CONTENTS

Annual Work Plan 2012

Government of Greenland

Ministry of Education and Research

April 2012

CONTENTS

Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ 5

0 Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. 6

0.1 Introduction to the Annual Work plan with brief readers’ guide (Chapter 1) ........................................ 6

0.2 Introduction to the Greenland Education sector (Chapter 2) ........................................................................ 7

0.2.1 Demographic, geographical and linguistic aspects ........................................................................................... 7

0.2.2 Political, economic and strategic aspects ............................................................................................................... 8

0.2.3 Horizontal strategies ....................................................................................................................................................... 9

0.2.4 Advisory Bodies ................................................................................................................................................................ 10

0.2.5 An overview of the education system .................................................................................................................... 10

0.2.6 Elementary school .......................................................................................................................................................... 10

0.2.7 Continuation schools ..................................................................................................................................................... 11

0.2.8 Vocational Educational Training (VET) .............................................................................................................. 11

0.2.9 High Schools ...................................................................................................................................................................... 11

0.2.10 Higher Education ............................................................................................................................................................ 11

0.2.11 Training Courses offered by Piareersarfiit and Vocational Educational Training schools ......... 12

0.3 Status of the Greenland Education Programme – Lessons learned and main challenges in 2011

(Chapter 3) ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 12

0.3.1 Status of the Greenland Education Programme in general ........................................................................ 12

0.3.2 Organization within the Government of Greenland ....................................................................................... 12

0.3.3 The Elementary School................................................................................................................................................. 12

0.3.4 The Vocational Educational Training Schools .................................................................................................. 12

0.3.5 High School ........................................................................................................................................................................ 13

0.3.6 Oil and Mineral Sector .................................................................................................................................................. 13

0.4 Budgets, activities and targets for 2012 (Chapter 4) ...................................................................................... 13

0.4.1 Total budget of the Government of Greenland and the budget of the Greenland Education

Programme .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

0.4.2 Budget, activities and targets within the focal areas .................................................................................... 13

Introduction to the Annual Work plan with brief readers’ guide ............................................... 15

1.1 Annual Work Plan in relation to the Greenland Education Programme ................................................. 15

1.1.1 The Greenland Education Programme ................................................................................................................. 16

1.2 Brief readers guide ........................................................................................................................................................ 18

2 Introduction to the Greenland Education sector ................................................................. 20

2.1 Demographic, geographical and linguistic aspects .......................................................................................... 20

2.1.1 Demographic .................................................................................................................................................................... 20

2.1.2 Geographic mobility (pull-push factors) .............................................................................................................. 21

2.1.3 The educational level of the population incl. linguistic aspects ................................................................ 23

2.2 Political, economic and strategic aspects ............................................................................................................. 23

2.2.1 Political ................................................................................................................................................................................ 23

2.2.2 Economic aspects ............................................................................................................................................................ 27

2.2.3 Strategic Aspects ............................................................................................................................................................. 29

2.3 Horizontal strategies .................................................................................................................................................... 30

2.3.1 Regional Development Strategy .............................................................................................................................. 31

2.3.2 The Strategy for Children and Young People ..................................................................................................... 33

2.4 Advisory bodies .............................................................................................................................................................. 34

2.4.1 Greenland Economic Council ..................................................................................................................................... 34

2.4.2 Tax and Welfare Commission.................................................................................................................................... 35

2.5 An overview of the education system .................................................................................................................... 35

2.6 Elementary school ......................................................................................................................................................... 37

2.6.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................................................ 38

2.6.2 Target Groups .......................................................................................................................................................................... 38

2.6.3 Public authority ............................................................................................................................................................... 38

2.6.4 Focal area ........................................................................................................................................................................... 38

2.6.5 Capacity ............................................................................................................................................................................... 38

2.7 Continuation schools in Greenland ......................................................................................................................... 40

2.7.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................................................ 40

2.7.2 Target Group(s) ............................................................................................................................................................... 40

2.7.3 Responsible Authority ................................................................................................................................................... 40

2.7.4 Focal Area .......................................................................................................................................................................... 40

2.7.5 Capacity ............................................................................................................................................................................... 40

2.8 Vocational Educational Training ............................................................................................................................. 41

2.8.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................................................ 41

2.8.2 Target Groups ................................................................................................................................................................... 41

2.8.3 Responsible Authority ................................................................................................................................................... 42

2.8.4 Focal Area .......................................................................................................................................................................... 42

2.8.5 Capacity ............................................................................................................................................................................... 42

2.9 High schools ..................................................................................................................................................................... 47

2.9.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................................................ 47

2.9.2 Target Groups ................................................................................................................................................................... 47

2.9.3 Responsible Authority ................................................................................................................................................... 47

2.9.4 Focal Areas ........................................................................................................................................................................ 48

2.9.5 Capacity ............................................................................................................................................................................... 48

2.10 Higher education ........................................................................................................................................................ 49

2.10.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................................................ 49

2.10.2 Target Groups ................................................................................................................................................................... 49

2.10.3 Responsible Authority ................................................................................................................................................... 50

2.10.4 Focal Areas ........................................................................................................................................................................ 50

2.10.5 Capacity ............................................................................................................................................................................... 50

2.11 Training courses offered by Piareersarfiit and Vocational Educational Training schools .......... 52

2.11.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................................................ 52

2.11.2 Target Groups ................................................................................................................................................................... 53

2.11.3 Responsible Authority ................................................................................................................................................... 53

2.11.4 Focal Areas ........................................................................................................................................................................ 53

2.11.5 Capacity ............................................................................................................................................................................... 53

3 Status of the GREENLAND EDUCATION PROGRAMME; lessons learned and main challenges

in 2011. .................................................................................................................................... 55

3.1 Status of the Greenland Education Programme in general ........................................................................... 55

3.2 Challenges within the Government of Greenland ............................................................................................. 55

3.3 The Elementary school ................................................................................................................................................ 56

3.4 The Vocational Educational Training Schools (VET) ...................................................................................... 56

3.5 The High Schools ............................................................................................................................................................ 56

3.5.1 Reform of the high school ........................................................................................................................................... 57

3.6. Oil and Mineral Sector ................................................................................................................................................... 57

4 Budgets, activities and targets for 2012 .............................................................................. 58

4.1 Total budget of the Government of Greenland and the budget of the Greenland Education

Programme .................................................................................................................................................................................... 58

4.2 Budgets, activities and targets within the focal areas ..................................................................................... 59

4.2.1 Focal area 1: Preparatory courses and programmes youth educational and training

programmes......................................................................................................................................................................................... 60

4.2.2 Focal area 2: Competence (skills training) courses, the Piareersarfiit and unskilled labour in the

work force ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 64

4.2.3 Focal area 3: Higher education and strategic sectors ................................................................................... 66

4.2.4 Focal area 4: Cross-cutting initiatives .................................................................................................................. 68

4.2.5 Focal area 5: Dropout rates and completion ..................................................................................................... 70

4.2.6 Focal area 6: Building and housing........................................................................................................................ 74

4.2.7 Focal area 7: Structural monitoring, development potential and perspectives. ............................... 75

Annexes 1. The yearly budget allocations and projections 2006-2014 in the overall

education sector (Million Euros) 85 2. Focal Areas Expenditure 86 3. Terms of reference for GEP 91 4. Description of the 17 Agreed Indicators 96 5. Weight for the variable tranche 108 6. List of targets established for 2012 112

ABBREVIATIONS

ACERC Agency for Culture, Education, Research and the Church (merged with MoCERC

from 1 January 2011)

AEU Recognised Vocational Education

AIR Annual Implementation Report

AMA Labour market courses (mainly for skilled workers)

AWP Annual Work Plan

DTU Denmark’s Technical University

EC European Commission

EU European Union

EUR Euro

FA Finance Act (the Budget)

FSA The Leaving Examination of the Elementary School – 10th grade

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GEC Greenland Economic Council

GEP Greenland Education Programme

GoG Government of Greenland

GU Gymnasiale Uddannelser (High School)

HE Higher Education

HHX Commercial High School

HTX Technical High School

ICT Information and Communication Technology

ISCED International Standard Classification of Education

KANUKOKA Association of Municipalities

LEB Life Expectancy at Birth

Mill Million

MoCERC Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and the Church, dissolved march 2011

MoER Ministry of Education and Research, from march 2011

MoFA Ministry of Family Affairs (formerly a part of Ministry of Family Affairs and

Health) (dissolved march 2011)

MoFCCGE Ministry of Family, Culture, Church and Gender Equality, from march 2011

MoF Ministry of Finance

MoH Ministry of Health

MoHIT Ministry of Housing, Infrastructure and Transport

MoILM Ministry of Industry and Labour Market

PD Pedagogical Diploma

PEFA Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability

Piareersarfiit Career guidance and counselling centres

PKU Competence development courses (mainly for unskilled workers)

POEB Political Economic Report (Politisk Oekonomisk Beretning)

PKU Personal development courses

RDS Regional Development Strategy

SG Statistics Greenland

VET Vocational Education and Training

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0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Annual Work Plan (AWP) for 2012 follows almost the same structure as the work plan for 2011

with respect to chapters and sections.

This report reflects information available as by end of December 2011, except for the data on results

2011, which were available in end-February 2012 and subsequently influenced the targets set for

2012.

0.1 Introduction to the Annual Work plan with brief readers’ guide (Chapter 1)

The Government of Greenland prepares the Annual Work Plan every year on the basis of the visions,

strategies and intended results regarding the Greenland education and vocational training sector with

specific reference to the Greenland’s Education Programme. An important part of the Annual Work

Plan is to report the Greenland Education Programme funds allocated to different activities. Another

important part is to set specific targets for the year in progress regarding various elements of the

education sector, such as number of attendances, the dropout rate and the number of completions.

The Annual Work Plan is submitted by Government of Greenland to the European Commission and is

a condition for receiving the Fixed Tranche (80%) of the annual EU sector budget support.

The Annual Work Plan is also a tool for those responsible of Greenland Education Programme, i.e. the

involved Ministries, the Executive Steering Committee, and the Planning Steering Committee for the

Greenland Education Programme. It is furthermore a tool for communication between the Government

of Greenland and the European Commission about actual plans, targets and indicators for monitoring

the implementation of the Greenland Education Programme.

The Greenland Education Programme plays an important part of the overall education policy in

Greenland. The program has a clearly stated vision and a precise goal for achieving this vision.

The vision is to obtain a higher standard of living and quality of life through better education.

The goal for reaching the vision is that:

2/3 of the work force should have academic qualifications or vocational skills by 2020.

The target groups in the first phase of the Greenland Education Programme (2006-12) are:

1: Elementary school leavers

2: Unskilled workers under 50 years of age who are either unemployed or in vulnerable branches of

the market and/or for breadwinners.

The Greenland Education Programme is organised in seven focal areas:

1. Preparatory courses and programmes - youth educational and training programmes

2. Competency (skills training) courses

3. Higher education and strategic sectors

4. Cross-cutting initiatives

5. Dropout rates and completion

6. Buildings and housing

7. Structural monitoring and development

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These seven focal areas are divided into a variety of activities that receive funding from the Greenland

Education Programme. The results achieved within the seven focal areas are measured and evaluated

yearly by 17 statistical indicators.

0.2 Introduction to the Greenland Education sector (Chapter 2)

0.2.1 Demographic, geographical and linguistic aspects

Description of available work force (supply side) and special Greenlandic conditions

0.2.1.1 Demographic

Regional distribution of the population

Greenland is a so-called microstate with only 56,749 inhabitants as per 1. January 2012. The Majority

of the population (85 %) is living in towns, while the remaining (15%) live in the settlements1.

According to statistics approximately one third of the population has an education. Most people in the

settlements are unskilled workers in the traditional sector.

Age distribution

A steady tendency towards an ageing population will put pressure on the public finances in the coming

years as in the rest of the OECD countries. The population size of the age groups that will enter the

education sector the next five years is decreasing by approximately 5 %.

0.2.1.2 Geographic mobility

A significant trend that is apparent from the demographic forecasts is the movement of people from

settlements to cities. This trend is primarily due to fact that living conditions in the settlements

generally are difficult and job opportunities scarce. Mobility of the work force (and students) is an

important feature in order to close the gap between labour (and education) market demand and

supply.

The infrastructure in Greenland is limited as no roads are connecting the towns and settlements.

Alternative means of transportation are boat, airplane and since the distances are enormous,

transportation costs are very expensive.

The special conditions in Greenland require many young people to leave the home at the age of 15

years and above in order to get an education. The challenges are: To convince families education is a

necessity, ensure adequate accommodation and support from other adults and peers.

In 2011 the study grant system has been improved in order to encourage young people to enter

education and prevent dropout e.g. Greenlandic students on a Danish study grant system have been

provided with one yearly travel to Greenland in order to visit their families during their studies in

Denmark.

With respect to distance work and e-learning the possibilities are limited due to expensive internet

usage, IT-skills among teachers, lack of hardware equipment and IT support.

0.2.1.3 Linguistic aspects

Greenland is a bi-lingual or tri-lingual society, with Greenlandic being the official language and Danish

the second language with the latter particularly used in the larger cities and the Government of

1 Statistics Greenland, Jan 2011

8

Greenland administration. Greenlandic and Danish is taught from the 1st grade, whereas English is

taught from the third grade in elementary school.

Linguistic and cultural skills are a prerequisite for success in continuous education system and the

modern labour market. At the same time the foundation of the education system should be

Greenlandic culture and values in order to prevent the social and psychological problems arising from

the transition. Especially children from the settlements are disadvantaged and need relatively more

support to continue education, and establish a “good” life in the modern society. Addressing the

language problems has therefore been given a high political priority in recent years.

A general policy/law of language was put into force 1 July 2010. The purpose of the law is on the one

hand to secure and strengthen the Greenlandic language while on the other hand to remove barriers

for the use of other languages so that a multi-lingual society can pave the way for a sustainable and

prosperous society.

0.2.2 Political, economic and strategic aspects 0.2.2.1 Political

Self-rule was implemented in Greenland on 21 June 2009. The Government of Greenland maintains

the vision of a self-sustainable Greenland through education, growth industries and gradual

repatriation of areas formerly undertaken by Denmark. Consequently the responsibility for oil and

mineral resources was transferred to Government of Greenland from 2010.

Education Policies and Strategies

The most important reforms in relation to the education sector are: The reform of the day-care system,

the elementary school reform (2003), the establishment of continuation schools in Greenland (2008),

reform of the Vocational Educational Training-schools (2011), and the high school reform (2012).

With respect to continuous education performance based financing has been introduced at Vocational

Educational Training schools together with a new governance structure including board members from

the local industry and business. The preliminary results are positive.

The reform of the high school will be implemented from august 2012; some of the most important

changes are as follows: The first semester will be introductory to studying at and attending an

education at this level, it will entail a six-month introductory course to the 8 different profiles which can

be selected for the remaining two and a half years of the education e.g. a profile with a focus on

geology (the former technical high school) or profile with a focus on health, body and environment.

The reform also focuses on i.e. intensive counselling; practice-oriented education compliant with

international standards; increased support from adults to students in dormitories. After the first

semester the students will be placed in class and subsequently town depending on their choice of

study profile and get their high school exams with whatever profile they have chosen. The reform is

expected to have a positive impact on the Greenland Education Programme performance indicators.

The new organization of the schools will not prolong the time spent attending the high schools; the

duration of the education will still be three years.

0.2.2.2 Economical

Education is seen as key to sustainable development and independence reflected in the relatively high

resource allocation to this sector. Public expenditure on education as a percentage of Greenland’s

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 11 % (2010). This is higher than in other Nordic countries that

resemble the way Greenland’s education sector is organized and financed.

The pattern of the population scattered around the country is becoming increasingly important in the

political discussion of how the society will develop the coming years.

9

0.2.2.3 Strategic Aspects

Besides the reforms of the education system, focus is on strategic sectors i.e. raw material and

mineral exploitation and the welfare sector, where qualified labour is expected to be in shortage in the

future.

Demand-driven education

Besides the reforms of the education system mentioned above, focus in the education policy is on

strategic sectors where qualified labour is needed. Currently and in the future there is a need for

labour in many sectors, such as raw material and minerals exploitation, education, health and social

sectors.

Oil and Mineral Sector

There is a great expectation of upcoming industries within the oil and mineral sector. However, the

timing of when industries are set up and are demanding specific types of labour is not known with

certainty. This gives rise to specific challenges in the education sector. The challenge is to educate the

various types of the labour in demand and at the right time. At this stage there is a demand for

competencies in jobs relating to the present phase of search for oil and gas made by i.e. the Scottish

company Cairn. Especially functions in the harbour terminals, in catering and in the maritime area

concerning staffing of support ships.

Aluminium Melting Plant and Hydroelectric Plants (Maniitsoq)

The preparatory work regarding the establishment of an aluminium melting plant with its

accompanying hydroelectric plants will continue in 2012 in cooperation with the private company Alcoa

Inc. According to the current revised time schedule, the project’s construction phase is expected to

start in 2013, and the project is expected to start actual production from 2018. If the Parliament

endorses the plant and Alcoa decides to go ahead with the planning this project is expected to create

766 permanent jobs, 350-450 derived jobs and new apprenticeships. The aspect of employment

should be part of the final agreement.

The Greenland School of Minerals and Petroleum (Sisimiut)

The development of a total education programme for all short-term courses regarding research and

production of oil products has been initiated at a conference held in December 2010. The participants

represented relevant education institutions and private companies. Subsequently curriculum has been

developed for education in: oil/gas, languages, building and construction, iron and metal, shipping,

food production and commercial, and the first courses started in the first quarter of 2011.

Two vocational educational training educations will begin in the autumn of 2012, one within the

general field of working in mines and one more focused on working with big machinery and

contracting.

Risk Management

An Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) has been made with Cairn and the Government of Greenland that

will compensate royalties to the education of local work force.

0.2.3 Horizontal strategies

During 2011 the Government of Greenland developed two strategies.

0.2.3.1 The Regional Development Strategy

The overall goal of the regional development strategy is to develop a self-supporting economy. On

national level seven strategies have been drawn up. Three of them are directly related to education

whereas education plays a part in the remaining four.

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0.2.3.2 The Strategy for Children and Young People

The strategy for children and young people was formulated during 2011, which focuses on early

intervention to ensure the individual child a good childhood and thereby increase the probability of

attainment of continuous education, which should lead to a good life as an adult.

The two strategies have a broad and horizontal perspective and will include education policy related

themes.

0.2.3.3 Educational Strategy 2012

In 2012 the Ministry of Education and Research will be formulating an educational strategy to be

presented for the Parliament in the spring gathering, upon finalization and approval the European

Commission will receive an orientation regarding the strategy and further it will be described in the

Annual Work Plan for 2013.

0.2.4 Advisory Bodies 0.2.4.1 The Greenland Economic Council

In its 2010 report the Greenland Economic Council (GEC) found indications on inadequate budget

control in relation to the municipality based management of the elementary schools. The Greenland

Economic Council also found that prospects for income earning are unevenly distributed across

children from settlements and towns, children from settlements being the losers. With respect to the

first finding, the teachers association is arguing against this, and no firm conclusions have been made

at this stage. With respect to the latter finding, politicians are determined to fight inequality in society

by increasing the general welfare for the whole population.

0.2.4.2 The Tax and Welfare Commission

The Tax and Welfare Commission of Greenland published a report in 2011 including an analysis of the

education system especially the elementary school system was highlighted as one of the key factors in

raising the overall welfare of the society.

0.2.5 An overview of the education system

This chapter provides an overview of the current capacity in the education sector including recent

developments and rationale for reforms

A reform of the day-care system is in progress, looking into models that can ensure good and stabile

day-care to children founded in Greenlandic traditions. This initiative should be seen in connection with

reform of the elementary school stimulating children from early age to foreign language and securing a

good childhood.

0.2.6 Elementary school

The elementary school is not part of the Greenland Education Programme supported by the European

Commission.

A reform of the elementary school (“the Good School”) was put into force in 2003. The purpose of “the

Good School” is that the pupils get the opportunity to obtain the life skills and competencies that is

required to cope with and in an ever-changing world and future. It is also the purpose to strengthen the

sense of responsibility and the cooperation between the teacher and the pupil and between home and

school, and further be a part of giving pupils the skill to make a harmonic and independent life.

11

The reform was evaluated in 2010, and the main findings were that children taught by teachers

adhering to the principles of the reform perform better than those who have been taught be teachers

not fully implementing the principles of the reform. An evaluation of the first 10 years cohort that has

followed the principles of the reform in all grades is expected to take place in 2013.

0.2.7 Continuation schools

Continuation schools constitute an integral part of the education system, as many youngsters will

complement their elementary school with a stay in a continuation school in Denmark or Greenland.

The continuation school offers an extra school year where pupils have the possibility of improving their

examination results before applying for high schools, vocational educational training schools etc.

In 2008 four temporary continuation schools were introduced in Greenland. Two new and now

permanent continuation schools in Greenland are aimed primarily at pupils from outer districts and

settlements. An important purpose is to secure that more of these pupils will proceed in an education

and not become marginalized.

The cost per pupil is higher for studies at Greenlandic continuation schools than studies in Denmark.

0.2.8 Vocational Educational Training (VET)

The vocational education and training schools constitute the biggest share of the education sector in

Greenland and are offered at eleven schools scattered around Greenland.

A reform of the vocational educational training-schools has been put into force by 1st January 2011

including performance based financing and board members representing the labour market. The

experiences from the first year are very positive i.e. board members eagerly engage in proposing

changes in the educations provided by the schools and act as ambassadors in relation to private

employers and propose solutions to create more apprenticeships and develop curriculum in

responding to feedback from the employers. However both a lack of apprenticeships, school buildings

and of sufficient dormitory capacity presents a major challenge to a further expansion of the capacity.

0.2.9 High Schools

High school education is offered at six schools in Greenland. In the recent years tracks has been

added to existing schools in order to increase the capacity. However both a lack of school buildings

and of sufficient dormitory capacity presents a major challenge to a further expansion of the capacity.

From August 2012 a reform of the high school education system will be implemented. The reform will

ensure that the ways of teaching and the curriculum focus on the individual student’s background and

environment, making the education more relevant for the students by offering a variety of new

educational profiles and thereby intending to raise the number of completions. The new high school

includes a six-month introductory course and extensive counselling during the introductory part in

order to support students in making the right choice. In addition adult support to students living in

dormitories will be increased to prevent dropout due to personal problems. The proposed changes are

based on evidence collected from pilot projects and dropout survey on high schools (2010).

In the future the new high school education will be offered at four schools and the education is

replacing the former high school education (GU, HHX and HTX)

0.2.10 Higher Education

Almost all higher education is concentrated in Nuuk at Ilimmarfik (campus area) that opened in 2008.

12

The university provides higher educations from academy level (short cycle) to Masters´ level (second

cycle). In addition some of the vocational educational training schools also provide higher education

from academy to professional bachelor level (first cycle). Education at doctoral level (PhD) is supplied

either from the Greenlandic University or in collaboration with foreign universities; the latter requires

students to study abroad. The university can only supply PhD’s within some areas.

0.2.11 Training Courses offered by Piareersarfiit and Vocational

Educational Training schools

Besides the formal education system, the Vocational Educational Training schools and the

Piareersarfiit provide a number of training courses for skilled and unskilled employed workers (AMA)

and for unskilled workers and employed and unemployed adults (PKU). Also, upgrading on various

non-literary competencies is provided.

Piareersarfiit was introduced in 2006 by the municipality as a mean to move unskilled workers (18+

years) from unemployment into education or work through counselling and competence development.

In addition to attract the target groups i.e. unemployed and unskilled workers, Piareersarfiit has

become very popular also among the youth (16-18 years) outside the target group of Piareersarfiit.

0.3 Status of the Greenland Education Programme – Lessons learned and main challenges in 2011 (Chapter 3)

0.3.1 Status of the Greenland Education Programme in general

So far the Greenland Education Programme has been successful in increasing attendance at

Vocational Educational Training and High Schools. The current challenge is to reduce dropout rates

and increase the number of students continuing education straight after elementary school!

Right now there seems to be several constraints for a further development: lack of dormitories and

institutional buildings, apprenticeships, teacher qualifications, support from adults to students suffering

from personal problems.

0.3.2 Organization within the Government of Greenland

As per 1 January 2011 the Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and the Church and the Agency

for Culture, Education, Research and the Church were merged together into one single unit. In March

2011 a change in the Government occurred and the Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and the

Church changed to the Ministry of Education and Research, where Culture and the Church merged

the Ministry of Social Affairs, now called the Ministry of Family, Culture, Church and Gender Equality.

0.3.3 The Elementary School

If the Greenland Education Programme is to succeed in increasing the rate of young people that enter

education a special attention has to be directed towards language. An element could be to establish a

support function for those students whose abilities in Danish are weaker.

0.3.4 The Vocational Educational Training Schools

Initiatives will be taken to increase the number of apprenticeships, and also to establish more school

apprenticeships. New boards members at the vocational schools representing the local industry are

deeply involved in this process. The experiences with the new board members are generally very

positive from both sides i.e. school management and board members representing labour markets.

13

0.3.5 High School

Establishment of new student dormitories has been given high priority and new buildings are expected

to be finished in 2012 and in the years to come.

Until recently only the students with good exams and/or language skills (mainly Danish and English)

have been enrolled. However further progress in the Greenland Education Programme requires that

also students with fewer skills in language subjects enrol and are able to successfully complete their

studies. This vulnerable group of students are at higher risk of dropout and requires a more supportive

environment, as many are moving far from home and has no experience in taking care of themselves.

Several initiatives addressing these challenges are an integral part of the new high school reform

including tutors, support in daily living, homework cafés etc.

0.3.6 Oil and Mineral Sector

An increased focus on educating individuals for work within this sector was seen in 2011 from both the

government and the companies. That led the Ministry of Industry and Labour to make extraordinary

initiatives to keep track of the unemployed part of the workforce in order to respond faster to the

changes in labour demand. Furthermore the Greenlandic School for Minerals and Petroleum attracted

many students, during the first year, for especially English courses and courses relating to the oil and

mineral sector.

0.4 Budgets, activities and targets for 2012 (Chapter 4)

0.4.1 Total budget of the Government of Greenland and the budget of the

Greenland Education Programme

If budget does not grow every year activities cannot be expanded as current expenditures relating to

activities initiated in previous years are consuming a steady increasing part of the total budget for the

education sector and therefore limits the scope of means to make start up new activities.

The total education budget for 2012 is € 168.7m, thus accounting for 19.1 % of the total budget of the

Government of Greenland (€ 881.6 m). Of the education budget the Greenland Education Programme

has €50.4m the largest part, € 14.0m, or 27.8 % allocated to focal area 6, Building and Housing. Focal

areas 1(youth education programmes), 2(competence courses, unskilled workers), 3(higher education)

and 4 (study grants) each receives 12.7%, 13.7%, 21.2% and 18.1% from the Greenland Education

Programme budget. Finally focal areas 5(dropout, completion) and 7(monitoring and development

projects) receive 1.8 % and 4.4 % respectively.

0.4.2 Budget, activities and targets within the focal areas

As the Greenland Education Programme is progressing current expenditures in relation to on-going

activities are taking up an increasingly growing share of the total budget. Moreover as a consequence

of the new Education Strategy which has not yet been approved by the Parliament new activities will

be planned in relation to the operational plans being developed subsequently to the endorsement of

the Education Strategy.

Below an overview of on-going and planned activities being conducted within the scope of the

Greenland Education Programme in 2012 can be found

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0.4.2.1 Focal area 1: Preparatory courses and programmes - youth educational and training programmes

- The High School reform to be implemented from August 2012.

- Two new vocational training educations will be initiated in autumn 2012 at the Greenland school of

Minerals and Petroleum, one within mining, and one more focused on working with big machinery

and contracting.

0.4.2.2 Focal area 2: Competency (skills training) courses, the Piareersarfiit and unskilled labour in

the work force

- PKU competence development courses will focus on mining, offshore industry and tourism

0.4.2.3 Focal area 3: Higher education and strategic sectors

The design school will be expanded 2012 in order to offer educations in diversified design.

0.4.2.4 Focal area 4: Cross-cutting initiatives

- A new law for the area of study grants took effect from 1st January 2012. Students that receive

study grants from Denmark are allowed to receive a free travel between Denmark and Greenland

every year. This new possibility should be seen as a form of intervention regarding reducing

dropout rates for students studying abroad. Some of the reasons that Greenlandic students

choose to receive a Danish study grant rather than a Greenlandic study grant are the conditions in

relation to primarily study loans.

0.4.2.5 Focal area 5: Dropout rates and completion

- A study on dropouts and a student tracking system is planned for 2012 within the budget of

technical assistance. The study will provide a broader perspective on reasons for dropouts, and

the student tracking system will ensure better knowledge of the student’s route through the

educational system on the macro as well as the micro level.

0.4.2.6 Focal area 6: Buildings and housing

- In 2012 the expansion of the dormitory capacity continues, and it is expected that the capacity will

be increased by 58 units in 2012 and 126 units in 2013.

0.4.2.7 Focal area 7: Structural monitoring and development

- A new Education Strategy will be developed based on the extract of all evaluations made in

relation to the Greenland Education Programme, and the recommendations from the Tax- and

Welfare Commission, the Regional Development Strategy and the strategy for Children and

Young People (evidence based policy). The new Educational Strategy will be presented at the

Parliaments Spring gathering in 2012.

15

INTRODUCTION TO THE ANNUAL WORK PLAN WITH BRIEF READERS’ GUIDE

1.1 Annual Work Plan in relation to the Greenland Education Programme

The Annual Work Plan is prepared by the Ministry of Education and Research within the Government

of Greenland every year on the basis of the visions, strategies and intended results of the Greenlandic

education and vocational training sector with specific reference to the performance measures set

within Greenland Education Programme. The Annual Work Plan is being prepared using all

information available by the end of the year before (i.e. information available by the end of 2011 for

Annual Work Plan 2012) of how the education sector and policy is expected to develop in the year to

come. Consequently information that becomes available during the drafting of the report in the first

quarter of 2012 is neglected. However this information will be incorporated in the Annual

Implementation Report (AIR) to be produced in the subsequent year (i.e. 2012 to be finalised in 2013).

If the activities were not described in the Annual Work Plan these will be described as “deviations”

from the original plan. Hence the Annual Work Plan will be forward looking whereas the Annual

Implementation Report will be backward looking.

One important part of the Annual Work Plan is to report on how the Greenland Education

Programme´s funds will be allocated for different activities. Another important part is to set specific

targets for the year in relation to the performance metrics agreed upon in the partnership agreement,

such as the dropout rate.

The finalised Annual Work Plan is submitted by the Government of Greenland to the European

Commission and is a condition for receiving the Fixed Tranche (80%) of the annual European

Commission sector budget support. For 2012 the final draft is scheduled for delivery to the European

Commission by the end of first quarter and the final approval is expected to take place in the second

quarter of 2012. A Greenland Education Programme team established within The Ministry of

Education and Research is responsible for the drafting and submission of the Annual Work Plan as

well as the Annual Implementation Report to the European Commission. In addition to the

responsibility of reporting and cooperation with the European Commission services the team is also

responsible for carrying out the administrative day-to-day functions as well as longer term planning of

the Greenland Education Programme activities.

The Annual Implementation Report evaluates the difference between the targets set in the Annual

Work Plan for the relevant year with the results including spend in relation to budget. The approved

Annual Implementation Report submitted to the European Commission is a precondition for receiving

the Variable Tranche of a maximum of 20% of the European Commission sector budget support. The

precise percentage that accrues to the Government of Greenland is established by comparing the

targets with the actual results. Each target is given different weights in order to calculate a composite

performance index coupled to the variable tranche disbursement mechanism. The technical details of

the calculation method are presented in the Annual Implementation Report.

The Annual Work Plan is a planning and evaluation tool for those responsible of the program, i.e.

Ministry of Education and Research, the Executive Steering Committee and the Planning Steering

Committee for the Greenland Education Programme. It is furthermore a tool for communication

between the Government of Greenland and the European Commission about actual plans, targets and

indicators for monitoring the implementation of the Greenland Education Programme2. However, as

the reports are quite complex and contain much technical information to be absorbed, executive

summaries are submitted to the parliament in relation to the spring and autumn assemblies.

2 See Annex 4, Terms of Reference for the Steering Committee for Sector Programme and the Greenland Education

Programme.

16

Upon finalisation the Annual Work Plan and the Annual Implementation Report including executive

summaries are published on the Government of Greenland’s homepage.

To ensure high visibility and transparency the Government of Greenland is promoting the Greenland

Education Programme through television spots and articles in newspapers, by taking actively part in

the discussion of education policy in public life and the mass media, and by delivering information

materials which in an easily understood and pedagogical way highlight topics of general appeal and

relevance for the general public.

1.1.1 The Greenland Education Programme

The overall structure of the Greenland Education Programme is illustrated in Figure 1. The Greenland

Education Programme is organised as a monitoring system where the vision and goal of the

programme are evaluated on the basis of quantitative indicators.

Figure 1: Overview of the Greenland Education Programme

Vision: The aim is to achieve higher standards of living and improved quality of life through better

education. The strategic background for Greenland Education Programme is based on the analysis of

the education and labour market requirements for the future, prepared by the Greenland Home Rule

Government in 2004, with the title; "Progress through Training, Education and Development of

Competencies", which resulted in formulation of the Greenland Education Programme 2006-2020,

adopted by Parliament in 2006. In support of the Government of Greenland’s overall education reform

programme, the European Commission through the Programming Document for the Sustainable

Development of Greenland 2007-2013 (PDSD) has decided to support the Education Sector in

Greenland, in the form of a Sector Policy Support Programme to be implemented through Sector

Budget Support amounting to a maximum of € 25 million (in 2006 prices) per year for the period 2007-

2013.

Main goal: To contribute to a higher standard of living and quality of life through development of better

education, technical skills and knowledge with the strategic goal, that “2/3 of the workforce should

17

have academic qualifications and/or sufficient vocational skills by 2020”. Qualifications are to be

measured by international standards using ISCED level 33 as indication of these qualifications.

Target groups: The Greenland Education Programme is divided into two phases. During the first

phase of the Greenland Education Programme (2006-2012) focus is on the target groups:

• Elementary school leavers.

• Unskilled workers under 50 years of age who are either unemployed or in endangered

professions and/or for breadwinners.

Focal areas: The Greenland Education Programme is organised in 7 focal areas, listed in figure 1.

The activities within the seven focal areas are the means for achieving the results as intended and

described in the strategic goals and the long-term visions. Some of the results expected might or will

be influenced by factors not foreseeable or predictable at the time for implementing the Annual Work

Plan 2012. Deviations from the planned results might occur due to impact of external or internal

factors and in such cases steps will be taken to suggest adjustments in the planning process and to

the performance of activities4. The 7 focal areas are divided into a variety of activities that receive

funding from the Greenland Education Programme.

The results achieved within the 7 focal areas are measured and evaluated yearly by 17 indicators.

Indicators: To monitor and evaluate that the activities have the expected impact on the vision and the

objectives, the Government of Greenland and the European Commission have agreed on a set of

performance indicators. The indicators define what the education sector is supposed to deliver (input),

and results from the activities (output, outcome and impact). Annex 5 and 7 contains a description of

the indicators, including the extent to which they have an impact on the variable tranche. Annex 8

states the baseline and detailed results for the indicators.

Input indicators: Measure the financial resources provided and the administrative and regulatory

measures taken (for example, resources allocated, resources used, measures taken, laws passed).

Output indicators: Measure the immediate results of the resources used and measures taken. For

example, schools built, teachers employed, nurses trained. The definition of output covers those

goods and services "supplied", “produced” or "provided" by the public sector with the inputs.

Outcome indicators: Measure the consequences of the goods and services delivered by the public

(output) at the level of beneficiaries. For example, gross enrolment rates in elementary schools. The

definition covers the utility derived from the public good and services (output) by the beneficiaries

(users).

Impact indicators: Measure the consequences of for example an increased uptake at educational

institutions (outcome) in terms of wider societal objectives (for example, literacy rates, health

improvement). The definition covers the utility derived at the societal level encompassing broader

objectives such as economic growth and income poverty reduction. In order to isolate the impact of the

Greenland Education Programme from other activities influencing the impact, an assessment of both

internal and external effects must be made in order to subtract the latter, and estimate the net impact

of the Greenland Education Programme.

Figure 2 gives an overview of the various indicators of the Greenland Education Programme grouped

as input, output, and outcome or impact indicators.

3 In Greenland this is equivalent to a high school diploma or an education within the area of vocational and Educational training.

4 In accordance with the Financing Agreement between the European Commission and the Government of Greenland

18

Figure 2: Indicators of the Greenland Education Programme

1.2 Brief readers guide

Chapter 2: This chapter provides the reader with an overview of the education sector and further

provides an introduction to the magnitudes and proportions involved when monitoring and analysing

the education sector in Greenland. It is of key importance to have the specific demographical and

geographical aspects of Greenland in mind when looking at the education sector and these aspects

are briefly being described in the beginning of the chapter. References to the political environment and

related strategic aspects having influence on the Greenland Education Programme are also included

in this chapter. Finally, a general description of the various parts of the education sector is presented.

The former annex 3 providing an overview of the education sector has been merged with this chapter.

Chapter 3: This chapter provides a status analysis on the Greenland Education Programme

development conducted as a self-assessment. The self-assessment briefly considers the progress and

setbacks experienced during 2011, highlighting the factors that have had an impact. The self-

assessment is based on future-related considerations and reflections, but relates to subjects and

issues to be addressed in 2012.

Chapter 4: In its essence this chapter provides the work plan for the Greenland Education Programme

in 2012. The chapter presents the overall budget for the Government of Greenland and for the

Greenland Education Programme. For each focal area a brief status is given, on-going activities in

2012 are listed, and planned (new) activities for 2012 are described. The indicators are presented as

19

per focal area combining statistical back data with 2012 targets set by Ministry of Education and

Research. The source of the majority of the data for the indicators is Statistics Greenland, the rest

mainly from within the Ministry of Education and Research. If nothing else is stated all data is collected

at the same time, in this report 31.12.2011.

20

2 INTRODUCTION TO THE GREENLAND EDUCATION SECTOR

2.1 Demographic, geographical and linguistic aspects

2.1.1 Demographic 2.1.1.1 Regional distribution of the population

Population wise Greenland is comparable to microstates5 providing a specific challenge when monitoring

population indicators by annual observations6.

As per 1 January7 2012 56.749 inhabitants were living in Greenland. According to a recent population

projection (2011-2040) the total population is expected to stabilise around a level of 56.000 inhabitants for

the next 20 years. The largest part of the population, app. 16.000 inhabitants, was living in Nuuk, the capital

of Greenland. Sisimiut and Ilulissat are also considered large towns with app. 6.200 and 5.000 inhabitants

respectively. The rest of the population is scattered around the coast, living in smaller cities and settlements.

48.232 inhabitants (85%) live in the towns, while the remaining 8517 (15%) live in the settlements.

Figure 3: Distribution of the population by way of municipalities (1 January 2012)

Source: Statistics Greenland

According to Statistics Greenland approximately one third of the population has an education comparable to

ISCED level 3 or higher8 which is equivalent to a high school and Vocational Educational Training-school

5 However, contrary to most microstates Greenland has its population spread over a large land area thereby making Greenland a

special case comparatively. 6 The challenge when analysing on annual variations in small population numbers is to judge whether the observed yearly variation is

due to a random factor or whether observed changes are due to a beginning trend amenable to some underlying causal processes, i.e. whether the observed annual variations are statistical significant. The small numbers also make it difficult to apply statistical methods as to estimate robust trends based on ex-post time series for making future extrapolations. 7 Statistics Greenland

8 ISCED is designed to serve as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting comparable indicators and statistics of

education both within individual countries and internationally. It presents standard concepts, definitions and classifications. ISCED covers all organized and sustained learning opportunities for children, youth and adults including those with special needs

21

exam. The level of education is unevenly distributed between towns and settlements i.e. most people in the

settlements are unskilled workers in the traditional sector.

2.1.1.2 Age distribution

Though total population size is expected to remain stable, a steady tendency towards an ageing population

is apparent from the demographic forecasts carried out by Statistics Greenland9 i.e. the trend follows the

demographic trends observed in almost all OECD-countries. This trend will put pressure on the public

finances in the coming years and policy actions must be taken to secure sound public finances and fiscal

sustainability in the medium and long run10

.

For the education sector the size of the year groups of persons between 15-29 years is of particularly

interest. As per 1st

January 2012 there were 4.396 persons in the year group 15-19 years, 4.669 in the year

group 20-24 years and 4.095 in the year group 25-29. The number of persons leaving elementary school

each year is approximately 850 pupils. However, as the analysis shows in the above-mentioned report, in the

coming five years the size of the population that enters various parts of the education sector is decreasing

with approximately 5 %. A further drop is expected in the longer run, cf. fig. 4. The policy implications of the

observed trends have been analysed by the Greenland Economic Council (GEC) and a short summary of

this analysis is presented in section 2.4.

Figure 4: Demographics developments 2012-2040 (index 2012=100) by age groups

Source: Statistics Greenland

2.1.2 Geographic mobility (pull-push factors)

A significant trend that is apparent from the demographic forecasts is the movement of people from

settlements to cities. This trend is primarily due to fact that living conditions in the settlements generally are

difficult and job opportunities scarce.

education, irrespective of the institution or entity providing them or the form in which they are delivered. For further information see: http://www.stat.gl/dialog/main.asp?lang=da&version=201001&link=UD&colcode=m&version=201001 9 See www.stat.gl for references and descriptions of these forecasts.

10 The challenges confronting the fiscal policy until 2040 is analysed in detail in chapter 3 of the first report of The Economic Council of

Greenland that was published in November 2010. The report can be found (in Greenlandic and Danish only) on www.nanoq.gl

22

Mobility of the work force is an important feature in order to close the gap between labour market demand

and supply. The regional development strategy described in section 2.3 includes sub-strategies addressing

some of the challenges mentioned in this section.

With regard to education policy the young people in the settlements will however still pose a serious problem

in the coming years, especially within the elementary school. Although only 15% of the pupils within the

elementary schools live in the settlements it is of utmost importance to ensure that these pupils are given the

same education opportunities as pupils from bigger cities.

In many cases it seems to be necessary to make special efforts to convince pupils and parents especially

from the small settlements that education is a necessity in a modern sustainable Greenland. This challenge

is primarily related to the cultural characteristics and family patterns of the Greenlandic population.

Special conditions and challenges in Greenland make it necessary moving from home for many young

people (students and/or apprentices) aged 15 years and above in order to get an education. Some children

from the settlements are even younger as they have to move to school homes by 8th grade.

Hence the children and youngsters have to live on their own - far away from family and friends - at a

relatively early stage of their lives. A major issue for the receiving institutions is therefore to train and support

these youngsters how to cope with this new life situation securing that the individuals continue their study

and/or work in spite of inconveniences forced on them. Especially boys have often not been used to take

responsibility for housekeeping tasks due to cultural reasons making the change more challenging to them.

The challenge in that respect is, among other things, to ensure that there are dormitories and housing

available for those who want to either study or live and work where this is possible. It is also important to

ensure that new dormitories to be constructed have a sufficient supply of pedagogical supplies and makes

sure that the young people are in contact with grown up people.

In order to encourage young people to enter and get an education an advanced study grant system has

been established which includes one free travel home per year (see section 2.5). Since so many students

have to leave home in order to study or work, and since it is so important for the country to educate and train

people for the future jobs in Greenland, establishing an attractive study grant system is seen a necessity to

attract young people into education instead of unskilled jobs in the cities which has been the most attractive

alternative for many school leavers in the past. Providing adequate housing is another prerequisite to attract

and retain students in the education system, as this is a scarce resource.

Infrastructure between cities and settlements in Greenland is hampered since there are no road connections

between cities and settlements. Airplanes or ships carry all transportation within Greenland. Transportation is

expensive and the weather occasionally hinders the traffic by sea as well as by air.

The IT system is overall functioning well in Greenland, however the spread of distance work and e-learning

is limited, and it is relative expensive due to the low density of the population. A sea cable for data

transmission was established in 2008 and was expected to lower costs and improves speed on use of

Internet in the longer term, however prices are still very high. In 2009/10 the education sector was the single

biggest costumer of Tele Greenland and spending approximately € 1.3 mil. per year on IT traffic. In the

medium and long run less costly IT traffic will facilitate the use of ICT in education. Currently restricted

access to websites is necessary to enforce in order to lower expensive data transmissions. However an

important problem that remains to be resolved is a massive lag of educated schoolteachers with IT skills.

Teachers and pedagogical seminars need more understanding of the importance of having good IT skills

and the perspectives of using IT in educations. Also a general lack of hardware equipment and maintenance

of local IT systems in settlements is a problem. There is a need of locally appointed responsible IT persons.

23

2.1.3 The educational level of the population incl. linguistic aspects

Finally, the linguistic situation is another important factor to take note of. Greenland is a bi-lingual or tri-

lingual society, with Greenlandic being the official language and Danish very often used as a second

language with the latter particularly used in the larger cities and the Government of Greenland

administration. English is taught from the third grade in elementary school, whereas Greenlandic and Danish

is taught from the first grade.

Linguistic and cultural skills are a prerequisite for success in continuous education system and the modern

labour market. This is reflected in the curriculum for elementary school. At the same time the foundation of

the education system should be Greenlandic culture and values in order to preserve the social cohesion of

the small society (i.e. collectivism).

The linguistic skills differ considerably and are very much dependent on whether a person is being raised

and lives in a big city, where Danish is often used, or whether he/she lives in a smaller city or a settlement

where Greenlandic is spoken predominantly. Most of the educational material is in Danish and many

teachers, especially within the high school education and higher education, are primarily Danish speaking

which causes problems for many students. Addressing the language problems has therefore been given a

high political priority in recent years and more textbooks - in particular in elementary schools - are now

issued in Greenlandic.

A general policy/law of language was put into force 1st July 2010. The purpose of the law is to assure clear

and formulated rules for the policy regarding language. The purpose of the law is on the one hand to secure

and strengthen the Greenlandic language while at the same time remove barriers for the use of other

languages so that a multi-lingual society can pave the way for a sustainable and prosperous society. An

important part of the law is that all private enterprises with a total employment of 10 persons or more and all

public institutions are to develop their own policy regarding language.

2.2 Political, economic and strategic aspects

The purpose of this section is to describe the labour market’s requirements and identify skills gaps between

the supply and demand for labour in relation to traditional and new strategic sectors. Moreover this section

should describe the economic conditions for the reforms, and the political sentiments.

2.2.1 Political

In 2008 the Government of Greenland underwent large organizational changes, which was fully implemented

by 2009; however a fundamental change took place when self-governance was implemented in Greenland

on 21st June 2009. The implications of self-governance is among other things the opportunity to repatriate

over 33 administrative functions currently undertaken by Denmark.

By 1st January 2010 Greenland took over the responsibilities in mineral resources and the activities

associated. At the same time as the self-rule was implemented, Greenland changed government, with the

former opposition assuming office. The current cabinet is based on political cooperation between the three

political parties Inuit Ataqatigiit, Demokraatit, and Kattusseqatigiit Partiiat, who formed a Coalition Agreement

on June 10 2009.11

The new government has not brought any significant changes to the Greenland

Education Programme, as all parties in Parliament has unanimously been supporting the visions and plans

of the Greenland Education Programme since its beginning. The Government of Greenland maintains the

11

Description of the three parties and their coalition agreement can be found on www.nanoq.gl

24

vision of a self-sustainable Greenland through education, growth industries and gradual repatriation of areas

formerly undertaken by Denmark.

2.2.1.1 Education Policies and Strategies

According to the Greenlandic Education Programme the education system should be demand driven and

cost effective, offering courses in strategic sectors and also provide education for those who only speak

Greenlandic.

As mentioned in the former section some of the most important skills are linguistic and cultural meaning the

ability to communicate and interact with people from different cultural backgrounds. In addition vocational

skills in the new strategic areas i.e. oil and minerals and related sectors such as building & construction and

service sector are needed. There is also a lack of people with higher education to replace the large number

of expatriates currently filling these positions. According to the education policy the Greenlandic education

sector should offer higher education at all levels from academy and (professional) bachelors to master´s and

doctoral level.

Although only 15% of the pupils within the elementary schools in Greenland live in settlements it is of utmost

importance for the politicians to ensure that these pupils are given the same education opportunities as

pupils from bigger cities.

The most important reforms in relation to the education sector are: The reform of the day-care system, the

elementary school reform (2003), the establishment of continuation schools in Greenland (2008), the reform

of the Vocational Educational Training-schools (2011), the high school reform (2012), the establishment of

professional bachelor programmes.

Although the day-care system is not part of the education sector, research on education shows the

foundation for a successful entry into education is laid in the early years of childhood12

. With this scope a

reform of the day-care area called “The Good Day-Care Institution” (Meeqqerivitsialak) is financed under the

Greenland Education Programme and focuses on

1) New legislation

2) Pedagogical and psychological research and development

3) Reform of the social educator education and related courses and post-graduate education

This will lead to better opportunities for parents to work and/or study while a day-care institution takes care of

their children, which in turn are a very important element in the effort towards better education and more

people in jobs. The reform group headed by one expert in Ministry of Education and Research is looking into

models that can ensure good and stabile day-care to children founded on Greenlandic traditions.

A reform of the elementary school was put into force in 2003 (“The Good School reform”). A basic element of

this reform is that pupils and teachers are setting individual goals for learning. The reform also supports

pedagogical principles putting the individual pupil in the centre of the education process. Finally, a system of

national tests was put into force in 2006. The first pupil cohort that has undertaken education under the

reform on 10-year elementary education will leave school in 2013, therefore no firm evaluation can be made

yet. However a preliminary survey took place in 2010 in order to make adjustments to the reform as

necessary. The main summary of the findings are summarised in chapter 2.6.

A reform of the Vocational Educational Training-schools was implemented in 2011. The reform consists of a

change in the financing mechanism and the schools’ governance structure. The financing mode of the

12

See for instance Carneiro og Heckman (2003).

25

Vocational Educational Training-schools has been changed from a fixed budget to performance based

financing in order to provide an economic incentive for the individual school management to ensure higher

attendance rates and to increase transparency in unit costs. It is not possible to conclude on the impact of

the performance based financing mechanism before a whole academic year has passed i.e. July 2012.

Six Vocational Educational Training schools in Greenland have established a new organizational model with

school boards consisting of representatives for local industries appointed by the school managers and

approved by the Ministry of Education and Research. The board ensures that the Vocational Educational

Training education becomes more demand-driven and thereby reflecting the needs of the private enterprises

for educated work force in Greenland. A special focus area is to establish school traineeships and to find

more educational possibilities for apprentices who only command their mother tongue. In general it is

considered how more educations could be supplied in Greenlandic language. The experiences from the first

year are very positive e.g. board members are eagerly engaged in proposing changes in the educations

provided by the schools and act as ambassadors persuading private employers to take more apprentices by

listening to their concerns and developing solutions to overcome this. A concrete outcome of this work is a

proposal for new legislation allowing for increased flexibility in the apprenticeships agreement making it

possible for more employers to share the obligations for an apprenticeship.

A high school reform will be implemented from August 2012. The reform should ensure as many young

people as possible the necessary qualifications for doing higher education studies in Greenland, Denmark

and abroad and the overall goal is to ensure that principles of education are founded in the Greenlandic

culture. The reform is seen as a next logical step following the reform of the elementary school. Some of the

important changes are:

• The structure will be changed into a one-door-system i.e. the first six months serve as an introduction to the high school life and includes intensive counselling on making the right educational choice and thereby increase the probability of success.

• Eight different education profiles targeted towards new strategic areas. The profiles are: Technical-natural science, natural science, language and humanity, health science, social science, creativity and general.

• The general profile is focused on improving language skills, and students who wish to attend higher education will have to take supplementary courses to achieve the same level as some of the other profiles

• Four different high schools will offer variants within each educational profile including geology (former offered by the technical high school), health, body and environment. The new high school education is replacing the former high school educations.

• The education will be more practice-oriented in accordance with the Greenlandic tradition of learning, but without comprising international educational standards i.e. the new high school education is acknowledged by higher education institutions in Greenland and abroad. However the educational level across the profiles differ i.e. students from the general profile will need to supplement subjects in order to access higher education.

• Different kinds of adult support will be given students in dormitories in order to teach them how to live by themselves, develop a social network etc.

After the first semester the students will be placed in class and subsequently town depending on their choice of study profile and get their high school exams with whatever profile they have chosen. The reform is expected to have a positive impact on the Greenland Education Programme performance indicators. The new organization of the schools will not prolong the time spent attending the high schools; i.e. the duration of is three years.

26

Full responsibility for the high school education was transferred from Denmark to the Government of Greenland by 1

st January 2009. Nevertheless, there is still a close cooperation with the Danish Ministry of

Education regarding the preparation of examination papers and appointment of examiners. Specialised administrators within the Ministry of Education and Research will be responsible for carrying out the reform in close cooperation with the Danish Ministry of Education to ensure that the new high school education complies with Danish standards. In addition the reform development has involved staff from the Government of Greenland, teachers and leaders from the present high schools (including GU as well as HTX and HHX) in workshops, group work, and hearings to ensure the reform is based on available evidence and to establish a strong ownership, and thereby facilitate implementation

In order to build the capacity to implement the reform a comprehensive plan for supplementary training of teachers and schoolmasters has been developed. Important elements in the pedagogy are:

• Greenlandic teaching materials – culturally based learning

• Greenlandic, Danish, statistics, biology, culture, psychology, geography, science.

• Electronic teaching portal – knowledge sharing

• Pedagogic inspector

• Teacher Teams - coordination of pedagogical and teaching efforts

• Student focused pedagogy

• Second language pedagogy

• Vulnerable students

• New subjects: Science, culture, methodology

The high school reform is based on evidence collected through pilot projects and a dropout survey of the high schools i.e. activities conducted within the scope of the Greenland Education Programme in previous years. Hence the reform is expected to have a positive impact on the Greenland Education Programme performance indicators.

In addition to the aforementioned educational policies a set of horizontal strategies and advisory boards are

affecting the development of the education sector. These strategies and advisory boards are described in

section 2.3-2.4.

Most of the policies and activities described above are part of and supported by the Greenland Education

Programme, and all of them constitute the Greenlandic educational policy supporting the overall objective of

contributing to the development of Greenland into a sustainable economy with a well-educated population,

and a coherent, Greenlandic society in which more people will be able to contribute to the economical and

political development of the country.

27

2.2.2 Economic aspects 2.2.2.1 Public Expenditures on Education

Comparatively, the Greenlandic dedication to education stands out as a high-prioritized area when looking at

the relative size of the total education budget.

Public expenditure on education as percentage of Greenland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 11 %13

.

The relative higher share of GDP invested in educating the Greenlandic population is reflecting the point of

departure for the Greenlandic Education Programme i.e. relatively low level of education in combination with

very ambitious goals. Moreover the cost of delivering education to the population in a sparsely populated

artic area is of course much higher than for most other countries.

Compared to countries that resemble Greenland’s specific geographical conditions, like Faeroe Island and

Iceland, the Greenland percentage is significantly higher, which reflects the differences in the educational

levels of the populations in the three countries i.e. the relative share of the population with an educational

level of ISCED 0-2 in 2010 was 35 % in Faroe Island and 37 % in Iceland as compared to 65 % in

Greenland.14

Figure 5: Public expenditures on education as a percentage of GDP (2009) for Greenland and various countries

Source: Greenland (Statistics Greenland), Faroe Islands (Hagstova), Other (Eurostat)

13

Normally educational expenditures are compared internationally by using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as denominator. However, due to the large block grant received as income from Denmark, as there is a significant difference between Greenland’s GDP and GNI, a difference not being seen in many other countries the best and most valid comparison is made by using Greenland’s GNI as the denominator. 14

Source: Nordic Statistical Yearbook 2011 and Statistics Greenland. Note: Population is 15-74 years in other Nordic countries as compared to 15-62 years for Greenlandic population.

28

2.2.2.2 Cost-Effectiveness

Besides the significant allocation of public funds the education policy and strategy are underlined by various

reforms and some specific initiatives all aiming at making education more linked to the culture of the

Greenlandic society. For example, courses for national garment making use of local materials and fur have

been established to preserve traditional sewing and cloth making techniques.

When it comes to the elementary school, that forms the basis for all further education, the challenge is to

ensure pupils can attend schooling in the area where they live. Consequently many rather small elementary

schools are scattered all over the country. This poses at least two challenges in relation to cost-effectiveness

of the educational institutions:

• It is costly to establish and maintain small schools, and to teach only a few pupils.

• It is difficult recruit and retain qualified teachers to work and live in the settlements,.

The pattern of the population scattered around the country is becoming increasingly important in the political

discussion of how the society will develop the coming years, especially the question of how to ensure

sustainable living conditions for people in the settlements, cf. section 2.3. A strategy for the development of

the regions of Greenland was formulated and passed in Parliament in 2011. In addition cross-sectorial

conclusions have been incorporated into future strategies.

2.2.2.3 Public Expenditure by type of education

In Figure 6 total public expenditure on education is broken down into types of education. Elementary

schools take up 44% of the expenditures. Vocational Educational Training and High School education

accounts for 29%, reflecting that the Greenland Education Programme has special focus on these youth

educations in phase 1.

Figure 6: Public expenditure by types of education (2010)

Source: Statistics Greenland

29

The budget of the education sector is drafted a year before implementation by the Ministry of Education and

Research and is endorsed by the Greenland Education Programme Steering Committee before being

passed to the parliament. The budget for the year to come is accompanied by budget projections for the

subsequent three years. The budget for the Greenland Education Programme includes a reserve fund

containing non-allocated resources, which can be shifted to towards emerging needs during the year.

Especially rapid changes in the new strategic sectors require flexibility in funding for example in 2012

additional resources was needed to meet the demand for courses targeted towards workers in the oil

industry (Cf. section 2.11).

2.2.3 Strategic Aspects

Besides the reforms of the education system mentioned above, focus of the education policy is on the new

strategic sectors where qualified labour is needed presently and presumable in the future. These sectors

include sectors, such as the education, health and social, construction, raw material and minerals

exploitation. Especially the latter sectors are expected to grow in the future and therefore employees

possessing qualifications and skills in this area will be in high demand. In addition, though on a smaller

scale, there is focus on education within non-literal qualifications, such as the making of the national

garment. Currently this subject is being taught at the folk high school for women in Sisimiut.

2.2.3.1 Oil and Mineral Sector

There is a great expectation of upcoming industries within the oil and mineral sector. However, it is uncertain

when these industries will be established, hence the timing of the labour supply requires flexible planning

and close collaboration with the industry to ensure resources are spend efficiently. This gives to rise to

specific challenges to the education sector. The challenge is to educate the various types of the lab our in

demand and at the right time.

Already at this stage there is a demand for competencies in jobs relating to the present phase of search for

oil and gas made by the Scottish company Cairn. Especially functions in the harbour terminals, in catering,

and in the maritime area concerning staffing of support ships. Also, competencies in counselling of future job

seekers in the area of oil and gas business will be needed.

Since the research phase is taking place right now it is unlikely that off-shore employees will be needed until

five to ten years at the earliest, when the production phase will start depending on successful searches. The

plan is to involve the municipalities in the further process at this later stage.

2.2.3.2 Aluminium Melting Plant and Hydro-Electric Plants (Maniitsoq)

The preparatory work regarding the establishment of an aluminium melting plant with its appurtenant

hydroelectric plants will continue in 2012 in cooperation with the private company Alcoa Inc.

All preparatory investigations have been concluded and the project is judged to be technically and

environmentally feasible. Public opinion has been surveyed through the preparation phase period via use of

opinion polls. However the original time schedule has been postponed, mainly due to the financial crisis and

the delay of certain investigation activities, including technical and environmental investigations. Another

factor adding to the uncertainty of the plans has been the findings of ancient settlements worth preserving

during the archaeological investigations. These findings might influence the final decision to grant a license

(or not) for Alcoa Inc. to establish the aforementioned plants in Maniitsoq. So far a number of issues still

need to be settled before a final agreement can be reached, including taxation, labour and ownership.

30

The issues in relation to the establishment of aluminium production near the town Maniitsoq have been on

the agenda at the Parliament Autumn Assembly 2011 and will be on the agenda again for the Spring

Assembly 2012. It is foreseen that concrete models of ownership and other collaboration issues between the

Government of Greenland and Alcoa will be discussed.

2.2.3.3 Greenland School of Minerals and Petroleum (Sisimiut)

The development of a total education program for all short term courses regarding research and production

of oil products has been initiated at a conference held in December 2010 at the newly established Greenland

School of Minerals and Petroleum in Sisimiut. Before the conference, an external consultant did a survey of

the possible types of jobs including projections of the required competencies for the oil and mineral sector

development. This process has been initiated in order to ensure that the relevant know-how and expertise in

this new area will be available in the relevant educational institutions. The conference participants

represented public and private sectors: The Vocational Educational Training schools, NunaOil, Cairn, Bureau

of Minerals and Petroleum (under the Ministry of Industry and Labour), Cairn, AMU-Vest (education centre

West in Denmark) and the Ministry of Education and Research.

The conference resulted in concrete plans for making education possible in all involved branches; oil/gas,

languages, building and construction, iron and metal, shipping, food production and commercial. The first

courses started in the first quarter of 2011.

2.2.3.4 Risk Management

In order to optimize the benefits of mining projects to society in terms of jobs, Greenlandic subcontractors,

skill enhancement, etc. the so-called Impact Benefit Assessment (IBA) agreements are being entered

between the mining or oil company, the relevant municipality and the Government of Greenland15

.

An Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA)16

has been made between Cairn and the Government of Greenland that

will compensate royalties to the education of local work force. In 2011 this amounted to € 347.000 and was

primarily used for English courses for Greenlanders. The level of funds for the IBA in 2012 is expected to

remain at the same level as in 2011, and it is expected that Cairn will invest a similar amount in education –

however the fund is administered by Cairn which means the Government of Greenland has no say in how

the money will be spend.

2.3 Horizontal strategies

In 2010 the Government of Greenland launched the work on two strategies; which are the Regional

Development Strategy and the Strategy for Children and Young people. The two strategies have a broad,

horizontal perspective including education policy related themes. These strategies were fully developed in

2011 and put forward for endorsement in the assembly autumn 2011. The finalized strategies contain

elements regarding education policy and other related policy areas, see section 2.3.1. Hence formulation of

the strategies has been based on input from the ministries working within these areas to ensure coordination

with existing areas/programmes/plans and strategies.

‘The numerous recommendations regarding education will be integrated into the future implementation plans

of the Greenlandic Education Programme. There is a general focus on initiatives targeted towards the

unemployed at national and regional levels. The strategies are being translated into operational plans

currently. An example of an activity in relation to the educational sector is a job portal to make it easier for

15

For additional information about IBA agreements, see the website of the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum 16

See IBA agreement between Cairn Energy and Government of Greenland here at http://dk.nanoq.gl/Emner/Landsstyre/Departementer/Råstofdirektoratet/~/media/Naalakkersuisut/Raastof/IBA/IBA_juni_2011_eng.ashx

31

the unemployed to seek employment. In relation to the Strategy for Children and Young people the main

focus is on securing young children a good early childhood emphasising day-care, health care and

substance abuse treatment for the mother and or family.

2.3.1 Regional Development Strategy

The Regional Development Strategy consists of several sub-strategies with separate timeframes and

implementation plans.

The Regional Development Strategy is an important part of the Parliament's industrial and development

policy. The overall goal of this Strategy is for Greenland to develop a self-sustaining economy.

The Regional Development Strategy consists of two individual but interlinked parts.

Firstly a range of strategies has been developed on the regional levels within areas such as industrial and

business development, educations within vocational educational training technology, infra-structure and

culture.

Secondly a set of strategies has been developed for national level to support the regional strategies.

On national level 7 strategies have been drawn up. Three of them are directly related to education whereas

education plays a part in the remaining four:

An intensified effort to raise the quality of the elementary school sector

• Goal:

o Raising the quality in the elementary school. Special focus will be the schools in settlements

• Strategy: During 2011 an overall strategy will be drawn up to ensure, that when leaving the elementary

school the pupils can meet the demands of the high schools or the vocational educational training

educations (VET). Focus will be on:

o Improving the pupils’ language skills.

o Ensuring that the quality of the elementary schools in settlements is high enough.

o Drawing up a plan of construction for the elementary school sector. Among other things it should

be decided whether pupils from settlements should be sent to continuation schools instead of

school homes17

.

In 2012 the work within this sub-strategy has concentrated on a report on the school homes in Greenland

and the benefits of them. Further recommendations to repair, rebuilding and pedagogically change the setup

within these homes has been made. The report on the school homes has been submitted to the spring

assembly 2012.

Ease the transition from elementary school to high school or vocational educational training

educations

• Goal:

o To increase the number of pupils who continue to high school or Vocational Educational Training

schools immediately after finishing elementary school.

17

School homes are primarily for students from settlements moving to towns to attend the last years of the elementary school as opposed to boarding schools which are currently for attending after completion of elementary school, the level of education at the Greenlandic continuation schools is equivalent to the level of the elementary school. The Ministry of Education and Research is looking into turning the continuation schools into institutions where a student can finish elementary school instead of adding an extra year at elementary school level

32

• Strategy: A strategy will be drawn up to ease the pupils’ transition from elementary school to high school

or Vocational Educational Training. The strategy will focus on:

o Improving and intensifying the guidance of the oldest pupils in the elementary school as well as

ensuring that the guidance will continue after leaving the elementary school.

o Ensuring dormitories for the students in high school and Vocational Educational Training schools

meet the demands of very young students who are moving away from home. These dormitories

should be offering different kinds of guidance to the residents.

o Ensuring that the transition programmes (AEU) between elementary school and high school or

Vocational Educational Training schools are streamlined.

The guidance initiative is based on the experiences from a pilot project.18

The initiative is being further

developed to support and encourage school leavers to continue education straight after elementary school.

A separate education plan alone for the high schools and the Vocational Educational Training

schools19

• Goals:

o To increase the relative share of pupils enrolled in high school or vocational educational training

immediately after finishing elementary school.

o To increase the relative share of students completing high school or a vocational educational

training.

o To ensure sufficient capacity in high schools and the vocational educational training schools to

meet the increased demand for education.

• Strategy:

o 1a: Increasing the efforts to reduce dropout rates

o 1b: Developing a plan to secure more apprenticeships places.

o 2: Restructuring the vocational educational training and high schools to enhance cost-

effectiveness. The guiding principle is to have fewer and larger educational institutions in order

to create professional environments and to keep the cost per student down (cost-effectiveness).

The final four national strategies involve the educational sector indirectly by ensuring that the work force has

adequate skills to meet shifts in labour market demand (at all times) through skills development and

retraining i.e. a demand-driven education sector (target group 1+2 in the Greenland Education Programme).

Ensuring a work force that is both professionally and physical mobile

• Goals:

o To increase the number of active participants in the work force

o To ensure that efforts in skills development and retraining is demand driven and focused on

increasing the productivity of the work force

• Strategies:

o Developing an overall strategy to ensure the physical mobility of the work force. This strategy

should motivate unemployed workers in areas with very few job opportunities to move to areas

where job opportunities are higher. An important aspect of this strategy is to ensure enough

housing facilities in places where labour is in shortage.

o Developing a strategy for skill development and retraining, as unskilled workers are more likely

to become unemployed whereas the demand for skilled workers is high.

18

Originally implemented by Qaqortoq Piareersarfik. 19

This plan needs to be a part of the current Greenland Education Programme, however the intention of highlighting it in the Regional Development Strategy is to direct focus to these educations and their present and future students.

33

Establishing business clusters around growth industries

• Goal:

o Ensuring more growth businesses, particularly within the sectors of raw materials, energy,

tourism and food stuff

o Ensuring an enhanced own production and increased productivity

• How the strategy involves the educational sector:

o To ensure that the new growth businesses employ Greenlandic co-workers instead of foreign

labour, it becomes important that young people attend high school or vocational educational

training, and that the qualifications of the current work force is enhanced through course

activities.

Modernizing the inshore fishing sector

• Goal:

o The inshore fishing sector needs to be modernised and earnings of the individual fisherman

need to be raised. This means, that the number of employed in the sector needs to be adjusted

to match the basis of resources.

• How the strategy involves the educational sector:

o When the reform will be implemented some fishermen might decide to leave the sector. These

people should be offered retraining enabling them to become occupied in another sector.

Increased sales of Greenlandic food mainly in Greenland

• Goal:

o To increase sales through improved competitiveness of domestically produced food, and thereby

increase the level of self-sufficiency

o Increasing the level of the earnings of the fishermen, the hunters and other food manufactures.

• How the strategy involves the educational sector:

o The qualifications of the employees in the sector need to be enhanced through course activities.

Besides the seven national strategies a number of cross-disciplinary national efforts within infrastructure,

facilities and planning will be planned as well.

2.3.2 The Strategy for Children and Young People

Living conditions of children and young people constitute a focal area for the Government of Greenland and

are highlighted in the coalition agreement. Several studies have pointed to the fact that many children and

young people are subject to poor living conditions, not only regarding economic possibilities, but also

broader conditions are included. International research show that a good and secure childhood lays the

foundation for motivating young people to enter education, and successfully complete,.

In 2010 an amount of € 3.3m (not part of the Greenland Education Programme budget) was allocated in the

Fiscal Act for the years 2010-2013 to strengthen the work for children and young people and to work on

prioritized projects. In the spring of 2010 a steering group consisting of permanent secretaries (including the

Ministry of Education and Research), was established to propose the vision and mission of the strategy. The

parliament endorsed the strategy and its elements in June 2010. Since then a number of working groups

have been established to deal with various aspects of the strategy. The Ministry of Education and Research

is represented in the working group responsible for the development of the day care system. Hence

coordination between the activities under the Greenland Education Programme concerning the day care

reform and the overall strategy for children and young people is assured by the Ministry of Education and

Research´s participation at the high level steering group as well as relevant working groups.

34

The finalised strategy was endorsed by the parliament on the autumn assembly in 2011. A gradual

implementation in accordance with the priorities of the Parliament will take place over the coming years.

Main focus areas are early intervention during pregnancy, infant care, and abuse of substance or alcohol for

the young mother/family and other related fields.

In 2012 the Ministry of Education and Research will be formulating a Educational Strategy to be presented

for the Parliament in the spring assembly, upon finalization and approval the European Commission will

receive an orientation regarding the strategy and further it will be described in the Annual Work Plan for

2013. The educational strategy will be incooperating elements from both abovementioned strategies.

2.4 Advisory bodies

In 2009 and 2010 the Government of Greenland established two advisory bodies. These bodies were mainly

established to describe the economic situation in the short and long run and to give advice on the most

appropriate economic policy to conduct. Both bodies have shown considerably interest in the education

sector that is seen as the key factor in promoting a high and sustainable economic growth. The advice based

on analysis received from these bodies, although not binding, has stimulated the debate on the education

sector and influenced the education policy from 2011 and onwards.

2.4.1 Greenland Economic Council

When self-rule was implemented the Government of Greenland decided to establish an independent

Economic Council of Greenland (GEC)20

. The members of the council are three Danish experts within

economics and three Greenlandic economists with a broader knowledge of economics and social affairs.

This new council replaces the former Advisory Council of Greenland’s Economy that was headed by the

Danish State Ministry.

The council’s first report was published in November 2010. It contained a specific chapter dealing with the

education sector, especially the elementary school.

The first part of the chapter dealt with allocation of financial resources allocated by the municipalities to the

elementary school. The analysis takes as its starting point the fact that the number of pupils has been

decreasing in the period 2000-2010, especially from 2008 to 2009 where the 11th grade was abolished.

However, the number of teachers has not gone down accordingly. This was seen as a problem of budget

control at the local level.

The GEC analysis has been met with critics, especially the school teacher´s labour union (IMAK) pointed out

that the abolishment of 11th grade should not have an impact on the number of teachers since the total

number of teaching hours a pupil receives during a period of ten years remains the same, as it is just a

matter of intensification of the learning process. The response from IMAK is attached to the council’s report.

The second part of the chapter deals with a comparison of pupils from cities and settlements respectively. A

cohort of pupils born over the period 1971-1976 is being analysed. The analysis compares pupils from

settlements and towns with regard to their income. The analysis shows that even if the pupils have attained

the same education level, pupils from the settlements achieve a lower income. The difference in income is

significant and amounts to 10-20%. At least from a macroeconomic perspective this constitutes a major

problem since the society as a whole accrues lesser tax revenues21

.

20

This new council substitutes the former Economic Council of Greenland that had been in operation since 1979. 21

The analysis makes use of sophisticated regression analysis (Mincer regression models).

35

2.4.2 Tax and Welfare Commission

In 2009 the Government of Greenland established a Tax and Welfare Commission. The background for the

Commission is the observed differences in income and wealth that are reflected in a high economic

inequality22

.

The purpose of the Commission is to propose initiatives to raise the economic welfare of the inhabitants,

especially among the poorer groups of the society.

The government appointed the members of the Commission23

. The head of the Commission Torben M.

Andersen was also head of the Danish Tax and Welfare Commission presenting their report to the Danish

government in 2008.

The Commissions primary tasks were originally to look into the tax system as well as the supplies of welfare

services and benefits. However, it soon became clear that the Commission also had to deal with the

education system, especially the elementary school, as education is seen as the key factor in raising the

overall welfare of the society. The analysis of the education sector has been carried with assistance from the

Ministry of Education and Research, as well as many discussions have taken place between the

Commission and the Ministry of Education and Research.

The Commission’s final report was published in March 2011. For the autumn assembly in 2011 a report on

follow-up of the tax and welfare commission report was made with the deliberations made by the

Government of Greenland on the various recommendations from the report. The Government of Greenland

agrees with the recommendations in the report on the area of education. The Government wants to

strengthen the elementary school, ease transitions within the educational system, start more initiatives to

reduce drop out and lastly the Parliament requested the minister for Education, Research and Nordic

cooperation to prepare an Education Strategy for the spring assembly 2012. The strategy was submitted to

the Parliament and discussed in the end of May.

2.5 An overview of the education system

A comprehensive overview of the education system including a description of the current capacity and

developments is given in the following sections (2.5-2.11)

Greenland’s formal educational system consists of:

• Elementary school

• Vocational Educational Training school

• High School

• Higher Education

In addition below institutions also provides education complementing the formal education system

• Pre-school (see description of “The Good Day-Care Institution” in section 2.2)

• Continuation school

• Piareersarfiit (counselling and preparatory courses for the continuous education and labour market)

22

Measured by way of the Gini- Coefficient Greenland has an equality of around 40%. 23

The members of the Commission are: Torben M. Andersen (Professor in Economics at Aarhus University), Peder Andersen (Associate professor in Economics in Copenhagen), Nina Banerjee (former head of Greenland’s Science Centre for Children and Youngsters), Peter Schultz (Head of Government of Greenland) and Magga Fencker (Head of Social Affairs, Qaasuitsup Kommunia). Ministry of Finance serves as secretary for the Commission.

36

The formal system resembles in many ways that of Denmark (and many other western countries) and is

financed through general taxes like in the Nordic welfare states.

Post graduate, supplementary training and in-service training for adults etc. can be delivered at different

levels and by different educational institutions – not least by the Vocational Educational training schools.

Almost all education is organized within the government sector and is free of charge. Until higher education

all books and most materials are lend out and/or free of charge. There are two private elementary schools,

located in Nuuk and Sisimiut. The Vocational Educational Training schools and the university offer seminars

on smaller scale that are based on fees.

Although the Greenlandic Education is still very much influenced by the former colonial power, there is an

increasing awareness of the importance of the educations systems role in conserving the indigenous culture

and creating a sustainable welfare society. Consequently the Danish textbooks are being replaced by

Greenlandic textbooks, curriculums are adapted to Greenlandic conditions and a range of higher educations

are today offered in Greenland in order to educate the students to work and live in Greenland rather than

travelling abroad for continuous education as in the past

After elementary education, all formal education is supported by a study grant given to all students in two

levels; 1) under 18 years old and 2) over 18 years old, exempt the Vocational Educational Training

apprentices who normally receive pay from the employers/apprenticeship, this area is not differentiated by

age. As mentioned in section section 2.1 student travels are paid by the Government of Greenland for the

initial travel between a student’s hometown and the town of the educational institution both within and

outside Greenland. In this connection a free annual return journey to the student’s hometown is also offered.

Greenlandic students can choose between Greenlandic and Danish student grants when studying in

Denmark. The Danish rules for study grants are slightly more generous than the Greenlandic rules. The rules

for receiving study grants were slightly changed in 2011 i.e. for the students receiving the Greenlandic Study

Grant a supplement for books and travel expenses will be a part of the grant, and for students choosing to

receive the Danish Study Grant a free trip to their hometown in Greenland has been added to the grant.

The study grant system is very similar to the Danish system. Students can receive an amount of

approximately 4500 DKK per month. Besides that, students are allowed to receive an interest free loan of to

a maximum of 6000 DKK per semester.

Greenlanders have free access to various types of educations in the Nordic countries (primarily Denmark) if

these are not supplied in Greenland.

The linkages between the different parts of the education system are illustrated in Figure 7a and Figure 7b.

37

Figure 7a: Overview of the formal education system

Figure 7b: Overview of training courses

Educations not offered at Greenlandic education institutions can be attained in foreign countries with study

grants from Greenland. Most Greenlanders study in Denmark, very few travel further out of Denmark for an

education. Around 550 students were studying abroad in 2011 (source: Ministry of Education and Research).

2.6 Elementary school

Although not being a part of the Greenland Education Programme, the elementary school is the foundation

for all further education. It is therefore considered important to give an introduction to this sector to

understand the problems and challenges that confront the various parts of the education system later on.

38

2.6.1 Definition

Elementary School starts the year a child turns 6 years old. Before 2008 elementary education was

compulsory up to 11th grade, now it is compulsory to the 10

th grade. The child leaves the elementary school

in the year it turns 16 years.

2.6.2 Target Groups

Although the Greenlandic Education Programme does not address elementary school, it does include

elementary school education to those school leavers and unskilled workers, who failed to pass their school-

leaving examination, cf. section 2.7 “Continuation Schools” and 2.11 “Training Courses offered by

Piareersarfiit and the Vocational Education Schools”.

1: Elementary school leavers i.e. age group is between 16 and 18 years

2: Unskilled workers under 50 years of age who are either unemployed or in vulnerable branches of the

market and/or for breadwinners

2.6.3 Public authority

Elementary schools are the responsibility of the municipalities

2.6.4 Focal area

Elementary school is not related to a specific focal area in the Greenland Education Programme, because it

is not directly part of the Greenland Education Programme, however the elementary school leavers are the

ones affected by activities under focal area 1 Preparatory courses and programmes - youth educational and

training programmes.

2.6.5 Capacity

For the education year 2010/2011 and at national level a total of 8.572 pupils were distributed on 24 town

schools and 60 settlement schools. Approximately 84% out of all pupils in Greenland live in towns.

Elementary schools are spread all over the country, and can be found in the following 18 towns, which

correspond to the number of municipalities prior the Municipal Structure Reform24

, which came into effect as

of 1 January 2009. Almost all of them with more than one school: Nanortalik, Qaqortoq, Narsaq, Ivittuut,

Paamiut, Nuuk, Maniitsoq, Sisimiut, Kangaatsiaq, Aasiaat, Qasigiannguit, Ilulissat, Qeqertarsuaq,

Uummannaq, Upernavik, Qaanaaq, Ittoqqortoormiit, and Tasiilaq.

Elementary schools are public. At the moment there are two private schools in Greenland. One is situated in

Nuuk, and is called Nuuk International Free School and began in the school year 2006/07, one in Sisimiut

that began in 2008.

Elementary schools are confronted with a number of problems these years. Only 42% of a year group is

enrolled into education one year after leaving elementary school. On average some 850 students leave

elementary school every year, however in 2005-2008/2009 the number of the year group was closer to a

1000 students leaving a year.

24

Greenland had a municipal structure reform in 2009 where 18 municipalities were reorganized into 4 municipalities.

39

Test results from the National Centre for Research into Education show that pupils from settlements – when

compared to pupils from cities - perform better in Greenlandic language, have equal performance in

mathematics, but underperform significantly in Danish and English. Recent studies carried out by the Ministry

of Education and Research show that the students who continue education (42 %) can be characterized at

either being very “strong” or “very good” with regards to their marks achieved at exams, especially within the

languages Danish, Greenlandic and English.

The organisation and pedagogical framework of the school homes differs. Consequently some pupils from

the settlements do not receive adequate supervision from adults.

In order to address some of the problems mentioned above a school reform “The Good School

(Atuarfitsialak)” was initiated in 200225

. The reform was inspired by the principles from American universities

(CREDE26

). In November 2010 a mid-term evaluation of the reform was carried out which confirmed the

positive impact of the reform on quality of education.27

Statistical analysis points to the fact that the implementation of the principles of the reform is positively

correlated with the test results attained at 3rd

, 7th and 10

th grade. Especially the two lowest levels in

elementary school are much better now than similar year-groups were just a few years ago according to the

Ministry of Education and Research. Furthermore it was demonstrated that the test results at 3rd

, 7th and 10

th

grade have a great predictive value for the pupil’s success and attainments at later stages.

These results are encouraging and in line with the goal of Greenland Education Programme to increase the

percentage of elementary school-leavers attending continuous education. The experience from “the Good

School” has been transferred into the high school reform.

However, the evaluation also found that the principles of the “Good School” have mostly been implemented

in larger (town) schools while smaller (settlement) schools have not implemented all of the reforms

principles. Although all students are tested nationally, many schools do not use the test results as a tool for

strengthening the education for the pupils.

Consequently enforcement of the principles of the “Good School” at all schools has been a priority in 2011. A

mean to this end is to strengthen the cooperation between the larger schools in the cities and their related

settlement schools. Moreover there is an increased focus on languages within the education system, both in

regards to how much the students learn at a given education/institution, but also on what level of and/or what

language is needed to attend a particular education. With respect to school homes priority will be given to

ensure that school homes will be operating with more uniform rules and supervision guidelines.

A simple, but important, indicator of the resources devoted to the elementary school is the ratio of pupils per

teacher. Overall the ratio is 8.1 pupils per teacher. This is lower than compared with Denmark where the

overall ratio is 11.2. The scarcity of educated teachers is a major challenge to the system, especially for the

schools in the settlements. Approximately one quarter of the teachers do not have an education beyond

elementary school, and for the settlement schools it is less than half of the children who are fortunate to have

an educated teacher.

25

Landstingsforordning nr. 8 af 21. maj 2002 om folkeskolen 26

The Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (http://crede.berkeley.edu/) 27

The evaluation was organized by: Institute for Learning Processes, see results on www.Inerisaavik.gl (only in Greenlandic and Danish)

40

2.7 Continuation schools in Greenland

2.7.1 Definition

The continuation school should be seen as an extra school year where the pupils have the possibility of

improving their examination results before applying for high schools, Vocational Educational Training schools

etc.

The model has been imported from the Danish school system where continuation schools have been a part

of the educational framework for more than 150 years. The continuation school is characterized as a school

where pupils eat, live and go to school together 24 hours a day. It is usual that 2-4 pupils live in the same

room at the schools and responsibilities like cleaning and kitchen assistance are part of the common daily

life at the schools. The philosophy behind the students living at the school is that the pupils get to know each

other and the teachers better, when the time spent at school is not only limited to school hours. Continuation

schools are not admitting pupils from the town they are situated in since the whole idea of the formation

process is that the young people should leave their home environment and see themselves as moved out of

home. The self-confidence obtained in the schools aims at achieving a calm and stable environment for

development and deeper knowledge of the pupils.

Learning at the continuation schools is divided into mandatory courses and optional courses. Mandatory

courses are Greenlandic, Danish, English and mathematics where the aim is in the end of the school year to

pass the elementary school diploma in these subjects. All subjects are taught 6-8 school hours a week. The

optional courses are creative subjects like media-IT, outdoor life, music, and sports. Pupils select one

optional course and follow that throughout the school year, typically 9-10 hours a week. In addition, an after-

school scheme consists of a list of subjects, thematic weeks, commercial counselling and trainee visits.

2.7.2 Target Group(s)

1: Elementary school leavers i.e. age group is between 16 and 18 years

2.7.3 Responsible Authority

Continuation schools are the responsibility of the Government of Greenland

2.7.4 Focal Area

The continuation schools relates to focal area 1 - Preparatory courses and programmes - youth educational

and training programmes in the Greenland Education Programme.

2.7.5 Capacity

There has been a long tradition for young Greenlanders to attend continuation schools in Denmark with the

wish or need for an additional year, focusing on improving grades/skills enabling the youngsters to enter

further education. The pupils are mainly from smaller cities and settlements, and have in principle finished

elementary school and obtained their diploma.

From September 2011 Greenland has two permanent continuation schools: Villads Villadsens continuation

school in Qasigiannguit admits 80 pupils and the new continuation school in Maniitsoq admits 70 pupils from

September 2011. It is expected that around 15% of them are students with special problems in reading and

spelling.

41

In addition around 280 Greenlandic pupils start every year on a continuation school in Denmark, see table 1.

Table 1 shows cohorts of Greenlandic pupils from continuation school 2007/08-09/10 in Denmark in relation

to their educational status by medio-September 2010. It is apparent that a great part of the pupils from

continuation schools proceeded to high schools and to a lesser degree in Vocational Educational Training

schools. It should be noted, however, that it is a requirement that in order to be admitted to a Danish

continuation school the pupil should be able to speak and understand Danish at a high level and that the

pupil has contact with a Danish family. Table 1: Educational status by mid-September 2010 for pupils from Danish continuation schools

Cohort High Schools VET schools Other Total 2007/2008 70 53 126 249 2008/2009 184 51 211 446 2009/2010 110 12 156 278

Source: Education Centre of Sisimiut and the Educational Financial Support Register

Another analysis of the 2008/09 cohort carried out by the Ministry of Education and Research shows that

pupils attending continuation schools in Denmark have a higher probability of going into education

afterwards28

showing a number of 62% compared to the average of 42% for elementary school leavers after

two years.

The continuation schools in Greenland are aimed primarily at pupils from outer districts and settlements. An

important purpose is to secure that more of these pupils will proceed in an education and thereby not

become marginalized.

A quantitative study of the effect of the continuation schools would be highly desirable. It is important to know

whether attendance in the continuation school makes a difference on language abilities and other

competencies required for further education. It should be analysed where the pupils proceed after the

continuation schools and if the continuation school increases the probability that they enrol and complete

formal education. In 2012 a tracking system to follow the individual student through the education system will

be established, where efforts will be made to include the data on the students that have attended a

continuation school, with technical assistance through the Greenlandic Education Programme.

2.8 Vocational Educational Training

2.8.1 Definition

Vocational Educational Training is practice-related competence development primarily targeted for the

private sector e.g. industry and business. Vocational Educational Training-schools provide education in

strategic areas such as building & construction, iron & metal, food production & catering, business & trade,

specialized areas like process technology, and traditional areas as sheep-farming, hunting & fishing,

maritime education. In addition practice-based training in health care & social work is also included in this

sector.

2.8.2 Target Groups

1: Elementary school leavers i.e. vocational education for youth (apprenticeship),

28

educational status of the 2008/2009 cohort after two years.

42

2: Unskilled workers under 50 years of age who are either unemployed or in vulnerable branches of the

market and/or for breadwinners.

2.8.3 Responsible Authority

Vocational Educational Training is the responsibility of the Vocational Educational Training schools, since

they became public private institutions ruled by a board by January 1st 2011.

2.8.4 Focal Area

Vocational Education Training receives support from the European Commission through the Greenland

Education Programme. Vocational Educational Training educations and schools relates to the following focal

areas under the Greenland Education Programme:

1 Preparatory courses and programmes - youth educational and training programmes

2 Competency (skills training) courses

3 Higher Education and Strategic Sectors

5 Dropout rates and completion

6 Buildings and housing

2.8.5 Capacity The Vocational Educational Training-schools are specialised so that all vocational education, within a specific area, takes place at only one Vocational Educational Training-school. Some of the schools also provide the high school education and several higher education programmes. Vocational Educational Training is offered at 11 schools that are scattered around in Greenland. An overview of the schools is given below The commercial schools are situated in Nuuk and in Qaqortoq and provides: The school in Nuuk offers a wide range of traditional lines aimed at working in commerce and IT.

• Basic commercial education programmes for o Shops assistants and clerks o Trade-assistants, sales-assistants, decorators, medical secretaries, purchasing assistants in

collaboration with Danish schools

• The Management Academy (administered by the commercial school in Nuuk) was established in order to facilitate leadership and management in the Greenlandic society. It was established in connection with the Greenland Education Programme, and it provides courses and educational programmes in relation to Greenlandic conditions, inspired by international research, and in cooperation with international educational institutions. It is supposed to be a knowledge centre for management development in Greenland.

o Higher Education course on Management and Leadership (higher education, short cycle)

The school in Qaqortoq offers

• Specialised lines such as education in working in the tourism business

• Commercial high school education including a supplementary one year “Exam Course at Higher Commercial Examination” (HHX) for high school graduates

The Iron and Metal School in Nuuk provides education within three areas

43

• Crafts and engineering: Blacksmiths and mechanics, ship-fitters, welders.

• Mechanical engineering, transport and logistics: Auto mechanics, terminal workers, stock- and transport workers, cycle-mechanics.

• Technology and communication: Electricians, electro-technicians, automatic technicians, office-machine technicians, radio- and data technicians, technicians for film and TV-production.

In addition the school provides supplementary (in-service) training in the above-mentioned areas, and also in areas like quality assurance, arctic first aid, etc., is provided.

The Iron and Metal School in Nuuk and the Building and Construction School in Sisimiut were merged

into one organizational unit with one principal per 1 January 2011. However, the schools remain psychically

separate.

The Building and Construction School in Sisimiut provides education and courses within

• The building and construction sector for carpenters, plumbing (Water, heating and sanitary facilities) and painters

• Technical high school education (HTX)

• All different kinds of supplementary training regarding the professional area are delivered e.g. PKU courses at regional schools

The school is also involved in research projects, in cooperation with the Greenland Innovation Centre, on building and construction technology, energy production, raw material utilization and environmental protection. It is also the place where entrepreneurs from all over the country can find help in

• Raising the efficiency of work processes

• Testing their invention

• Investigating the opportunities for selling a new product.

The school is also involved in the education of arctic engineers (see section 2.10).

The Greenland School of Minerals and Petroleum (Formerly School of Mining) in Sisimiut (alongside the

school for Building and Construction) provides education for:

• Courses (short term) regarding research and production of oil, gas and petroleum

• Courses within mining (demolition and rescue Common Core courses)

The Design School in Sisimiut provides (two years) education within:

• Making of the national garment

• Treatment of skins and furs (from e.g. seals and caribou)

From 2012 the scope of this school will be widened to teaching within painting etc. naturally within the scope

of the Design school subject range.

The Hotel and Restaurants School in Narsaq provides basic vocational education for

• Bakers, waiters, cooks and butchers.

• Various positions in relation to tourism incl. receptionists and hotel business. The final part of the education must be carried out in Denmark.

• Competence development courses for technicians related to o Production o Laboratory work o Environment

44

• Process Technology for the whole food-industry in Greenland at a higher education level (the short cycle)

• Supplementary training is offered in all above-mentioned areas The Fishing Industry School (ATI) in Maniitsoq was merged with The Food Industry School (INUILI) in Narsaq into the Hotel- and Restaurants School in Narsaq. A one-year preparatory course (ATX) for high school was closed down in relation to the merger. The buildings have been taken over by the new continuation school in Maniitsoq (see section 2.7). The Maritime/or Skippers School in Paamiut provides education to:

• Qualified coast and fishing skippers

The school was supposed to be closed in 2009 due to low number of applicants during recent years as well as decreasing labour market demand for these educations. However, due to recent decisions the school continues to operate into 2012, while a board investigates different other possibilities (see section 2.2)

The School for Hunting and Fishery in Uummannaq provides education in:

• Practice and theory based education within the craft of hunting and fishing.

The Sheep-farming School in Qaqortoq provides education in: Sheep-farming i.e. theory at the school and practice with sheep-farmers in Greenland or Iceland.

The Social Workers School (PI/SPS) in Ilulissat

• Social worker (pedagogue, assistant)

The School for Health Educations (PI) in Nuuk provides education in:

• Healthcare worker

• Healthcare assistant

• Porter-rescues

• Dental assistant (new 2011)

• Dental therapist (new 2011)

• Healthcare worker in the settlements (new 2011) target towards health related services in the

settlement, such as preventive work and promote health

• Supplementary training for staff in the social and health sector e.g. PKU courses at regional schools

The educational programmes for social workers, socio-educational teachers, and nurses have been

transferred to the University of Greenland.

The health area and the area of social affairs are very important for Greenland’s development. There is a huge lack of labour capacity here, which is why the Social Workers School has established cooperation with the Centre for Health Education and with the Institute for Social Workers on provision of courses for unskilled staff within these areas.

29 The new educations at the School for Health Educations are a result of labour

market demand for providing employees in the health centres and dental clinics with adequate education to perform their jobs. The Language Centre “Oqaatsinik Pikkorissarfik” in Sisimiut provides

• Language courses to individuals and institutions e.g. English with a special focus on mining

• Personal development courses to the Piareersarfiit centre in Nuuk (PKU course, see section 2.11)

• Translator education (short cycle, higher education)

29

These education facilities are as such not a part of the Vocational Educational Training-system; never the less they provide significant knowledge and training within their respective areas.

45

The centre also functions as a knowledge centre providing guidance individuals, institutions and companies regarding language courses and education, and has also been a driving force in development of materials, concepts and methods for e-learning – especially in the so-called e-forum network

30.

Attendance

The number of students attending various types of education at vocational educational training schools is

displayed in table 2.

Table 2: Indicator 5.1 Apprenticeships - Students by sector (numbers), 2011

Branch/education Number

Iron and metal School 405

Building and construction School 279

Commercial Schools 496

Food Industry School 181

Navigation School 0

Farming 1

Social and Health 43

Education with school periods in Denmark and others 26

Total 1431 Note: A few educations besides vocational educational training have apprenticeships, which are not included, e.g. nurses and teacher Note: The sector is defined by the education the apprentice attends in school periods. Note: Total figures in table 2 and table 7 deviates due to different input data

The number of students at Vocational Educational Training-schools has gradually increased over the period

2005-2008. However, in 2009 a drop was observed. Through 2010 it was feared that the financial crisis

would have a continuous negative impact on the activity of the Vocational Educational Training schools due

to lacking apprenticeship places as this is a precondition for enrolment into a vocational educational training.

The number of apprenticeship places have steadily increased from 2005 and remained at the same level in

2010 as in 2009, and increased again in 2011. In 2010 the number of students at Vocational Educational

Training-schools increased again, and in 2011 the number decreased to the level of 2009-10 while the

number of students attending high school education has been steadily increasing since 2005.

Although the dropout-rates have improved for students at the vocational education schools (cf. figure 8)

increasing the number of apprenticeship places in order to absorb the increased volume of students remains

a challenge for the successful graduation of students from many commercial educations. Moreover it is

acknowledged by the various industries that school training alone is not sufficient and should be

supplemented by practical periods. If educational institutions are not able to deliver the employees

demanded by the labour market, economic growth could be hampered.

Requests have been sent from the Ministry of Education and Research to the vocational educational training

schools motivating school staff to consider how the number of apprenticeships can be increased. It is

suggested that decisions regarding length of trainee periods could be shortened or for example be

supplemented by school traineeships for everybody in education. Furthermore new board members (from

the industry) at some of the vocational educational training schools have proposed increased flexibility in

apprenticeships in order to allow more (than one) employers to share the responsibility for one

apprenticeship. There seems to be an increasing awareness among the employers they need to take

responsibility to create apprenticeship places in order for the vocational educational training schools to

deliver the employees they need.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is now seriously on the agenda in Greenland. CSR Greenland was

jointly founded by the Employer´s Association of Greenland, Air Greenland, the Bank of Greenland, Royal

30

A cooperation between a number of schools in Greenland – most of them are Vocational Educational Training-schools

46

Artic Line and Kompetence Kompagniet, and includes a wide range of Greenland companies among its

members. CSR Greenland has for example organised a mentor network for young Greenlandic students.

“Recruiting is a major challenge for companies in Greenland, because there is a lack of

qualified young people. It is therefore important that companies undertake to train young

people. This benefits both the young people, society and companies themselves”

Quote from Anne Mette Christiansen, Head of Administration at CSR Greenland31

.

Another challenge is the lack of dormitories presenting a barrier to increased attendance and causes

dropout. New student dormitories were finished in 2011. A new apprenticeship dormitory in Nuuk with 42

rooms was opened in January 2011, 82 apartments in Nuuk were bought for student accommodation, In

Narsaq 32 dormitory rooms were finalised.

New dormitories have been planned for 2012-2014 in Aasiaat (50+100 rooms), in Qaqortoq (8+50 rooms)

Sisimiut (50 rooms) and Nuuk.(56 rooms in 2013). These dormitories are expected to be finalised in 2012

(58), 2013 (100) and 2014 (100), However due to the low standard of the existing dormitories the total

dormitory capacity will remain a constraint to continuous increase in attendance and completion rates.

Consequently expanding the dormitory capacity is a top priority for the government, hence it was decided in

the end of 2011 to spend an extra €m 18.8 from an unexpected revenue (from the oil industry) to further

expanding the capacity in dormitories and school homes.

An assessment (Ministry of Education and Research, Oct. 2011) of the dormitory capacity has estimated the

shortage in dormitory capacity:

Sisimiut (Technical High School and general high school, Artic engineer, Vocational Educational Training):

50 to accommodate for increased uptake in relation to new education at courses at school for building and

construction + 60 rooms for increased uptake in relation to the new high school reform + 50 rooms due for

demolition.

Aasiaat (the new High School Education): 100 rooms to reduce expensive rentals at the private market + 130

rooms to replace the remaining rentals at the private market and rooms due for demolition.

Qaqortoq (the new High School Education): 50 rooms to replace rentals in the private sector and rooms due

for demolition + 100 rooms to replace 70 old rooms of very low standard and 30 rooms spread all over the

town. However it is possible for the educational institutions in Qaqortoq to rent rooms through INI A/S32

as

opposed to the other three towns in which private rentals are in scarce supply (i.e. very expensive).

Nuuk (the new High School Education): 130 rooms to replace rooms due for demolition

In relation to the school buildings the planned expansion of the Food Industry School in Narsaq has been

delayed significantly and this might have a negative impact on the uptake and dropout rates for this school.

31

Greenland – A key player in global growth (a business magazine produced by the Employers ‘Association of Greenland 32

Cooperative Housing Society owned be the Government of Greenland with houses/apartments all over Greenland.

47

Figure 8: Attendance (end of year) and completion from VET-schools

Source: Statistics Greenland

Figure 8 above shows the development in students attending and completing vocational education from

2005 to 2011. From 2005 to 2011 enrolment at VET-schools has increased by approximately one third,

whereas the completion rate has increased with approximately two thirds. Although it is not possible to follow

the individual student at present, the figures indicates minor improvements in the dropout rates in spite of the

drastic increase in enrolment.

2.9 High schools

2.9.1 Definition

The high school system has (like the Danish system) three equal educational programmes

• General high school education (GU)

• Commercial high school education (HHX)

• Technical high school education (HTX)

From August 2012 the high school reform will be implemented, for description of the aspects of the reform please see section 2.2.1.1, pages 25-27.

2.9.2 Target Groups

1: Elementary school leavers

2.9.3 Responsible Authority

The administrative responsibility of the high school education has been transferred from Denmark to

Greenland in January 2009.

48

2.9.4 Focal Areas

High Schools receive support from the European Commission through the Greenland Education Programme.

Funds are distributed to below focal areas:

1 Preparatory courses and programmes - youth educational and training program.

4 Cross-cutting initiatives

5 Dropout rates and completion

6 Buildings and housing

7 Structural monitoring and development

2.9.5 Capacity

High school education is offered at five schools. Three of them are of a general nature located in Nuuk,

Aasiaat, Sisimiut and Qaqortoq. HHX in Qaqortoq is specialised in commercial studies, while HTX in Sisimiut

specialises in technical studies (see section 2.8).

In 2010 two permanent tracks of ordinary high school education were established in Sisimiut to ease the

pressure of applicants that appeared at other high schools, it is connected to the HTX in Sisimiut. The two

tracks accommodate 44 students and the education lasts 3 years with new students enrolled each year and

others leaving after 3 years. In 2011 a total of 1.250 students attended high schools33

.

As mentioned in section 2.2 the current high school education will be replaced with a high school offering

eight new educational profiles from august 2012.

The high schools are not in the same way as Vocational Educational Training schools dependent on

business cycle conditions. However, lack of school buildings and dormitory capacity provides problems for

this education type. The high school located in Aasiaat attracts pupils from a wide area, making it necessary

to ensure the supply of required dormitory capacity. Consequently building and replacement of depleted

dormitories continue to be a top high priority in the Greenland Education Programme (see assessment of

dormitory capacity in section 2.8).

In relation to the new high school reform an expansion of the school (GU) in Nuuk is planned to be ready for

august 2012, however it seems the finalization will be delayed which might have a negative impact on

dropout rates for the new cohort.

33

This figure represents the number of students attending high school while receiving a Greenlandic study grant, regardless where they attend high school, typically in Greenland, but a few attend high school in Denmark. Greenlanders have a Danish citizenship and can thus attend high school in Denmark if they choose without extra costs. The Greenland Education Programme has always been based on providing as many people as possible with and education, not limited to institutions in Greenland.

49

Figure 9: Attendance (end of year) and completion at high schools

Source: Statistics Greenland

Although it is not possible to follow the individual student at present, the figures indicates minor

improvements in the dropout rates in spite of the drastic increase in enrolment (51 % increase in attendance

compared to 59 % in completion from 2005-2011). Next step is to decrease dropout rates i.e. the primary

focus of the Greenland Education Programme in 2012.

2.10 Higher education

2.10.1 Definition

In terms of higher education, Greenland provides educational programmes in accordance with the Bologna

process34

, and within all three cycles:

1. The first cycle (bachelors’ level) and within that also the short cycle (academy programmes) 2. The second cycle (masters’ level) 3. The third cycle (doctors’ level)

In order to evaluate educations across countries and institutions a common framework has been agreed

upon by the participating countries in which 60 ECTS points is equivalent to 1 full-time study year. This

means the duration of an education at academy level is 2 years, bachelor level 3 years etc.

2.10.2 Target Groups

This target group is not included in the Greenland Education Programme phase 1 (2006-12) meaning only

activities targeted towards the new strategic areas are included in the programme at this stage. No specific

activities are targeted towards higher education, cf. section 4.2.3.

However indicators on higher education (and job insertion) are included in the variable tranche, which is part

of the financing agreement between the European Commission and the Government of Greenland as these

indicators measure the impact of educational activities included in the 1st phase of the Greenlandic

Education Programme, cf. section 1.1.1.

34

http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/EN/BASIC/050520_Framework_qualifications.pdf

50

2.10.3 Responsible Authority

The administrative responsibility of the higher education lies with the self-rule.

2.10.4 Focal Areas

Higher Education receives support from the European Commission through the Greenland Education

Programme. Funds are distributed to below focal area

3 Higher education and strategic sectors

2.10.5 Capacity

Institutions providing higher education are concentrated in Nuuk at Ilimmarfik (campus area). The campus

opened in 2008 and almost all higher education is located here.

In order to give as many opportunities to the Greenlanders as possible, close cooperation with other

universities has been established and Greenlanders have free access to enrol universities in Denmark.

Furthermore Greenlandic legislation secure that students with sufficient aptitude can be granted funds for

attending fee based education abroad.

The following is a brief description of the institutions providing higher education in Greenland.

2.10.5.1 Academy Education

Academy education (the short cycle) is provided by the Vocational Educational Training schools (see section

2.8) – in many cases in cooperation with Danish Business Colleges (Academies)35

with access to the Danish

Distance Education platform NETAU (www.netau.dk).

The commercial schools in Nuuk and Qaqortoq provide academy education in the following areas

• Service economist – with specialty in tourism management, international trade and marketing

• Legal administrative procedure

• Economics and resources management

• Management and leadership (the Management Academy)

• Banking and finance programme

• IT and Assistant Accountant Programme

2.10.5.2 University Education (Bachelor and Masters Level)

A university park (Ilimmarfik) has been established, new buildings constructed and a new legislation has

been passed36

in order for Greenland to supply education at higher level in accordance with the education

policies described in section 2.2.

University Education i.e. from Bachelors Degree (first cycle) to Ph.D. (third cycle) is provided by the

University of Greenland or in other institutions in Greenland in collaboration with universities in Denmark.

The University of Greenland has three institutes providing traditional bachelor degrees in

35

Aalborg and Aarhus 36

Law No. 19 of 19 November 2007 on Ilisimatusarfik

51

• Management and Economics. B.Sc. and M.Sc.

• Cultural and Social History. BA and MA

• Language, Literature and Media Studies. BA and MA

• Theology. BA

• Educational Science (Inerisaavik). MA

And professional bachelor degrees37

in

• Teacher education, journalism, nursing, education, social education, social work, interpretation and translation

Institute for Educational Science (Inerisaavik)38

supplies pedagogical diploma courses (PD) at bachelor’s

and master´s level for teachers, counsellors, ICT-staff and managers in elementary school in

• General pedagogic (BA)

• Didactics – with a special focus on (BA)

o Greenland’s history in a cultural and psychological perspective

o Pedagogical psychology

o Coaching of leaders and teachers in elementary school

o Foreign language teaching

• Pedagogical and psychological subjects (MA)

The Building and Construction school in Sisimiut provides - in cooperation with the Technical University

of Denmark (DTU)39

a bachelor degree in

• Arctic engineering

The education can be continued at the Technical University of Denmark and leads to a masters’ degree.

2.10.5.3 University Education (Doctors´ Level)

An important part of research in Greenland is the PhD studies, and a number of PhD grants are advertised

each year. In beginning of 2008 the first industrial PhD grant was advertised in Greenland (financed by the

Greenland Education Programme the Bank of Greenland’s Industrial Fund). In 2009 there are two

participants on this programme.

All the PhD projects must be related to Greenland and to Greenlandic issues but can be carried out in

cooperation with (for instance) Danish universities.

Higher education in Greenland is at the same level as in Denmark (and other European countries) but is

specifically focused on Greenlandic conditions and circumstances. For example the University of Greenland

participates in activities organized by the International Arctic Social Sciences Association, for instance the

International Polar Year (IPY40

) held in Nuuk 2008. The International Polar Year Programme (2007-2009)

was focussing on issues such as 1) Arctic climate – variability, change and impact, 2) Greenland's ice sheet

– scientific frontiers and 3) Man, nature and arctic societies.

37

These bachelor degrees are designed to provide immediate access to the labour market, while other bachelor degrees can be used for admission to graduate studies at the master´s and doctoral levels http://www.wes.org/educators/pdf/BolognaPacket.pdf. These educations usually requires the student to spend some time as a sort of apprenticeship, meaning to apply the theory learned hands on during the education, i.e. a teacher is an “apprentice” at an elementary school to practice teaching in “the real world”. 38

Regulation No. 14 of 19 May 2005 on masters education at the Institute for Education and Research 39

Part of the education must be done in Denmark. It is planned that candidates from this Higher Education programme should also have the opportunity to teach at high schools in Greenland. 40

http://www.ipy.org/

52

Figure 10: Attendance (end of year) and completion from Higher Education

Source: Statistics Greenland

Although it is not possible to follow the individual student at present, the figures indicates more and more

attend and complete higher educations. The number of completions increased from 2005 to 2010, hence the

number of graduates has increased by 17 % in the first cycle by 38% in the second cycle during this period,

and the year-to-year figures indicates a shift in level from 2005-08 and 2009-10. However in 2006 and 2011

the number of completions decreased drastically, probably due to random effects as there is no obvious

explanation for this drop. Although a dropout-rates at secondary cycle of higher education has not dropped

significantly yet, completions from second cycle of higher education is expected to grow due to the increase

in completions from first cycle, and changes in attitudes towards education in the population which is

expected to increase the number of completions from first cycle as well as the relative share of first cycle

graduates continuing to the second cycle (after the first three years in higher education).

2.11 Training courses offered by Piareersarfiit and Vocational Educational Training schools

2.11.1 Definition

Piareersarfiit centres currently form the link between elementary school, and further education and the labour

market, providing counselling and education for both youngsters and the older age groups of the population.

The vision is that the Piareersarfiit centres should be working according to the “one-door-principle”, meaning

that they take care of labour market issues as well as educational guidance.

Recognised Vocational Education (AEU) is established at Piareersarfiit and the overall aim is to enable

young people to be admitted to a recognised education e.g. vocational educational training school and

acquire the competences needed to graduate. AEU courses are concentrated on qualifying the pupils in 4

main topics: Greenlandic, Danish, English and mathematics (educational level of elementary school).

53

”Project competence improvement for unskilled” 41

(PKU) is a part of Government of Greenland’s Education

Programme. The PKU target group is unemployed or employed unskilled labour in declining business or

labour in need for upgrading in business where growth is expected. The courses are typically implemented in

3-5 modules each of one-week duration. The students are typically enrolled by their employers or their

municipalities (for unemployed).

Vocational training for the labour market (AMA) is targeted towards skilled and unskilled workers, including

unemployed. These courses should according to the main principle be part of an individual plan developed in

collaboration with Piareersarfiit or be part of a competence improvement course (a module)

2.11.2 Target Groups

1: Elementary school leavers

2: Unskilled workers under 50 years of age who are either unemployed or in vulnerable branches of the

market and/or for breadwinners

2.11.3 Responsible Authority

Piareersarfiit centres are the responsibility of the municipalities

2.11.4 Focal Areas

Training courses offered by Piareersarfiit and the Vocational Training Education Schools receive support

from the European Commission through the Greenland Education Programme. Funds are distributed to

below focal area

2 Competency (skills training) courses

2.11.5 Capacity

Besides the degrees and qualifications from the formal education system, the VET schools and the

Piareersarfiit provide a number of training courses:

• For skilled or unskilled employed workers (AMA) and

• For unskilled workers and employed and unemployed adults (PKU)

The courses are primarily provided with the strategic aim of training for work – that is to qualify the

apprentices within specific strategic area like social work, health, trade and industry and the new strategic

areas mining and tourism.

The Piareersarfiit centres provide AEU-courses, whereas a Vocational Educational Training-school normally

provides PKU and AMA-courses.

There are 18 Piareersarfiit centres within the Greenland's four municipalities constituting an important

element in the whole educational system as these centres provide counselling and preparatory courses in

languages and mathematics for admission to a Vocational Educational Training education (AEU), and

supports the development of individual competence development plans.

. The PKU funds are used for taylor-made professional courses supplied by some of the regional schools, The courses are continuously evaluated by the students and by contact with the employers after the student

41

Earlier called real competence courses.

54

returns and adjusted if needed. The Government of Greenland covers all expenses, including salary to the participants. During 2011 the activities included 867 participants taking part in 1890 course weeks. The courses were performed in 14 cities. In the 2011 the total allocations were € 2.3 m.

55

3 STATUS OF THE GREENLAND EDUCATION PROGRAMME; LESSONS LEARNED AND MAIN CHALLENGES IN 2011.

3.1 Status of the Greenland Education Programme in general

The Greenland Education Programme is generally proceeding according to targets set. The growth in many

of indicators continued in 2011 although a little different than in previous years. The drop out surprisingly

decreased from 23,8 % to 20,0 % from 2010 to 2011 and the currently the Ministry of Education and

Research does not have an explanation for this huge decrease. Further there was a slight decrease in

attendance at vocational educational training schools and a slight increase in attendance at high school, but

the growth in the overall attendance was not as large as anticipated in the target.

At present 42 % of a year group is enrolled into education one year after leaving elementary school42

. The

number hasn’t changed significantly the last few years.

So far the Greenland Education Programme has been successful in increasing attendance at VET and High

Schools due to an increased awareness of the importance of continuous education within the general

population. In addition the double cohort in 200843

also had an effect on the numbers. Although dropout rates

are improving on vocational educational training and high schools, the current challenge is to further reduce

dropout rates.

3.2 Challenges within the Government of Greenland

On March 18th 2011 the Government of Greenland cabinet members' (Ministers') responsibilities were

redistributed. With the change of Ministers a reorganisation of the ministries followed. This affected the

Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and the Church as follows:

• The areas of Culture and the Church were moved to the Ministry of Family Affairs, which became

the Ministry of Family, Culture, Church and Gender Equality.

• The two remaining areas Education and Research form a Ministry called the Ministry of Education

and Research.

The Minister responsible for Ministry of Education and Research also has the responsibilities regarding

Nordic Cooperation.

The reorganisation, although dividing the former Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and the Church,

did not result in any changes regarding the responsibilities related to the Partnership Agreement or the

Greenland Education Programme. It was agreed with the European Commission to use the relevant name of

Ministry (i.e. Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and the Church or Ministry of Education and

Research) where relevant according to history with the Greenland Education Programme.

In 2011 the whole Government of Greenland was affected by Mildew fungus in its office buildings causing a

minor delay in the submission of the progress report and work plan to the European Commission due to the

move of the Ministry of Education and Research´s staff. In the same year the European Commission

underwent organizational changes resulting in further rather big delays in the finalising of the reporting for

42

This figure should not be confused with indicator 4a.2 measuring the number of attending students by type of education, relative to the relevant population 43

Due to abolishment of the 11th school year.

56

2011. Consequently the budget support was not released until the end of year, which severely impacted on

Greenland’s liquidity and fiscal balance.

As the dropout indicators did not improve in 2010 an additional workload was added to the Ministry of

Education and Research´s staff involved in the Greenland Education Programme due to the derived

administrative work relating to a request for technical assistance in order to investigate more thoroughly into

the causalities. The Technical Assistance was contracted in late 2011 and work began in February 2012. In

the beginning of March the Ministry of Education and Research received the annual statistical figures from

Statistics Greenland, and the figures showed a significant decrease in the dropsout rate, from 23,8 % in

2011 to 20,0 % in 2012. The technical assistance mentioned above will provide a student tracking system,

which is expected to enable the Ministry of Education and Research to explain such a decrease more easily

once in place.

The Ministry of Education and Research also began work in December 2011 on a new Education Strategy

adding to the workload as well. This strategy is an extension of the current Greenland Education Plan,

because it focuses on more coherencies in the whole educational system. Due to the political process it is

not possible do disclose content of these strategy before the discussions at the spring assembly of the

Parliament this year. Once it has been discussed by Parliament, the European Commission will receive

relevant information regarding the strategy. After the discussion in parliament work will start with

operationalizing the strategy and how to achieve the goals and visions of the strategy.

3.3 The Elementary school

Language is becoming more and more important in the Greenland education sector. If the Greenland

Education Programme is to succeed in increasing the rate of young people that enter education, special

attention has to be directed towards language already at elementary level. An element could be to establish

supporting function for those students whose abilities in Danish are weaker.

3.4 The Vocational Educational Training Schools (VET)

The number of apprenticeships in Greenland has not increased much in the last years and this limits the

number of students enrolling into vocational educational training schools. A group consisting of

representatives from the Ministry of Education and Research, representatives from the employers’

associations and representatives from the vocational educational training school boards have begun work on

how to establish more apprenticeships and also try to come up with alternative solutions. This work has not

yet been finalised.

New organisational models with school boards and performance based financing have been introduced at

most VET schools. The experiences from 2011 are generally very positive from both sides i.e. school

management and board members representing labour markets. Especially the board members at the

building and construction school have engaged in advocacy for apprenticeships and provided feedback from

employers and developed solutions e.g. shared apprenticeships and new educations.

3.5 The High Schools

The primary limiting factor for high schools is the physical capacity of the high school buildings both

regarding capacity for education and for dormitories.

57

Establishment of new student dormitories has been given high priority, in 2011 some new dormitories were

finished and some new institutional buildings are expected to be finished in 2012, please see section 4.2.6

for elaboration. In addition to the physical factor the new high school reform addresses the human factor (Cf.

2.2.1.1. for an elaborate description of the reform).

3.5.1 Reform of the high school

So far only the best students with good language skills has been enrolled. Further progress in the Greenland

Education Programme requires that also students with fewer skills in language subjects enrol and are able to

successfully complete their studies. This group of students are at higher risk of dropout and require a

supportive environment as many are moving far from home and have no experience in taking care of

themselves. Several initiatives addressing these challenges are an integral part of the new high school

reform including tutors, support in daily living, homework cafés etc. Please refer to section 2.2.1.1 for more

details on the high school reform.

3.6. Oil and Mineral Sector

Expectations to upcoming industries within the oil and mineral sector give rise to new demands on specific

types of labour and therefore also specific challenges for the education sector. A development of a total

education programme for all short term courses regarding research and production of oil products has been

initiated at a conference held in December 2010 at the newly established Greenland School of Minerals and

Petroleum in Sisimiut. This process has been initiated in order to ensure that the relevant know-how and

expertise in this new area will be anchored in the Greenlandic Vocational Educational Training schools.

Concrete plans for making education possible in all involved branches: oil/gas, languages, building and

construction, iron and metal, shipping, food production and commercial have been made and the first

courses started in the first quarter of 2011. In 2011 a lot of courses were concentrated on the language

courses for obtaining work in the oil and mining industries, in 2012 the focus is still on these branches, but

more awareness is on the courses and educations needed for the branches related to an expansion within

the oil and mining industry in Greenland, i.e. catering, operation of heavy machinery and so forth.

58

4 BUDGETS, ACTIVITIES AND TARGETS FOR 2012

4.1 Total budget of the Government of Greenland and the budget of the Greenland Education Programme

An overview of the budget for the Government of Greenland for 2012 is given in table 4. The total overall

Government budget is € 881.6m, while the total education budget is € 168.7m. The education budget

accounts for 19.1 % of the total budget. Under the heading ‘Base’ is listed expenditures for the normal

running of the educational system before the initiation of the Greenland Education Programme (“business-

as-usual”). Under the heading the “Greenland Education Programme” the expenditures for the new (extra)

activities aimed at raising the educational level through initiatives under the Greenland Education

Programme are listed. The expenditures listed under these two headings add up to the expenditures listed

under the heading “Total”.

Table 3: Total budget and total education budget for the Government of Greenland 2012 (€ m)

Total budget 881,6

Of which education budget

Base

Greenland

Education

Programme

Total

1. Elementary Education 17,5 3,6 21,0

2. High School Education 23,4 5,2 28,6

3. Vocational Education and Training 35,9 21,7 57,6

4. Higher Education 33,5 5,8 39,2

5. Building Institutions 1,3 3,3 4,6

6. Building Dormitories 6,8 10,6 17,5

7. Reserve (Greenland Education

Programme fund) 0,0 0,2 0,2

Total Education Budget 118,4 50,4 168,7

Education in % of the total budget 19.1%

Source: Finance Act 2012

Table 3 compares the expenditures under the Greenland Education Programme with the base expenditures

in seven categories, not to be mixed up with the allocation of the Greenland Education Programme

expenditures to the seven focal areas that are presented in table 4.

It is seen that within “Vocational Educational Training” and “Building of Dormitories and Institutions” the extra

activities financed through the Greenland Education Programme are substantial compared to the base

expenditures in 2011. This item also includes rent and maintenance of buildings, which explains the

expenditure figure under “Base”.

It should be mentioned that the central governments’ total education budget, including expenditures by the

municipalities, was € 170,4m in 2011. Expenditures for the Government of Greenland under elementary

education are for the most part research into education, development of teaching material and educational

training for teachers. Expenditures for continuation schools are also included in the category of “Elementary

Education”.

In Annex 1 the numbers in Table 4 are presented for the period 2006-2015.

59

The Greenland Education Programme budget for 2012 and relative allocations to the seven focal areas are presented in Table 4.

Table 4: The Greenland Education Programme budget for the focal areas 2012 (€ m)

Focal Area Title of the focal area € m %

Focal area 1 Preparatory courses and programmes

Youth educational and training programmes 6.4 12.7

Focal area 2

Competence (skills training), courses, the

Piareersarfiit and unskilled labour in the work

force

6.9 13.7

Focal area 3 Higher education and strategic sectors 10.7 21.2

Focal area 4 Cross-cutting initiatives (study grants) 9.1 18.1

Focal area 5 Dropout rates and completion 0.9 1.8

Focal area 6 Buildings and housing 14.0 27.8

Focal area 7 Structural monitoring,

Development potential and perspectives 2.2 4.4

Reserve

(Greenland Education

Programme fund,

not allocated)

0.2 0.4

Total 50.4 100.0

Source: Finance Act 2012.

The largest part, € 14.0m, or 27.7 % of the Greenland Education Programme budget, is allocated to focal

area 6 “Building and Housing”. Focal areas 1, 2, 3 and 4 each receives between 12.7%, 13.7 % and 21.2 %

and 18.1 % from the Greenland Education Programme budget. Finally focal areas 5 and 7 receive 1.8% and

4.4% respectively. It can be observed that focal area 5 concerning dropout-rate and completion receives the

smallest part of the Greenland Education Programme budget despite of the importance of this area. The

activities financed under focal area 5 are directly aimed at lowering dropout rate, such as psychological

assistance. Under the other focal areas, and in particular focal area 6, financed activities are indirectly

expected to have a positive effect on dropout rates, for instance better facilities for doing homework.

The Greenland Education Programme budget for the period 2011-2015 is presented in Annex 2, which also

provides a detailed specification of allocation of expenditures to the different activities under each focal area.

4.2 Budgets, activities and targets within the focal areas

In this section each focal area is presented with a brief status of planned activities in 2012, including on-

going activities carried on from previous year and new activities. Finally results in relation to previous years

targets are evaluated, and new targets set by the Ministry of Education and Research.

The results and targets are used for monitoring progress during the year, and to communicate the priorities

of the Greenland Education Programme.

Due to the short timeframe from statistical information on results are released until targets should be set

(according the partnership agreement) the process of target setting is mainly the responsibility of the team

and steering committee for the Greenland Education Programme. However relevant experts are consulted

on ad hoc basis whenever relevant to obtain valid estimations. As the data basis for monitoring the

programme is being improved the robustness of the targets also improves.

60

However, it is acknowledged a broader involvement would be desirable to increase transparency and

strengthen ownership, but for practical reasons it have not been possible to involve a broader range of

stakeholders in this process.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the calculation of the variable tranche for 2012 includes new indicators

and changes to the relative weights compared to 2010 and 2011. The calculation method measures the

target achievement in relation to baseline and multiplies it with the indicator weight. Within the indicator

framework 2007-2013 the emphasis moves gradually from input and output indicators to outcome indicators.

The indicators that enter the calculation of the variable tranche in 2012 are shown in table 5:

The growth rate for the targets set for the various indicators are established under the assumption that the

capacity of dormitories and education facilities increasingly constitutes a limiting factor.

Table 5: Indicators in the calculation of the variable tranche 2012

Title Type Weight (%)

1. Public Expenditure on education Input 10

4c Number of students attending higher education Outcome 10

5 Apprenticeships Output 5

8 Education level of the workforce Outcome 20

9 Completion Outcome 20

11a Dropout rates (formal education) Outcome 10

11b Dropout rates (skills and competence courses) Outcome 10

12a Job insertion from formal education Outcome 10

12b Enrolment into education after Piareersarfiit Outcome 5

Total 100

4.2.1 Focal area 1: Preparatory courses and programmes youth educational

and training programmes

The overall objective of the initiatives under focal area 1 is to support, motivate and make room for more

young people to enrol into education at high schools or Vocational Educational Training schools. This focal

area is primarily focusing on elementary school leavers. Initiatives for supporting continuation schools in

Greenland are also financed under focal area 1.

On-going activities

Focal area 1 receives € 6.4m, or 12.8%, of the Greenland Education Programme budget in 2012. The

allocation of the total amount to different activities is shown in figure 11.

61

Figure 11: Focal area 1 budget (€ 6.4m) divided into main categories

Source: Finance Act 2012.

A major part of the activities under this focal area is a continuation of on-going activities established in the

previous years.

Planned new activities in 2012

The High School reform is planned to be put in force by August 2012, please see section 2.2 for more details

on the reform.

Two Vocational Educational Training educations will be established from autumn of 2012 at the Greenland

School for Minerals and Petroleum. One will have a focus on working in mines and another one will be

focused on working with big machinery and contracting. The first year of the two educations will have an

introductory year, which is common for both educations. After the first year students should choose mining or

machinery & contracting. The duration of both educations is four years and entails two years in school of

theory followed by two years of practice working as an apprentice in either a mine or with a contractor.

Targets

The results under focal area 1 are evaluated on the basis of the following indicators:

• Applicants, Vocational Educational Training and high school (indicator 3.1 and 3.2)

• Attendance, Vocational Educational Training and high school (indicator 4.a)

• Apprenticeships (indicator 5)

Applicants (indicator 3.1 and 3.2).

Table 6: Applicants for Vocational Educational Training (indicator 3.1)

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference target

2012 %

of result 2011

Total 1223 1189 1396 1579 1729 2271 1650 -27,3 %

Indexed

2006=

100

100 97 114 129 127 186 135 -27,3 %

62

Source: Ministry of Education and Research Note: This is an output indicator.

Table 7: Applicants for High School Education (indicator 3.2)

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference target

2012 in %

of result 2011

Total - - 757 796 864 1.073 1.100 2.5

Indexed

2008=100 - - 100 105 114 142 145 2.5

Source: Ministry of Education and Research. Note 1): This is an output indicator. Note 2): The numbers presented in the table differs from what was presented in AIR 2008. A new data reporting system was set up, resulting in more valid data.

Students attending VET and high school education (indicator 4a.1-4a.3).

Table 8: Number of students by type of education (indicator 4a.1)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference

target

2012 in

% of

result

2011

Annual

average

growth

rate

2005-

2011

Total 1.925 2.077 2.178 2.410 2.484 2.649 2.679 2.770 3.4 0,06

VET 1.098 1.246 1.313 1.439 1.386 1.477 1.429 1.470 2.9 0,04

High

School 827 831 865 971 1.098 1.172 1.250 1.300 0.4

0,07 Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an output indicator. It is not a part of the calculation of the variable tranche in 2012.

The target set for applicants for vocational educational training schools has been set conservatively as the

sudden increase in applicants in 2011 of almost 50 % may be a random effect as there is no obvious

explanation for this drastic change. As the duration of vocational education training is four years the number

of apprenticeships44

needs to be expanded with the number of eligible applicants minus the number of

students who dropped out or completed in the previous school year. As the number of applicants is higher

than the attendance (of four school years) apprenticeship places is the most important limiting factor in

further expansion of admissions to vocational education training. Although the number of applicants for

vocational educational training schools has increased in recent years as well as the number of

apprenticeship places, it remains to be seen whether it will be possible to further increase the number of

apprenticeship places by the initiatives described in section 2.8 during the economic recession. The Ministry

of Education and Research does not currently have knowledge as to how many of the applicants meet the

qualifications required to attend the education of their choice and how many does not.

The number of applicants for High Schools is expected to rise in 2012 with 2.5 %. The increase in

applications for the high school educations is expected to be due to several factors including the high school

reform, slightly lower admission requirements for the high schools, a shift in demand from vocational training

education toward high school (observed in 2011) probably due to a combination of “push” and “pull” factors

i.e. lacking apprenticeship places and an increased public awareness of the importance of education

attracting an increasing number of applicants for youth education and more students aspiring to continue to

higher education (cf. table 6 and 7).

44

It is the responsibility of the student to find an apprenticeship place in order to enroll vocational training

63

Table 9: Number of attending students by type of education, relative to the relevant population (indicator 4a.2)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Total 0.43 0.47 0.49 0.54 0.56 0.56 0.57 0.57

VET 0.25 0.28 0.29 0.32 0.31 0.31 0.32 0.32

High School 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.22 0.25 0.25 0.26 0.26

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an output indicator. By relevant population is meant the number of persons in the age 16-19 in a given year.

Table 10: Students by type of education, indexed (2005 =100) (indicator 4a.3)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Total 100 108 113 125 129 138 139 144

VET 100 113 120 131 126 135 130 134

High School 100 100 105 117 133 142 151 157

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an output indicator.

In 2011 the total number of attendances stagnated, however indicator 4a.1 is expected to grow slightly in

2012, but at a lower rate than previously. The low growth rate of the number of attendances within the youth

educations is mainly due to capacity constraints at the educational institutions and the shortage in

apprenticeship places. In order to overcome these constraints the Government of Greenland are giving

priority to expanding the institutional capacity and the creation of new apprenticeship places. The employer-

side acknowledges the problem and is involved in finding solutions through the new boards on the vocational

educational training schools. Another solution currently being investigated by the Ministry of Education and

Research is to establish an agreement with educational institutions in Denmark having the necessary

institutional and dormitory capacity to receive students from Greenland.

Regrettably the expected impact of these initiatives is not likely to be reflected in the indicators for 2012. The

target for apprenticeships is thus set conservatively at 1.440 in 2012.

Apprenticeships (indicator 5).

Table 11: Number of apprenticeships at Vocational Educational Training (indicator 5.1)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference

target

2012 in %

of result

2011

Average

annual

growth

rate

2005-

2011

Total 1.098 1.100 1.098 1.316 1.376 1377 1.431 1.440 0.6 4

Index

2005

=100

100 100 100 120 125 125 130 131 0 4

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an output indicator. It enters the calculation of the variable tranche with a weight of 5% in 2012.

64

4.2.2 Focal area 2: Competence (skills training) courses, the Piareersarfiit and

unskilled labour in the work force

Status

Only about one-third of the potential workforce in the country has undertaken a programme of formal training

or education.

On-going activities

Focal area 2 receives € 6.9m, or 13.7%, of the Greenland Education Programme budget in 2012. The

allocation of the total amount to different activities is shown in figure 12.

Figure 12: Focal area 2 budget (€ 6.9m) divided into main categories

Source: Finance Act 2012

Almost half of the budget (48%) is allocated to develop competence courses. Support to Piareersarfiit

accounts for 33% of the budget for this focal area. The Mining and Construction School takes up 19% of the

budget.

Planned new activities in 2012

The Piareersarfiit-centres are more or less in operation in the same way as the years before. A goal is to

strengthen the dialogue between the centres and the responsible persons in the local governments.

Targets

The results under focal area 2 will be evaluated on the basis of the following indicators, which were

developed in 2010 by Government of Greenland in cooperation with Statistics Greenland to ensure the best

available measurement of the focus of the indicator:

• Attendance at skills and competence courses (indicator 4.b)

• Dropout at skill- and competence courses (indicator 11.b)

• Enrolment into education after Piareersarfiit (indicator 12.b)

65

Table 12: Attendance at skills and competence courses (indicator 4.b)

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Fishing 262 75 111 102

Mining 59 93 50 46

Electricity and water

supply 0 0 0 0

Construction 26 50 81 75

Wholesale and retail

trade 63 74 34 31

Hotels and restaurants 40 45 82 76

Transport 0 0 0 0

Finance and insurance 0 0 0 0

Sale of real estate 0 0 0 0

Public administrations 425 340 509 470

Other 0 0 0 0

Total 875 641 867 800

Source: Ministry of Industry and Labour and Ministry of Education and Research. This is an outcome indicator. It does not enter into the calculation of the variable tranche in 2012.

The reason for the target for 2012 being lower than the result from 2011 is that the Ministry of Industry and Labour will offer fewer courses of longer duration targeted towards the oil industry in order to meet the demands from the supply-side of the labour market in 2012. Hence the number of expected participants will be relatively lower than in 2011. The total budget allocation will remain the same. In 2012 a need for wildlife observers from the ships doing oil related surveys in the waters around Greenland occurred. Due to the flexibility of the funds within the area of skills and competency courses it is possible promptly to adjust educational plans to changes in employer’s needs, and thereby educating local people to undertake these jobs. This flexibility however can make it difficult to set targets for the indicator, as the indicator is counting heads rather than course weeks

45.

Table 13: Dropout at skills and competence courses (indicator 11.b)

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Fishing 22 8 8 8

Mining 3 4 4 4

Electricity and water supply 0 0 0 0

Construction 5 8 8 8

Wholesale and retail trade 11 20 21 20

Hotels and restaurants 6 4 4 4

Transport 0 0 0 0

Finance and insurance 0 0 0 0

Sale of real estate 0 0 0 0

Public administrations 28 37 39 36

Other 0 0 0 0

Total 75 81 85 80

Source: Ministry of Education and Research. This is an output indicator and part of the variable tranche calculation 2012.

45

Regrettable data on number of participant weeks are not available at this point, as this would provide a better picture of the development in the activity in relation to indicator 4.b.

66

The indicator 11b – dropout at skills and competence courses indicates an average dropout rate over the last 3 years (2009-2011) of 10,3 %, which is relatively low compared to other types of education (high school, VET and higher education). There have been no surveys exploring the reasons for dropout in this area, mainly due to the small percentage of dropout.

Table 14: Enrolment into education after Piareersarfiit (indicator 12.b)

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

VET 100 138 120

High School 43 33 45

Higher Education 29 0 25

Total 172 171 190

Source: Ministry of Industry and Labour and Ministry of Education and Research

This is an outcome indicator. It enters the calculation of the variable tranche with a weight of 5% in 2012.

Table 15: Enrolment into education after Piareersarfiit, relative to attendance (indicator 12.b)

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

VET 14% 18% 15%

High School 6% 4% 6%

Higher Education 4% 0% 3%

Total 24% 23% 24%

Source: Ministry of Industry and Labour market and the Ministry of Education and Research

Most people attending Piareersarfiit, primarily attend courses qualifying for admission to vocational

educational training educations (the so-called AEU-courses). Consequently the relative share continuing to

high school is very small, and the reason no students continues to higher education is probably the target

group of Piareersarfiit has changed from unskilled (adult) workers to young school leavers. In addition the

high school reform will make it easier for school leavers to continue directly to high school without having to

attend qualifying courses at Piareersarfiit. Therefore a reduction in the relative share of students enrolling

into high school and higher education could actually be a positive sign of school leavers progressing faster

through the education system.

4.2.3 Focal area 3: Higher education and strategic sectors

Status

Focal area 3 receives € 10.7m, or 21.2%, of the Greenland Education Programme budget in 2012. The

allocation of the total amount to different activities is shown in figure 13.

67

Figure 13: Focal area 3 budget (€ 10.7m) divided into main categories

Source: Finance Act 2012. (The category “other” reflects a number of smaller categories, too diverse to categorize, please see annex 2 focal areas expenditures for detailed list of each focal areas expenditures)

A large part of the budget, around 20%, is allocated for upgrading qualifications within the Health and Social

sector.

The funding under focal area 3 supports beside that a great variety of supply of courses organised at the

VET schools aimed at various other strategic sectors such as tourism. A detailed list of the activities can be

seen in annex 2.

Planned new initiatives in 2012

Many of the activities under this focal area are on-going.

The design school will have a capacity of approximately 15 students. In 2012 the planning for a further

expansion of the school to be a more diversified design school will begin.

Targets

The results under focal area 3 are evaluated on the basis of the following indicators:

• Applicants, higher education (indicator 3.3)

• Attendance in higher education (indicator 4.c.1 and 4c.2)

Applicants for higher education (indicator 3.3):

Table 16: Applicants for Higher Education (indicator 3.3)

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference target

2011 in %

of result 2010

Total 450 477 592 648 650 0

Indexed

2008=100 100 106 132 144 144 0

Source: Ministry of Education and Research. Note 1): The numbers presented in the table differs from what was presented in AIR 2008. A new data reporting system was set up, resulting in more valid data. Note 2): This is an output indicator and not part of the variable tranche in 2012

68

Although in previous years a growth of approximately one hundred students attending higher education per

year has been seen, the targets for 2012 have been set very conservatively as it is expected the maximum

number of potentially qualified and motivated students has been reached.

Students attending higher education (indicator 4c):

Table 17: Number of students in higher education, by type (indicator 4c.1)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference

target

2012 in %

of result

2012

Annual

growth

rate 2005-

2011

Total 775 840 862 924 930 1031 1.149 1170 1,8 6

First

cycle 454 489 497 534 510 572 660 680 3,0 6

Second

cycle 321 351 365 390 420 459 489 490 0,2 6

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an outcome indicator. It enters the calculation of the variable tranche with a weight of 10% in 2012.

Table 18: Students in higher education, by type (2005=100) (indicator 4c.2)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Total 100 108 111 119 120 133 148 151

First cycle 100 108 109 118 112 126 145 150

Second

cycle 100 109 114 121 131 143 152 153

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an outcome indicator.

4.2.4 Focal area 4: Cross-cutting initiatives

On-going activities

Focal area 4 receives € 9.1m, or 18.1%, of the Greenland Education Programme budget in 2012. The

allocation of the total amount to different activities is shown in figure 14.

69

Figure 14: Focal area 4 budget (€ 9.1m) divided into main categories

Source: Finance Act 2012.

The study grant system continues in 2012 without any significant changes. A total of € 25.7m is allocated in

2012 for study grants. Part of this, namely study grants derived from more students being admitted to

programmes (and increase in study grants in connection with the double year-group), is financed under the

Greenland Education Programme with € 7.9m and €1.2m respectively.

New planned activities in 2012

Improvements in the study grants for students in Denmark will be implemented including refunds for

transport expenditures for all students and book refunds for students studying a higher education. The

purpose of the improvements is to enable students to preserve a strong affiliation with friends and relatives in

Greenland, thereby making it easier for them to return to Greenland and work after they have ended their

studies.

The new educational strategy might lead to further changes to the study grants, but these changes are not

likely to be implemented before 2013 or 2014.

Targets

The results under focal area 4 are evaluated on the basis of the indicator that measures public expenditure

on education, which is a precondition for managing a cash based study grant system.

Target for 2012 is set in accordance with the approved Finance Act for 2012.

Table 24-26 summarizes results and targets for this indicator.

Expenditure on education (indicator 1).

Table 19: Expenditure on education as a percentage of total public expenditure (indicator 1.1)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference

between target

2012 and result

from 2011

16.1 15.5 17.6 19.7 19.2 19.2 19.7 19.7 0 Source: Finance Act for various years.

Note: This is input indicator.

70

Table 20: Expenditure on education (Million Euro) (indicator 1.2)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference target

2012 in %

of result 2011

Average Annual

growth rate

2005-2011

115.5 114.7 141.3 161.4 167.3 167.9 174.0 174.0 0 0,09 Source: Finance Act for various years.

Note: This is input indicator. It enters the calculation of the variable tranche with a weight of 10% in 2011.

Table 21: Expenditure on education, indexed (2005=100) (indicator 1.3)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

100 99 122 140 145 146 151 151

Source: Finance Act for various years. Note: This is input indicator.

4.2.5 Focal area 5: Dropout rates and completion

Status

It is obvious that especially dropout is problem for optimal utilization of the resources in the education sector.

The dropout rate is especially high with youth education, i.e. Vocational Educational Training educations and

high schools.

After a steady decrease in the general dropout rate from 2005 to 2008 the dropout-rate rose steeply in 2009,

especially for the Vocational Educational Training educations schools. This development seems likely to be

connected to the effect of the financial crisis in progress, as employers become more hesitant to hire an

apprentice, and might have to fire one in case of bankruptcy. In addition some students with kids might

dropout to find a job, if their partner is affected by unemployment. However in 2011 it dropped to 20 %, the

lowest level ever. At this point the reasons behind this improvement have not been fully investigated,

however the economic recession and lack of attractive alternatives might be one explanation (push factor).

Other explanations could be related to the Greenlandic Education Programme such as the improvements in

the study grants, physical framework of the education sector, reforms enhancing the quality of education,

increasing awareness of the importance of education in the population and the implementation of

performance-based financing at the vocational education schools (pull factors). However in order to validate

and elaborate on these explanations technical assistance to investigate reasons for dropouts is currently in

progress, with the support of the European Commission. It is expected dropout-rates will further improve in

2013 as a result of the new insight obtained through the technical assistance in 2012, and subsequent

initiatives.

Focal area 5 receives € 0.9m, or 1.7%, of the Greenland Education Programme budget in 2012. The

allocation of the total amount to different activities is shown in figure 15.

71

Figure 15: Focal area 5 budget (€ 0.9m) divided into main categories

Source: Finance Act 2012.

Planned new activities in 2012

Nothing concrete is planned, however it is expected that the implementation of the high school reform will

reduce dropout-rates. However the impact will probably not be seen before 2013 when the with the new

high school reform has been into effect for one school year .The technical assistance for a dropout study is

expected to provide new insights into how the causalities, eventually leading to recommendations for new

initiatives improving completion rates and reducing drop outs.

Targets

The results under focal area 5 are evaluated on the basis of the following indicators:

• Number of graduates (indicator 9)

• Number of repeaters (indicator 10)

• Number of dropouts (indicator 11a)

Number of graduates (indicator 9): The total number of graduates was targeted to 830 in 2011. This is a

growth of 3.9 % compared with 2010. The average annual growth over the period 2005-2010 was 6.6 %,

higher especially in the first years. The target for 2012 is reflecting that the growth rate of graduates is

stabilizing at a lower level, due to the fact that the absolute number of students have increased to

significantly higher level, in other words Greenland is reaching a point where the number will not increase

much within the current capacity. In the first year of the Greenland Education Plan the most qualified and

motivated students were attracted into education, as the programme is progressing the residual group

becomes more difficult to attract and retain in the education system. In addition some students may apply for

an education to obtain accommodation and study grants, as housing and unskilled jobs are becoming

increasingly difficult to find. The residual group has a higher risk of dropout due to lack of motivation or

qualifications. Consequently the new high school reform attempts to cope with these new challenges.

72

Table 22: Number of graduates by type of education (indicator 9.1)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Difference

target

2012 in

% of

result

2011

Average

annual

growth

rate

2005-

2011

Total 581 597 679 716 754 799 851 890 4.6 0,07

VET 247 251 292 309 331 321 395 400 1.2 0,08

High

School 173 213 221 237 236 278 275 290 5.5

0,08

Total

Higher

Education

161 133 166 170 187 200 181 200 10.5

0,02

Of which

first cycle 106 85 111 115 116 124 137 140 2.2

0,04

Of which

second

cycle

55 48 55 55 71 76 44 60 36.3

-0,04

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an outcome indicator. It enters the calculation of the variable tranche with a weight of 20% in 2012.

Table 23: Graduates by type of education, indexed 2005=100 (indicator 9.2)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Total 100 103 117 123 130 138 146 153

VET 100 102 118 125 134 130 160 162

High

School

Education

100 123 128 137 136 161 159 168

Total

Higher

education

100 83 103 106 116 124 112 124

Of which

first cycle 100 80 105 108 109 117 129 132

Of which second cycle

100 87 100 100 129 138 80 101

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an outcome indicator.

73

Repeaters (indicator 10)

Table 24: Repeaters attending relative to total attendance in vocational education and training and high school education (indicator 10.2)

Result Result Result Result Result Result Result Target

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Total 2,4 1,9 1,7 2,9 2,6 2,9 2,7 2,9

VET 0,9 0,9 1,2 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,3 1,4

High School 1,5 1,1 0,5 1,7 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an outcome indicator.

There is not yet an explanation for the huge drop in the dropout rates for 2011, but the Ministry of Education

and Research does not expect the rate to drop further in 2012. In fact the target for 2012 have been set

higher than the achieved result in 2011 due to a number of factors: There is still a capacity problem in the

dormitories and institutional buildings due to the large backlog in buildings which need renovating (cf. section

2.8) . An increased intake of students in some institutions, for example at School for Health Educations

where three new educations were started in 2011 might also increase overall dropout-rates as certain

educations experiences higher dropout-rates than others for a number of reasons including future prospects,

attractive alternatives and family reasons. Furthermore it is difficult to predict the development in the high

school, as the reform is aiming for a more inclusive high school. However the other side of this may be

increased dropout rates due to lower admission demands than previous years.

The Ministry of Education and Research presumes the decline in dropout-rates from 2010 to 2011 is a sign

of the positive impact of the many different efforts to reduce dropout at the individual schools, however the

dropout study still needs to verify this. At the same time the Ministry is aware of the capacity problems

effecting this rate, and can therefore not set the target any lower than can be seen in the table 25.

Number of students to dropout from formal education (indicator 11a):

Table 25: Dropout rate relative to total attendance by type of education (indicator 11a.2)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

Total 23.7 23.6 22.2 21.5 23.7 23.8 20.0 21.0

VET 26.5 23.0 22.1 19.5 26.5 28.3 25.3 23.8

High

School

Education

21.6 26.2 21.6 24.7 23.7 21.9 17.4 19.3

Total

Higher

Education

21.8 21.9 23.0 20.6 19.6 19.4 16.1 19.3

Of which

first cycle 24.4 26.0 21.9 22.0 21.8 19.8 15.2 19.5

Of which

Second

cycle

18.1 16.2 24.4 18.8 16.9 19.0 17.4 19.0

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an outcome indicator. It enters into the calculation of the variable tranche with a weight of 20% in 2012.

74

4.2.6 Focal area 6: Building and housing

On-going activities

Focal area 6 receives € 14.0 m, or 27.7 %, of the Greenland Education Programme budget in 2012. The

allocation of the total amount to different activities is shown in figure 16.

Figure 16: Focal area 6 budget (€ 14.0 m) divided into main categories

Status

Problems became very visible during 2011. Lots of buildings related to the educational system have been

infested with mildew fungus, some dormitories where due to that closed and other accommodation had to be

found for the students, thus long waiting lists showed up in Nuuk, Aasiaat and Qaqortoq again during 2011.

At present it is estimated that a number of units are in a condition that must be characterized as

unsatisfactory. Also at several institutions they had to rent rooms on the private market to meet demand for

dormitories, which is an expensive solution for the institutions. All in all approximately 670 units is needed if it

has to be insured that dormitories are of a sufficient quality and that all demand are met by owned capacity.

It is not possible to make forecasts on the dormitory capacity in 2012, due to the complex nature of this field

and due to the fact that the school year begins midway in a calendar year. Government of Greenland reports

within the frame of a calendar year, whereas the dormitory capacity is relevant during a school year.

Table 26: Dormitory Capacity 2011

City Education Piareersarfiit Total Rentals

Aasiaat 186 21 207 84

Ilulissat 163 37 142 0

Maniitsoq 44 26 70 0

Narsaq 118 9 78 0

Nuuk 519 0 556 58

Paamiut 59 0 59 4

Sisimiut 327 30 357 0

Qaqortoq 197 24 223 51

Total 1.613 147 1.760 197

Source: Ministry of Education and Research.

75

On-going activities and expected expansion

Table 27: Dormitories and buildings

Result

2011

Expected

2012

Under contract 2012 (not

expected completed until

2013/2014)

Dormitories completes (7.a) 156 58 206

New educational institutions completed (7.b)

Extensions of educational institutions

completed (7.c) 1 1 1

Source: Ministry of Education and Research.

Note: This is an output indicator.

Indicator 7a. Number of dormitories completed:

58 dormitories (units) are expected completed in 2012, 200 units will however be contracted during 2012.

Indicator 7b. New educational institutions completed:

None are expected for 2012.

Indicator 7.c: Extensions of educational institutions completed There is on-going extension of the high schools in Aasiaat and Nuuk, they are expected to be finalized in 2013.

4.2.7 Focal area 7: Structural monitoring, development potential and

perspectives.

On-going activities

Focal area 7 receives € 2.2m, or 4.4%, of the Greenland Education Programme budget in 2012. The

allocation of the total amount to different activities is shown in figure 17.

Figure 17 Focal area 7 budget (€ 2.2m) divided into main categories

Source: Finance Act 2012.

76

“The Good Day Care Reform” makes up 28 % of the allocated funds under focal area 7. Recent research

has shown that the condition for success in further education is laid out in the early childhood. Therefore day

care is being seen as one of the important areas regarding development of children in to school children and

then young adults with competencies to begin further education.

Also looking into the use of ICT and e-learning as a way of improving teaching conditions is important and

the share of the budget is 37 %. Development projects primarily within statistical subjects make up 32 % of

the budget.

Planned new activities in 2012

The work with ”The good day care reform” is on-going in 2012 with a large focus from the Parliament and

Government on the welfare of children in general.

Further there is focus on monitoring from the Government in general. There is emphasis on the ability to

monitor any given activity, a work that is integrated in the upcoming Educational Strategy.

Targets and impact indicators

Most of the targets that are related to focus area 7 are impact indicators monitoring medium to long term

impact on the Greenlandic society. Indicators 12.a and 8 are included in the variable tranche calculation.

Indicator 8

As mentioned several times in this report the main goal of the Greenland Education Programme is that 2/3 of

the workforce should have an education at minimum level 3 by ISCED standards46

by 2020. This is in

practice measured by the internationally accepted classification ISCED. Up till now there has been no official

statistics measuring the level of education in Greenland. In 2010 Statistics Greenland did the first

calculations based on register data for the use of measuring the value of indicator 8. For results see table 37

and 38.

Table 28: Share of work force divided by ISCED level (total numbers)

ISCED Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

ISCED level 0-2 21.812 21.775 21.944 21.612 21.550

ISCED level 3-6 11.519 11.765 11.650 11.889 12.000

Total 33.331 33.520 33.594 33.501 33.550 Source: Statistics Greenland Note: This is an outcome indicator. It enters into the calculation of the variable tranche with a weight of 20% in 2012

Table 29: Share of work force divided by ISCED level (percentage)

ISCED Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Target

2012

ISCED level 0-2 65.4 64.9 65.3 64.5 64.2

ISCED level 3-6 34.6 35.1 34.7 35.5 35.8

Total 100 100 100 100 100

Source: Statistics Greenland

46

ISCED is designed to serve as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting comparable indicators and statistics of education both within individual countries and internationally. It presents standard concepts, definitions and classifications. ISCED covers all organized and sustained learning opportunities for children, youth and adults including those with special needs Education, irrespective of the institution or entity providing them or the form in which they are delivered. For further information see: http://www.stat.gl/dialog/main.asp?lang=da&version=201001&link=UD&colcode=m&version=201001

77

The source data contains some drawbacks and flaws that mean that the measured level of the education

level is at best a minimum level number. First and foremost, the register data for the persons educated

receiving Greenlandic study grants only covers the period from 1980 and onwards, meaning that the older

part of the population is not covered by the statistics. Secondly, the part of the work force that has achieved

an education without study grants, but has received salary during the education, such as policemen and

airplane mechanics, are only partly covered. Statistics Greenland has not been able to make adjustments to

the above statistics to cover these areas with estimates, and to come closer to a reliable number of the level

of education. The reported statistics does however give a reasonable picture of the development from year

to year in the level of education.

In addition the lack of adequate housing is a barrier to job insertion after finalised education. Geographical

mobility is slowed down due to the scarcity of housing both publicly owned and the private rentals. As a

result neither the Government of Greenland nor the municipalities can offer housing to their new employees.

Consequently job insertion after finalised education is delayed due to lack of accommodation reflected by the

indicator into a lower level of education than actual. In other words the indicator underestimates the level of

education of the Greenlandic work force.

Finally it should be noted that the definition of the Greenlandic work force differs from the international

standard used by OECD which defines the work force as persons in the age group from 25 years to

retirement age while the Greenlandic work force is defined as persons in the age group 15-62 years,

excluding those persons receiving study grants or social benefits, i.e. not available for the labour market.

Indicator 12a: Job insertion, number of graduates from formal education obtaining a job after

This indicator was introduced in the Annual Work Plan 2009 to the calculation of the variable tranche in the

2010.

Error correction in this report resembles the correction from Annual Implementation Report 2011. Please see

below, immediately after this follows the regular description for the indicator’s composition.

When working with the figures to report on the progress of this indicator, the Ministry of Education and

Research discovered that reporting on this particular indicator has been erroneous since the introduction in

2009. The tables provided for this indicator reports on The number of graduates from formal educations (in

2009) obtaining a job in 2010. The data provides a total – which is then divided in 4 categories; Employed,

Unemployed, Studying in GL/DK and Living abroad. The baseline and the first year of reporting used the

category Total, thus including all graduates from formal educations, not distinguishing between the 4

underlying categories. We have thus reported on the total figure which included unemployed graduates,

graduates doing further studies and graduates that have moved abroad. Please see the example inserted

below from the table of the calculation of the variable tranche.

Weight Baseline Target Result TA CT Indicator Number

0,1 679 701 758 3,59091 0,10000 Job insertion – OLD 12.a

0,1 399 460 441 0,68852 0,068852 Job insertion - NEW 12.a

Because the indicator has been reported erroneously the Ministry of Education and Research decided to

correct this error in order to portray the actual number of graduates obtaining a job. The lines inserted above

from the variable tranche 2011 calculation table above illustrates the difference. The Ministry of Education

and Research have set the new (and not approved) target for indicator 12.a as it would have been in lieu of

the indicators development. Reporting the correct figures for this indicator results in the fact, that the target

was not met, however the Ministry prefers to report correctly, rather than continue to report erroneously on

this indicator.

78

Indicator 12.a1 measures how many graduates obtain a job. The impact year, i.e. the year of obtaining a job,

is set as one year after graduation. The relation to the labour market is measured using the reporting of

salaries to The Tax Agency. A person is considered to be job inserted if the yearly wage is above 100.000

DKK (13.333 Euro). Study Grants are not counted as part of wages.

Seeing as the number of graduates continues to rise, the Ministry of Education and Research still foresees a

rise in the number of graduates obtaining a job. However there is not expected a rise in the number of

graduates obtaining a job relative to the total number of graduates, as it is predicted that more will continue

their studies after High School level and thus not enter into a job after graduation. Also there is a shortage of

jobs offered with housing which might also have an influence on whether a graduate continues studying or

obtains a job.

Table 30: Graduates obtaining a job (numbers), (Indicator 12.a1)

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Target

2011

Total 399 451 441 485

Of which VET 231 251 245 280

Of which high school 66 85 89 80

Of which higher

education (first cycle) 88 92 89 95

Of which higher education (second cycle)

14 23 18 30

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an outcome indicator. It enters the calculation of the variable with a weight of 10% in 2012.

Table 31: Graduates obtaining a job (in Greenland, based on tax records) relative to total graduates, (Indicator 12.a2)

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Target

2011

Total 59 % 63 % 58 % 61 %

Of which VET 79 % 81 % 74 % 87 %

Of which high school 30 % 36 % 38 % 29 %

Of which higher

education (first cycle) 79 % 80 % 74 % 77 %

Of which higher education (second cycle)

26 % 42 % 25 % 40 %

Source: Ministry of Education and Research calculated on the basis of figures for indicator 12a from Statistics Greenland.

Enterprise start-ups (indicator 13). Data received from Statistics Greenland concerning this indicator show

implausible values at aggregated as well as disaggregated level. The problem still seems to be the

registration in GER (Grønlands Erhvervs Register/Business Register of Greenland). GER still seems to

register genuine new enterprises as well as old enterprises that have registered for the first time. It is not

79

possible to divide between these two forms registrations and for this reason the reported statistic is a mixture

of new enterprises and old enterprises that enters the register for the first time. The share of old enterprises

that registers for the first time seems still to be of a great magnitude and for this reason no reporting will be

done in the Annual Work Plan 2012 or the Annual Implementation Report 2011 regarding this indicator.

However, Statistics Greenland and the Ministry of Education and Research continue to evaluate the quality

of the business register to see if improvement in the statistical data occurs.

GDP (indicator 14).

It should be noted that the national accounts of Greenland was revised back in time with the release of the

new time series in December 2011. The new data are based on the production account method in

accordance with the recommendations in EU’s statistical system ESA95.

Table 32: GDP (Indicator 14)

Result 2006

Result 2007

Result 2008

Result 2009

Result 2010

Result 2011

Target 2012

GDP per capita, Euro (indicator 14.1)

24.747 26.162 27.462 28.852 29.039 30.660 31.321

GDP per capita, indexed (indicator 14.2)

100,0 105,7 111,0 116,6 117,3 123,9 126,6

Note1): This is an impact indicator. Note2): Statistics Greenland expects to release finalized data for 2008 by the end of 2010.

Total external grants by origin (indicator 15).

Table 33: Total external grants by origin (Denmark and EU) (In Euro)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Result

2011

Expected

2011 % of 2010

Expected

2012

Total 528.483 544.375 557.753 575.501 601.794 605.936 594,105 0.3 521,141

From

DK 486.057 501.448 515.501 533.021 559.280 563.656 551,803 0.01 477,721

From

EU 42.426 42.927 42.251 42.479 42.514 42.280 42,302 0.3 43,420

Source: Statistics Greenland Note: This is an impact indicator.

Table 34: Total external grants in percentage of total public budget (indicator 15.2)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Total 52,6% 51,1% 50,4% 49,1% 48,2% 48,4%

From EU 4,2% 4,0% 3,8% 3,6% 3,4% 3,4%

From Denmark 48,4% 47,1% 46,6% 45,4% 44,8% 45,0%

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an impact indicator. Note: This indicator cannot be updated due to delays on data from Statistics Greenland. The figures for 2011 are expected finished by the end of November, which is too late to be included in this report.

80

Table 35: Total external grants by origin (Denmark and EU) 2005=100 (indicator 15.3)

Result

2005

Result

2006

Result

2007

Result

2008

Result

2009

Result

2010

Total 100 103 106 109 114 115

From EU 100 101 100 100 100 100

From Denmark 100 103 106 110 115 116

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an impact indicator. Note: This indicator cannot be updated due to delays on data from Statistics Greenland. The figures for 2011 are expected finished by the end of November, which is too late to be included in this report.

Employment (indicator 16):

Below is listed the indicators measuring aspects of employment (indicator 16). No targets are set in relation

to these indicators. It should be noted that the method of calculation has been changed between 2006 and

2007 by Statistics Greenland, making a comparison between these years difficult.

Table 36: Employment by sectors, numbers (indicator 16.1)

Result 2005

Result 2006

Result47

2007 Result 2008

Result 2009

Result 2010

Total 28,715 29,473 23,022 24,424 24,228 23,826

1. Agriculture, horticulture forestry 16 14 11 9 7 9

2. Fishing 1,404 1,442 1,121 1,301 1,203 1,192

3. Mining and quarrying 139 160 34 41 28 18

4. Mfr. Of food, beverages and tobacco 602 653 724 738 704 615

5. Mfr. of textiles 33 32 34 33 31 30

6. Mfr. of wood products, printing and publ. 99 99 86 91 84 63

7. Mfr. of chemicals and plastic products 4 5 5 2 3 3

8. Mfr. of other non-metallic mineral products 11 10 8 9 10 9

9. Mfr. of basic metals and fabr. metal prod. 117 126 70 74 68 67

10. Electricity and water supply 445 420 383 389 394 401

11. Construction 2,864 2,904 1,770 1,952 1,950 1,823

12. Sale and rep. Of motor vehicles, sales of auto 228 243 213 203 212 211

13. Wholesale except of motor vehicles 1,793 1,933 2,717 3,202 2,822 2,672

14. Re. trade and repair work ex. of motor vehicle 2,755 2,827 1,697 1,685 1,682 1,629

15. Hotels and restaurants 881 859 777 788 771 799

16. Transport 2,111 2,204 1,780 1,850 2,019 1,995

17. Post and telecom. 386 374 521 517 516 518

18. Finance and insurance 161 166 262 223 125 124

19. Letting/sale of real estate 383 386 302 460 409 375

20. Business activities 786 895 632 748 785 818

21. Public administration 12,888 13,064 9,043 9,406 9,699 9,729

22. Education 44 50 67 74 82 92

23. Human health act. 8 8 5 5 6 6

24. Social institutions 49 77 84 100 102 107

25. Associations, culture and refuse disposal 507 518 465 477 489 500

26. Activity not stated 3 3 212 39 28 24

47

New method of calculation the Employment by sector was put in use, thus the big difference in the figures.

81

Source: Statistics Greenland. Rounding to whole figures by Ministry of Education and Research

Note: This is an impact indicator.

Seeing as the method for calculating the figures for Indicator 16 keeps being changed by statistics

Greenland, it does make any sense comparing the figures in an index table, thus such a table is no longer

shown in this report.

Health (indicator 17). Experienced health achievements in the Greenlandic society are considered as a direct

result of those significant societal changes that has happened since beginning of the 20th century. Among the

changes that have had greatest influence (positively as well as negatively) on social and health status of the

Greenlandic population are the following48

:

• The transition from a traditional hunting based society to a modern society based on wage earning.

• Improvements in: housing conditions, refuse disposal and food security.

• Increased contacts with the rest of the world.

• Immigration of Europeans to Greenland implying increase of total population as well as higher

population concentrations.

• Changes in diet and physical activity.

• Increased access to alcohol and tobacco.

• Increased access to modern and effective health care.

• Change in the family pattern from 3 generations in one household to 2 generations.

• Improvements in the population’s general educational level.

Improvements in the public health status of the Greenland population status have therefore been dependent

on the relative combined impact of developments in mainly basic social and societal conditions. The

experiences from Greenland are therefore comparable to international evidence that mainly improvements in

population nutritional status, general housing conditions, increased education level, high employment level

and a high degree of social and economic equality constitutes the most important factors for improvements

in the population heath status. Education policy is to a large degree based on this evidence – including new

horizontal strategies (children & youth, regional development, general welfare)

In the past 30-40 years many of the life style factors related to modern life found in the developed world

populations are also found to have a significant impact in Greenland. These include an elevated level of

alcohol and tobacco consumption, limited physical activity and unhealthy diet habits causing cancer and

circulatory diseases. Greenland is therefore described as being subject to a double disease burden, i.e. with

disease burden components characteristic for a population in transition in addition to disease components

common for populations in developed countries.

A particular public health related issue in Greenland is the high rate of suicide, which is found to be among

the highest in the world. Suicides are mainly found among males in the age group 15–35 years and the

phenomenon is also found in many other indigenous populations in the Arctic area. Possible explanations for

the particular high suicide rates have been suggested49

but no exact reasons are identified for the high

suicide rate in Greenland. A national strategy for suicide prevention was launched in 200450

.

Though significant improvements has happened in this key public health indicator during the past 30-40 years IMR is found to be relatively high not only to developed countries but also compared to other Arctic populations. Main reasons for the experienced improvements are found to be general improvements in

48

From the National Plan on Public Health of the Greenlandic Population 2007-2012, cf. http://www.peqqik.gl/Home/Sundhed/~/media/7D18669C75BD44479F42825260AF8C22.ashx 49

Coping and adaptation issues related to life in a modern society including change in related sex roles are one of the hypotheses for the high suicide rate among young Greenlandic men. 50

See link to National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: http://www.peqqik.gl/Home/Sundhed/~/media/ADE5BBDBA37F4D1B9F5B555A75C8BFF3.ashx

82

general life conditions but also issues related to effectiveness and coverage in the health care sector are found to have an impact also for potential future improvements.

Life expectancy at birth (LEB) is still at a relatively low level compared to other developing countries but

comparable to other indigenous populations in the Arctic. Main reasons for the relative low life expectancy

are due to the high rates of violent deaths, including suicides, as well as the relatively high IMR. Accidents

and injuries are also causing a high toll of life years lost, in particular among men. Alcohol consumption in

combination with the specific climate conditions prevailing in Greenland provide risk factors where accidents

often can have fatal consequences, e.g. at sea. Suicides and other violent deaths (including alcohol related

accidents and injuries) are therefore main reasons for the difference in life expectancy on app. 5 years

between Greenlandic men and women. LEB has increased steadily from 2005 to 2008, by 1.1 years for men

and by 0.7 year for women. This aggregate indicator therefore verifies overall progress in health status of the

Greenlandic population.

Below is listed the indicators measuring various aspects of Greenland public health. No targets are set in

relation to these indicators. It should be taken into consideration that the absolute magnitude of data behind

many of the statistics below is small. This means that small changes in the absolute data can result in large

changes in the relative aggregate data.

Statistics about health are summarized in tables 45-50 below.

Table 37: Life expectancy at birth (Indicator 17.1)

Result

2001/2005 Result

2002/2006 Result

2003/2007 Result

2004/2008 Result

2005/2009 Result

2006/2010

Male 65.9 66.1 66.7 67.1 67.9 67.8

Female 71.2 71.7 71.9 72.1 72.2 72.8

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an impact indicator. Note: Five year average

Table 38: Birth rate- born per 1000 (indicator 17.2)

Result 2005

Result 2006

Result 2007

Result 2008

Result 2009

Result 2010

Male 8.0 7.3 7.9 7.8 8.4 8.0

Female 7.6 7.6 7.2 7.0 7.5 7.4

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an impact indicator.

Table 39: Number of children per household (indicator 17.3)

Result 2005

Result 2006

Result 2007

Result 2008

Result 2009

Result 2010

Result 2011

Male 0.38 0.38 0.38 0.37 0.35 0.34 0.34

Female 0.37 0.37 0.37 0.36 0.34 0.33 0.32

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an impact indicator.

Table 40: Infant mortality, per 1,000 children born (indicator 17.4)

Result 2005

Result 2006

Result 2007

Result 2008

Result 2009

Result 2010

Total 15.7 16.9 14.0 20.3 15.6 11.5

Source: Statistics Greenland Note: This is an impact indicator

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Table 41: Rate of suicide, per 1,000 inhabitants (indicator 17.5)

Age 0-14 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+ Total

2005

Male 0,18 2,98 1,23 1,58 0,53 0,18 6,67

Female 0,18 0,53 0,53 0,18 0,18 0,35 1,93

2006

Male 0,18 2,28 1,41 1,58 1,05 0,53 7,03

Female 0,00 1,41 0,18 1,05 0,18 0,35 3,16

2007

Male 0,18 2,12 0,53 0,88 0,71 0,35 4,77

Female 0,35 1,24 0,00 0,18 0,35 0,00 2,12

2008

Male 0,18 2,13 1,59 0,71 0,35 0,35 5,31

Female 0,18 0,53 0,00 0,00 0,35 0,00 1,06

2009

Male 0,00 1,78 1,60 0,89 0,71 0,53 5,52

Female 0,53 0,36 0,18 0,18 0,36 0,00 1,60

2010

Male 0,00 3,01 1,24 1,42 1,24 0,18 7,09

Female 0,18 1,77 0,35 0,71 0,71 0,35 4,07

Source: Statistics Greenland. It should be noted that the figures vary from previous years, because the National Health Office have reported in a new form to Statistics Greenland this year. Statistics Greenland report the figures on to Government of Greenland and does not change them to fit previous years reporting form. Note: This is an impact indicator.

Table 42: Main diseases reported (Indicator 17.6)

Result 2006

Result 2007

Result 2008

Result 2009

Result 2010

Hepatitis 6 0 0 4 …

Tuberculosis 73 60 62 63 116

HIV positive 5 3 1 4 3

AIDS 2 0 1 0 …

Syphilis - 2 1 0 0

Source: Statistics Greenland. Note: This is an impact indicator.