How you differ as a professional from the way you are at home
Basic course, main course and alternation between school and training
When you want to be a social and health assistant you follow the classical vocational education model: you alternate between going to school and being in practical training at a real workplace. The idea is theory from school is used right away with citizens and patients — and questions arising in daily life can be taken back to teaching. It makes the education very practical and you get paid most of the way.
§The Four Phases
The education is divided into basic course 1 basic course 2 and a long main course. If you come directly from primary school you typically start on basic course 1 which introduces you broadly to vocational educations. If you have already completed 9th or 10th grade more than a year ago or have other relevant background you can often go directly to basic course 2. It is on basic course 2 that you really start working professionally with care health and meeting people.
| Phase. | What's happening | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Basic course 1 | Broad introduction to vocational education and trade direction (typically for students directly from compulsory school) | School |
| Basic course 2 | Targeted electronics and low voltage — prepare to start your apprenticeship | School |
| Main course | Alternation between school periods and paid training at workplaces | School + training |
| Conclusion | Proof — and you can apply for authorization | Authority |
The basic courses each last about half a year. The main course is the big part and spans about two and a half to three years, where you are both in training and at school in several shorter school periods. In total, the apprenticeship typically takes about four years, depending on where you start and whether you take it as a young person or adult.
§Training in three places
What's special about this particular education is that your training is distributed across three different healthcare areas. It ensures that as a finished assistant you can take a job in many different places.
- 01The nearby healthcare — for example home care care homes and rehabilitation in the municipality
- 02Psychiatry – either in the region or in the municipality's social psychiatry
- 03Somatic medicine — the somatic hospital where you work with physically ill patients
§How to get in
To progress from primary school to basic course 2 you must have passed both Danish and mathematics from primary school's leaving exam with a certain grade average, or otherwise document an equivalent level. You can only start the main course itself when you have a written training agreement – that is an agreement with an employer, usually a municipality or a region that employs you as a student.
You can also take the training as eux, where you combine the professional with gymnasium subjects. It makes the course a bit longer, but at the same time gives you access to continue studies on several further education courses afterward.
“It is the alternation between book and citizen that makes the theory stick — you learn it because you use it the next day.”