Early childhood teachers (social educators)
Training of social educators (pedagogues) for nurseries, kindergartens and the pre-school class is provided by University Colleges. A professional bachelor’s degree is awarded after 3 ½ years of study (210 ECTS) including practical training periods amounting to 75 ECTS.
Primary and lower secondary school teachers
Training of teachers for the Folkeskole is provided by University Colleges. A professional bachelor’s degree is awarded after 4 years of study (240 ECTS credits) including teaching practice at a school for a total of 30 ECTS credits.
General upper secondary school teachers
In order to obtain permanent appointment, teachers in general upper secondary education are required to have a Master's degree, normally in two subjects (major and minor) and to have completed a 1-year (60 ECTS) supplementary course, "pædagogikum", which includes educational theory and in-service teaching practice.
Teaching specialised subjects in the HHX and HTX programmes is possible without holding a Master's degree if the teacher has completed at least 3½ years of higher education at an engineering college, a business school or a university followed by professionally qualifying employment and/or further education. In each subject, the HHX/HTX teacher must have a professional level at least corresponding to 90 ECTS credits of university education.
Vocational education and training (VET) teachers
Teachers who are to teach general subjects must have a level of education which, as a minimum, is comparable to a Folkeskole teaching qualification or a bachelor's degree. Furthermore, they must have a minimum of 2 years work experience, unless qualified teachers are not available.
Teachers who are to teach specialised subjects must have completed a VET programme in the relevant vocational field and normally hold further education in the same field, such as a short-cycle higher education technician's qualification. Furthermore, they must have a minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience.
Teachers who have not already taken a teacher training course must also, within 4 years after employment, acquire pedagogical qualifications at the level of a vocational teacher's diploma degree (60 ECTS). In addition, they must have (or acquire within 3 years of employment) qualifications at vocational upper secondary level including two subjects at the highest level from among the subject areas Danish, foreign languages, natural sciences, social sciences, business economics, marketing and information technology.
Higher education teachers
Teachers in higher education institutions are required to have a degree which as a minimum is equivalent to the level at which they are to teach. In addition, they must hold qualifications for teaching the subjects in question, which for example may be earned through research work, professional experience or foreign study periods.
At universities, all new researchers and lecturers complete a professional postgraduate teacher training course (universitetspædagogikum).
The academic qualifications of teaching staff must be updated and developed on an ongoing basis. This is a part of the quality assurance system for higher education institutions.