career education activities come together in a coherent process for pupils to reflect upon.

In our analysis, we have undertaken an examination of the stated objectives of the identified career education activities as outlined in legislation and curriculum documents. Many of these activities share a common overarching objective, which centres on guiding pupils towards making informed choices regarding their educational pathways and ensuring the successful completion of their upper secondary programmes.

Skovhus and Thomsen (2020) have previously articulated a pertinent concern in their study on taster programmes. The concern is that:

They advocate for a fundamental shift in the orientation of taster programme activities and school-based career guidance in general. Their argument is rooted in the need to redirect the focus from mere educational choices towards a more comprehensive and holistic career learning approach that fosters young individuals’ exploration of education and career possibilities. This shift is deemed essential, as a significant proportion of pupils encounter challenges in recognising the relevance of these activities, especially after they feel to have already determined their educational trajectory. Additionally, the perceived relevance of specific, isolated activities may diminish if they do not align closely with the upper secondary programmes that students are contemplating (Poulsen et al., 2016; Skovhus, 2018; Skovhus & Thomsen, 2020).

This insight underscores the imperative of reevaluating the scope and purpose of career education activities to better release the learning potentials of the activities. This is in line with previous research that shows that feedback and debriefing sessions after work experience placements and job shadowing activities, where students are encouraged to reflect on what they have learnt, contribute to positive outcomes (Buzzeo & Cifci, 2017).

Integrated career education activities or obligatory procedural tasks?

The analysis conducted have revealed a lack of a coherent and overarching objective for the identified career education activities. While certain activities do share a primary focus on pupils’ decision-making and successful programme completion, in other instances, objectives are either absent or appear limited in scope, often confined to the mere provision of the activity itself. In cases where pupils question the pertinence and significance of these activities, the sole rationale offered within the legislation is their mandatory nature. This reliance on compulsion as the primary justification can create challenges for educators and guidance professionals who aim to view these activities as a systematic means of supporting young peoples’ career development.

Consequently, rather than perceiving these activities as integral components of a structured approach to career development, they may be perceived as obligatory procedural tasks. This, in turn, can impede teachers and guidance professionals from effectively justifying the value and purpose of these activities to both pupils and their parents. It underscores the need for a more comprehensive and meaningful framework for these activities to systematically contribute to young peoples’ holistic career development.

Combining our macro-level mapping of career education activities and knowledge provided by evaluations and studies, the need to align currently isolated activities and thereby offer pupils coherent and progressive career education becomes apparent. This need is also emphasised in the legislation, although, according to the managers of municipal youth guidance units and principals at primary and lower secondary schools, there is still some way to go in achieving this goal (EVA, 2022a). One possible explanation, supported by research, is that the collaboration between schools and municipal youth guidance units seems somewhat arbitrary due to insufficient time, competencies, and leadership.

One might contend that, instead of constituting a systematically and progressively structured series of activities that align with the intended legislation to support pupils’ career learning, evaluations reveal that young people perceive these activities as disconnected.

To overcome these challenges researchers have stressed the need to present pupils with a broader perspective on education and the world of work – a Bildung perspective – to promote career learning at both the individual and the class level (Skovhus & Poulsen, 2021). This includes a recommendation to implement career learning as a pedagogical and didactic paradigm in school and relate it to the overall purpose of compulsory schooling in Denmark (Poulsen, 2020, p. 7). While this challenge was highlighted in the 2002 OECD review of career guidance in Denmark the analysis reveals that it persists in the Danish career guidance system.

Career learning as a path to systematic progression

The concept of career education has proven useful as a lens through which to identify relevant activities. We, therefore, suggest that it might function equally well in framing these activities, providing cohesiveness by highlighting their interrelatedness and supporting systematic progression. This, in turn, would strengthen the activities’ relevance for pupils and provide municipalities and school principals with a guiding principle in developing a coherent plan for the provision of these mandatory and important activities.

In response to the uneven level of implementation and lack of coherent provision, research has taken an experimental approach to studying the effects of a more systematic approach to career education with a focus on pupil’s career learning. In the research project ‘Insights and Outlooks’ (Poulsen et al., 2016), activities were prepared in alignment with Bill Law’s (2010) approach to career learning as a four-level progression with a focus on preparation and follow-up activities in class to support pupils’ reflections and learning outcomes An impact evaluation of the activities showed that pupils: 1) gained a broader perspective on jobs and working life (and themselves), 2) developed greater openness/curiosity towards education and jobs, 3) highlighted positive effects about hope for the future, motivation, and school fatigue, and 4) became aware of prejudices about vocational education by comparing to their own experience of vocational education. The latter activity supported a dialogue in class about prejudices and hierarchy between vocational and general upper-secondary education (Poulsen et al., 2016). In 2021, the Danish Ministry of Education funded a register-based follow-up study tracing pupils’ education pathways among the participants in the original career learning project. This showed that these pupils were more likely to still be (remain) in education and to have enrolled in vocational education than peers who had not been part of a systematic career learning programme. This was especially evident among pupils with low-skilled and low-income parents (Eriksen et al., 2021). These findings support previous research in suggesting that career education and career learning could function as a more explicit pedagogical and didactic paradigm supporting a systematic and progressive approach to career education in secondary school. To achieve this, the structural weaknesses of the current system need to be addressed.

The study has certain limitations that warrant acknowledgment. Firstly, the analysis focuses on policy documents in relation to existing evaluations and research. While some of these evaluations and research studies draw on empirical data from previous practices, it is essential to note that the analysis does not encompass current practices in Danish compulsory schools. This highlights a need for future research that delves into the current practical implementation of career education in schools, considering the perspectives of both students and practitioners.

Furthermore, the study lacks an exploration of the historical development of policy documents. Consequently, the results are confined to an examination of the current state of affairs in the legal documents without an identification of historical developments, whether positive or negative. Although the research and evaluations inherently have a historical dimension, attempts have been made to incorporate recent studies. However, this approach may introduce a potential temporal misalignment between the analysis of legal documents and the correlation of these findings with outcomes from evaluations and research.