Educational and Vocational Guidance in Denmark

4.1 Primary and lower secondary schoolThree services are aimed at pupils at primary andlower secondary school:• Educational and vocational guidance at municipalprimary and lower secondary school (theFolkeskole)• Educational and vocational guidance at privateindependent schools• Educational and vocational guidance at youthboarding schoolsThe following description focuses on educational andvocational guidance in the Folkeskole as it is by farthe most comprehensive of the three above-mentionedservices. According to Danish legislation, privateindependent schools and youth boarding schoolsare obliged to offer some guidance to pupils in the9 th and 10 th forms, especially with respect to possibilitiesin the youth education system. Other than that,educational and vocational guidance at private schoolsis not regulated by law. The individual schools areresponsible for their own guidance provision, andthey have different priorities; at some schools guidanceis an integrated part of teaching; at other schoolsguidance does not play a major role. Approximatelyone fifth of pupils in higher forms attend private independentand youth boarding schools.Target groupThe target group includes all pupils in the Folkeskolewhere subjects of educational, vocational and labourmarket orientation must be dealt with in both primaryand lower secondary school. However, the majority ofguidance activities in the Folkeskole are aimed at thepupils in the 6 th to 10 th forms with a strong focus ontheir possibilities after leaving the Folkeskole.TasksThe tasks related to educational and vocational guidancein the Folkeskole are a joint responsibility ofform teachers and the so-called ‘school guidancecounsellors’ in cooperation with other teachers andother guidance services in the municipality. It isimportant to stress that the school guidance counsellorswork part-time as guidance counsellors and parttimea teachers. To a large extent, educational, vocationaland labour market orientation is taken care ofby form and other teachers. The main responsibility ofthe school guidance counsellor is to support the otherteachers in this connection; e.g. by giving advise or bysupplying information material. School guidancecounsellors also offer individual and group guidancecounselling of pupils and parents, including specialisedcounselling of pupils who leave school beforethe end of compulsory education. Furthermore, schoolcounsellors arrange activities outside the school premises;e.g. visits to companies or work-experienceplacements.The school guidance counsellor is responsible for thecompilation of the pupils’ education plans and educationbooks. An education book is a personal documentin which each pupil in cooperation with theform teacher or the school guidance counsellor writesdown main results, interests, aims etc. in relation tohis or her present and future education. During the9 th or 10 th forms, the education book is developedinto an education plan that is more specificallyfocused on the individual pupil’s plans and aims afterleaving the Folkeskole. The education book and plan21