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Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Management and other education staff

Denmark

10.Management and other education staff

Last update: 19 August 2024

Management

Educational institutions managed by the municipalities

The management of the public primary and lower secondary schools (Folkeskole) is a municipal task. The municipalities have the overall responsibility for running the public schools within the framework provided by the Act on the Folkeskole. The municipalities decide among others on:

  • The grants to the school system and the individual school’s budget frame;
  • The school structure, including the number of schools and the individual school’s size regarding the number of forms;
  • The organisation of school districts in the municipality;
  • The number of school days, the length of the school days and the instruction time.

In addition, the municipalities secure that all children in the municipality receive the education they are entitled to cost-free.

Each school has a school head who is responsible for the daily school management, including the administrative and pedagogical management of the school.

Furthermore, each school has a school board in which parents, pupils and the school’s staff cooperate on the development of the school.

Public self-governing educational institutions

Upper secondary schools, higher education institutions and institutions offering adult education and continuing training are public self-governing institutions with a board.

Each institution has a head who is responsible for the daily management. The title of the head depends on the institutional level.

The board of the self-governing education institution is responsible for the overall and strategic management of the institution.

Monitoring

The National Agency for Education and Quality supervises the education programmes that the Ministry of Children and Education is responsible for, including primary and lower secondary education, general and vocational upper secondary education, and a number of adult education and continuing training programmes.

The agency supervises both the academic quality of the instruction and the institutions' finances, including their management of grants. In addition, the agency supervises whether the Danish public schools (Folkeskole) comply with the required minimum taught time.

The Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science is responsible for supervising the higher education institutions. The agency continually supervises the institutions and can also perform thematic supervisions, for instance with focus on selected political, economic, legal or strategical themes.

Guidance

At national level, the Ministry of Children and Education and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science are responsible for guidance and have a controlling and coordinating role in relation to the guidance system.

Guidance counsellors working in the municipal youth guidance units, the regional guidance centres and eGuidance are required to complete the diploma or master’s programme in educational and vocational guidance or the bachelor’s degree programme in public administration. Alternatively, guidance counsellors with extensive experience in the field can apply for assessment and recognition of their competencies and prior learning.

The diploma programme is not a requirement for guidance counsellors working in other institutions.

At higher educational level, the institutions are obliged to offer academic guidance to students about their education and subsequent guidance on employment opportunities. The institutions are free to choose their methods and staff.

References

Bibliography

Ministry of Children and Education (Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet), 2022a: Supervision of the academic quality (Tilsyn med faglig kvalitet). [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Ministry of Children and Education (Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet), 2022b: The board of the school (Skolens bestyrelse). [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Ministry of Children and Education (Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet), 2022c: The daily school management (Den daglige skoleledelse). [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Ministry of Children and Education (Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet), 2022d: The headmaster (Skolelederen). [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Ministry of Children and Education (Børne- og Undervisningsministeriet), 2022e: The responsibility of the municipality (Kommunens ansvar). [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Ministry of Higher Education and Science, 2020: Guidance in Education - the educational guidance system in Denmark. [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Ministry of Higher Education and Science (Uddannelses- og Forskningsministeriet), 2022: Supervision of the higher education institutions (Tilsyn med de videregående uddannelsesinstitutioner). [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Legislation and official policy documents

Legal Information (Retsinformation), 2019a: Act on Business Academies for Higher Education (Bekendtgørelse af lov om erhvervsakademier for videregående uddannelse), LBK no 786 of 08/08/2019. [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Legal Information (Retsinformation), 2019b: Act on University Colleges for Higher Education (Bekendtgørelse af lov om professionshøjskoler for videregående uddannelser), LBK no 779 of 08/08/2022. [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Legal Information (Retsinformation), 2019c: Act on Universities (Bekendtgørelse af lov om universiteter (universitetsloven)), LBK no 778 of 07/08/2019. [Accessed 21 October 2022]

Legal Information (Retsinformation), 2023: Act on institutions for higher general and preparatory examination programmes and general adult education etc. (Bekendtgørelse af lov om institutioner for almengymnasiale uddannelser og almen voksenuddannelse m.v.), LBK no 467 of 09/05/2023. [Accessed 3 January 2024]