Education and training for refugees and migrants in Denmark
Introduction
Denmark has - owing to its long tradition for adult education - a rather well-facilitated education and training system to support migrants and refugees. First of all, there is a solid national support system offered by the Danish Ministry of Education. Secondly the Danish municipalities play a very strong role in the coordination and bridge-building among the formal training system and the local labour market, welfare services and involvement of the civil society. It creates an integrated policy system and the result is a growing success to upskill the large number of refugees who arrived during the European refugee crises in 2015-2017.
In the Danish welfare system, refugees and asylum seekers are distributed to the 98 municipalities based on a quota-system and, as many of them cannot return to their home-country for a longer period, upskilling is an important strategy. Third-country migrants who are neither refugees nor asylum seekers have to be invited by private companies and employers, and also have to fulfil strict criteria regarding work-contracts, level of salary etc.
Finally, it is important to mention that the labour market partners from both industrial chambers and unions also have been actively involved in the upskilling of refugees and migrants. The education and training of refugees and migrants in Denmark take place in four sectors (as illustrated below).
Learning programmes
Education and training | Content | NQF Level (National Qualifications Framework) |
Secondary education Introduction for refugees and immigrants | Full study offered with 2 lines:
| Level 4 |
Preparatory Courses for refugees (in Danish: FVU) | Introductory courses to prepare new refugees and migrants for entering further adult education programs.
Three-step introduction with up to 60 training hours per each step. | FVUs are available with a digital and an English track at level 3. |
Integration Education Program (in Danish: IGU) | Introductory course (2 years) for refugees and migrants to get into the Danish labour market, education and training system. Combined with work or work-practice. Programs are individually organised. | Basic skills training and pre-condition to obtain employment benefit.
Level 3-4 |
Specialised labour marked courses for refugees and migrants | As a part of the Danish labour market education system a number of special courses for refugees and migrants are organised in the form of modular and short cycle courses (i.e. from 3 days to 6 weeks). The courses can be combined with Danish as second language. | The completion of these courses can be recognised and validated in the formal vocational education and training system.
Individual skills assessment of refugees and migrants can be done up to level 5. |
Danish as a second language courses | Basic language training in Danish. | The courses can be taken on various levels: Level 1-4. |
Recognition of foreign exams and certificates. | It is possible for refugees and migrants to have their earlier exams assessed and recognised within the Danish education system.
Assessments of foreign qualifications are conducted by the Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education. | The level depends on the exam and the certificate that migrants and refugees submit |
Table 1: Formal education and training services for refugees and migrants. Programmes where basic skills are addressed are indicated in italics.
Watch the video on the Integration Education Program (IGU).
Local solutions – Language Centres
The training of refugees and migrants is delivered by existing institutional providers of youth and adult education institutions e.g. VET centres, AMU labour market schools (stands for Arbejdsmarkeduddannelse in Danish) and higher education institutions at both municipal and regional level. The municipalities beside the formal system also run special locally organised language centres and schools, which supplement the existing system of education and training. The language centres offer state-accredited training, but their advantage is, first of all, their ability to create flexible solutions for both individual adults and local companies. They organise training on a dual principle with companies.
Municipalities and labour market partners
The support and help provided to refugees and migrants are all coordinated under the management of the Danish municipalities. Basic skills training and upskilling offers a highly coordinated system that is synchronised with family policy, housing, social services, rehabilitation and labour market integration. For the municipalities there is a strong incentive to get people on the local labour market. In most cases upskilling is done in close cooperation with local companies and union partners. In some of the municipalities a so-called Industry Package Concept is available.
The Industry Package Concept
The Industry Package is negotiated and coordinated by the Labour Market Committee of the municipalities. The committee involves representatives of the municipality, the educational and the social department of the municipality and coordinates with the trade unions and the employer organisations. This results in a highly integrated leadership board for migrants and is facilitated by the municipality. The coordination and the emphasis can be flexibly altered by different municipalities. The Industry Package offers a five-step sequence of modules that provides migrants with a so-called fast track to the labour market. The modules can be taken in the following order.
An eight-week long introductory course, where the refugee is introduced to the industry packages, and where refugees develop personal and professional skills. During the introductory process, the background resources of refugees are analysed, and the refugee makes the choice of the industry package.
The course consists of a short-term practice period at a company, where the refugees’ choice/appearance an on-boarding to the company is tested in reality.
Here, general basic competences within the industry area are trained and assessed. It includes both professional, linguistic and personal competences and supplemented with labor market courses.
These are organised and delivered in the same way as the first course.
Competence development is maintained, and participants are now placed strategically (geographically) and in sub-sectors where there are many job openings. |
The program is supplemented with formal education offers and selected based on the flexible, personal training plan made for the whole package. The concept is strongly supported by the local labour market partners as it creates a very effective and fast upskilling process, which also make the choice of education better for the individual.
Similar initiatives are now taken in the municipalities towards:
- Online Danish as second language (through a virtual training platform)
- Special Youth Program to prepare young refugees to the labour marked. It is organised by the Municipal Youth School (15-24 years of age)
- Personal Development Courses for refugees at Folk High Schools
- Entrepreneurship Training Program dedicated to refugees
- Talent management program for refugees with higher education certificate. (It is supported by the Danish Industry Fund)
The Civil Sector – “Family-Danish”
The support provided by volunteers and non-profit organisations e.g. Red Cross and the Danish Refugee Council plays a very important role in the municipal support scheme. It is mainly based on developing life-skills and supporting the integration process in the local community. The volunteer sector contributes to the learning in more informal environments such as cafés and at homes when it comes to basic skills and especially language training.
One widespread training program is the “Family-Danish” program, which helps refugees and migrants to integrate in Danish language in daily life at home. The “Family-Danish” program also provides activities where Danish families can meet refugees or migrant families with whom they share an ethnic background.
An article By Lars Alrø Olesen
Lars Alrø Olesen is expert on educational policy, social policy and institutional development having a vast international experience from around Europe and Asia. As a consultant he has been involved in the development and implementation of different public and non-profit sector development programs, evaluation of EC-funded development programs in the areas of social policy, employment policy and education. His professional background is also based on an extensive, two-decade international experience in the transformation and development of social and welfare systems, especially in CEE countries. Since its foundation Lars has been collaborating with EBSN.
Continue here:
Chapter 1 on Key Documents for Policy-makers by the EU
Chapter 2 on National Programs for Integrating Migrant Adults
Chapter 3 on The Linguistic Integration of Migrant Adults (LIAM) Project by the Council of Europe
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