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From primary and secondary education to continued education

How many students go directly from primary and lower secondary school to upper secondary education? How many students continue their education immediately after completing an upper secondary programme - and how many take a sabbatical? The statistics are a longitudinal analysis that tracks student year groups year by year from they finish primary and lower secondary school and complete an upper secondary programme through their educational pathways.

Explainer on…

Preparatory programme with an emphasis on general education subjects. The overall aim of primary and lower secondary education is to provide students with knowledge that prepares them for further education. The programme consists of 10 years of compulsory schooling from year 0 (pre-school) to year 9 and an optional year 10.

Primary and upper secondary schools can be run publicly as well as privately. There are different types, the most common being Public Basic Schools (Folkeskoler), Private Basic Schools (Frie grundskoler), Boarding Schools (Efterskoler), Special Schools (Specialskoler), Schools for maladjusted children (Dagbehandlingscentre and behandlingshjem), as well as Youth Schools (Ungdomsskoler).

University-qualifying education, i.e. provides access to higher education.

A professional education which gives the student a vocational qualification. A vocational education typically consists of a basic course and a main course, which both varies in content and length. The typical length of a vocational education is 4 years. Examples of vocational educations are bricklayer, carpenter and electrician.

Higher education is based on upper secondary education or vocational education. Higher education covers short, medium, bachelor and long cycle higher education as well as Ph.D. education.

Selected statistics on From primary and secondary education to continued education

This page shows selected popular statistics on the subject of From primary and secondary education to continued education. In Statbank Denmark, you can find more data and compile your own statistics.

From primary and lower secondary school to upper secondary education

Here you can see how many students in a year group that have commenced, not commenced and discontinued an upper secondary programme 3 months after finishing primary and lower secondary school.
More about the figure
Last update
27.5.2024
Next update
13.5.2025
Source data

The Integrated Register of Students. More information on this register can be found at: https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/dokumentation/declarations/the-student-registre

Choice of upper secondary programme

Here you can see how students continuing directly from primary and lower secondary school are distributed on the different programmes. Mark the different parts of the pie chart to see the number of students.
More about the figure
Last update
27.5.2024
Next update
13.5.2025
Source data

The Integrated Register of Students. More information on this register can be found at: https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/dokumentation/declarations/the-student-registre

Students' commencement of further education

Here you can see how many from a student year group have commenced a new programme immediately after the summer holidays or after one or more sabbatical years.
More about the figure
Last update
27.5.2024
Next update
13.5.2025
Source data

The Integrated Register of Students. More information on this register can be found at: https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/dokumentation/declarations/the-student-registre

Upper secondary school leavers' further educational pathways

Here you can see how the choice of further education is distributed among those who commence directly upon completion of upper secondary programme.
More about the figure
Last update
27.5.2024
Next update
13.5.2025
Source data

The Integrated Register of Students. More information on this register can be found at: https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/dokumentation/declarations/the-student-registre

Men and women's choice of education

Here you can see how the choice of further education is distributed by sex for the men and women who commence directly after finishing an upper secondary programme.
More about the figure
Last update
27.5.2024
Next update
13.5.2025
Source data

The Integrated Register of Students. More information on this register can be found at: https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/dokumentation/declarations/the-student-registre

On the statistics – documentation, sources and method

Gain an overview of the purpose, contents and quality of the statistics. Learn about the data sources of the statistics, the contents of the statistics and how often they are published.

See the documentation of statistics to learn more:

From Primary and Lower Secondary and General Upper Secondary School to Further Education

The analysis is a cohort analysis of students with lower or upper secondary general school leaving certificate and their further education in the Danish school system. (Adult education is not included). The present statistic which is based on CPR numbers, was first collected in 1973. Before 1973 the Ministry of Education collected the information at class level. The first cohort analysis was published in March 1978 with information regarding pupils who graduated in 1973/1974.

The Education Transition Register

The purpose of The Education Transition Register is to give a fundament for describing transitions through the education system beside the one there are in The Student Register. In The Education Transition Register there is a number of simple counts of movements in the education system, ex the number of time a student change education within the same group of education and completion time.

Need more data on From primary and secondary education to continued education?

You can go on searching on your own in Statbank Denmark. Find more details, for example students taking a sabbatical of varying duration, and breakdown by geography and ancestry, etc. Using the calculation feature, you can also calculate shares.

Contact

Lene Riberholdt
Phone: +45 23 60 62 18