The education's structure from basic course to journeyman certificate.
How school, apprenticeship, and the two tiers work together throughout the programme
The way to working with refrigeration is built as an alternating course: you switch between going to school and being apprenticed in a company until you have a journeyman certificate. That way you get both the theory of the refrigeration circuit electricity and thermodynamics and the practical routine you need when you yourself stand with a system that must be assembled filled or troubleshot.
What's special about this particular education is that it is step-based. You first train as a cooling assistant and from there you can choose to continue and become a cooling technician. The two steps are in sequence so you don't have to start over — you build on what you have already learned.
§Basic course 1 and 2
If you come more or less directly from 9th or 10th grade, you start on the basic course at a vocational school. The 1st part of the basic course is broad and typically lasts about half a year, where you are introduced to a specialized direction within technology, construction and transport – without having committed to one specific trade yet.
The basic course's 2nd part also lasts about half a year, and here you direct yourself towards the refrigeration trade itself. You work with the basics in electrical work, plumbing, measurement and cooling circuit parts, and the course is completed with a basic course test that must be passed before you can move on to the main course.
§Main course – alternation between school and training
The main course is the long and largest part of the training. It alternates between school periods, where you are in the classroom working with refrigerants, thermodynamics, electrical theory, regulation, and troubleshooting, and training periods, where you are at a company and use it all on real systems. Most of the learning really happens at the company.
Step 1 leads to cooling assistant. Here you learn to assemble install and service small cooling and heat pump systems. Choose to continue on technician level additional school and training periods follow where you go deeper into large more complex systems advice and troubleshooting
§Total duration depends on how far you go
How long the education lasts depends on whether you complete as a refrigeration assistant or continue as a refrigeration technician. Refrigeration assistant is the shorter course (up to approx. 2½ years incl. basic course), while refrigeration technician is the full, longer course (up to approx. 4½ years in total).
| Phase / level. | What's happening | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Basic course 1 | Broad professional foundation approx. half a year | Vocational school. |
| Basic course 2 | Targets the refrigeration trade, approx. six months, ends with an exam | Vocational school. |
| Main course | Alternation between school periods and company training | School + company |
| Cooling assistant (level 1) | Installation and servicing of smaller systems – shorter course | School + company |
| Refrigeration technician | The full specialty with the large systems – the longer course | School + company |
§Entry requirements and admission
To enter you must in principle have completed primary school with at least 2.0 on average in both Danish and mathematics – or something equivalent. If you already have a signed training agreement with a company you can also enter that way. The subject has solid content in natural science and mathematics so it is an advantage to have that with you. As a student you usually apply via optagelse.dk.
§Completion and journeyman certificate
The course is rounded off with a final journeyman's exam where you must show that you master the trade in practice. When the exam is passed and training is complete you receive your journeyman's certificate.
“School teaches you the theory of the cooling circuit. Training makes it routine. Only when the two work together can you stand with a system that doesn't cool – and get it running again.”