The modernisation of the apprenticeship system in Denmark 1945-2015

The aim of this chapter is to explore the development of the Danish VET-system from 1945 until 2015 with a problem-based approach. The Danish VET-system is based on the apprenticeship model, and it is organised separately from general education (the Gymnasiums). The system is closely linked to the employment system, but has weak links to general and higher education (Jørgensen, 2013; Ebner and Nikolai, 2012). Since the 1970s, reforms in the other Nordic countries have taken steps to establish a unified upper secondary school in accordance with the idea of the Nordic model of education. In con-trast to this, Denmark has maintained a strong form of tracking between general and vocational education. The chapter explores why the Danish VET-system developed along a special trajectory, and what this implies for the current situation for VET. It takes a problem-based approach that examines how the main stakeholders defined the challenges for VET, and how their responses to these challenges have changed the institutional architecture of the VET-system.