Normally, at this time, the vocational schools will have admitted around 42,000 future skilled workers, but this year only 34,000 have been admitted. The number of new students has thus taken a big dive of 18 per cent, and three out of four programs are affected by fewer new students.
Kasper Munk Rasmussen, the chief consultant at SMVdenmark, is deeply concerned about the development.
Worse than expected
– We are seeing a shocking decline in vocational education. We are already faced with a significant shortage of skilled workers, and our forecast shows that 10,000 skilled workers will disappear from the labour market annually until 2030. Now, these figures show that we may be heading for an even worse situation than we figured. This makes the energy efficiency of the future and the entire green transition almost impossible to implement when we do not have the qualified hands and heads that are needed, he says and warns that, in the worst case, this will result in jobs and tasks disappearing from Denmark.
Empty chairs at the schools
Fewer newly started students also leave many empty seats at vocational schools across the country. At Niels Brock in Copenhagen, just over half of the number of students who started last year has started, and at 35 vocational schools, more than one in five seats are empty in the new classes.
Remove financial support from long courses
– It hits the schools hard because they get grants based on how many students they have. And the expenses fall much less. For example, if you only have 15 students in a class where you normally have 20, you will get less money, but the cost of teachers, heating, electricity and buildings will often be the same. Schools already feel that energy and material prices have increased significantly, so this is a hard blow to the budget in many places. We have previously proposed that you remove the financial support that the state provides on the long courses and offer it as a loan and instead use the money to give the vocational courses a financial boost. That proposal is even more relevant now, says Kasper Munk Rasmussen.
Serious challenge
– It is a serious challenge for the vocational schools, which have to supply qualified labour to the companies, that far fewer have been admitted to the vocational courses. The schools can find it difficult to preserve and maintain the professional environments, says Kasper Palm, chairman of the Danish Vocational Schools and Gymnasiums – Boards.
However, it is not surprising in the current labour market, which is crying out for labour, that many choose jobs over education. The decrease is likely an expression of the fact that some of the slightly older people are waiting to apply for a basic course, where they will go from paid employment to state-provided financial support. In the long term, however, it may have consequences for the individual and for the labour market if the trend continues.
Investments must be made now
– It is now time to invest in vocational education so that they can contribute to educating skilled labour. More skilled workers are crucial for the changes the labour market faces- especially concerning the green transition. Vocational schools must be ready for that, continues Kasper Palm.
