Welcome to the technical and manintenace services sektor
In the welfare society, a good environment for the public services provided to citizens is important, and the framework in which services are delivered must work and be maintained at all times.
Technical service assistant: DKK 19,230
As at 1 April 2010. Local allowances may be added. The figures are therefore the basic pay rates for the category. Contact your local FOA branch for further details.
The broad array of jobs in technical and maintenance services naturally reflect their practical content. But when jobs in this sector must be performed optimally, manual skills should be accompanied by a good command of Danish and human insight.
Your work will be carried out in close contact with the people, children and adults, who are either users or staff at schools, hospitals and care centres every day.
Even though the key focus is currently on recruiting people for Danish care, nursing and cleaning jobs, you will also, as a foreign worker, have many opportunities to get work and take training in the public sector technical and maintenance services.
Property service technician, rescue service worker, security guard and bus driver
The technical and maintenance service sector is a big public sector area, in which employees carry out a multitude of service jobs in Danish society. The key responsibility is making the practical functions that underpin public services effective, for instance at schools, in public transport, in buildings and in the emergency services.
The people who work in this area drive buses, protect property and inspect and maintain buildings, etc. But even if the jobs are often of a practical nature they also involve a high degree of contact with the people who need these public services and cooperation with many other staff groups such as social educationists, teachers and service assistants.
The following paragraphs describe some of the many work areas in the technical and maintenance service sector for which you may take a formal qualification programme.
Training programme for property service technicians
Property service technicians are multi-skills people who carry out many complex tasks across conventional trade demarcations. Typical workplaces are schools, town halls, libraries, nursing homes, sports halls and swim baths.
There are three tracks for qualifying as a property service technician:
Below 25 years – post-secondary training programme (youth vocational programme)
The youth vocational programme lasts three years and three months and you will be able to ’hop off’ on the way and take a job as a property service help.
The programme alternates between theory and practice as follows:
• 45 weeks of schooling, including the basic course
• 118 weeks of hands-on training at the workplace
Adult vocational programme
If you have relevant job experience you may carry through an adult vocational programme in a much shorter period of time. The credits you will receive for your formal and practical quali¬fications will be determined through a competence identifying course of up to two weeks’ duration.
Basic Adult Training Programme (GVU)
If you have had a job in the area for at least two years and are more than 25 years old, you may carry through a GVU programme in cooperation with an accredited vocational college that will consider with you how your programme should be structured, ensuring that it will match your job history. If you do not receive pay from your employer while you carry through the programme, you will have the right to the VEU allowance (Adult Training Allowance), which is equal to the unemployment benefit rate.
Rescue service programmes
In the technical and maintenance service area you may also take training for rescue service work, to get qualified for some of the many functions required in rescue services.
You may qualify at three levels: as an ambulance assistant, ambulance care provider and paramedic.
Ambulance assistant
The programme duration is about 2½ years. It alternates between school and practical training, with 41 weeks being formal education.
To start this training you must:
• have a training contract with a rescue service operator
• have had a category B driving licence for at least three years
• have completed the basic vocational training year for a skilled qualification or
• have completed another post-secondary programme of at least one year.
Continuing training to be an ambulance care providers
To start the programme to qualify as an ambulance care provider you must have worked at least 18 months as an ambulance assistant. It is a five week programme consisting of three weeks of theory and two weeks of practical hospital and ambulance training.
Continuing training to be a paramedic
To start the paramedic programme you must have worked at least 18 months as an ambulance care provider. Before you start the programme, you have to complete an eight week distance learning module and, next, you will be taking five weeks of practical training and five weeks of theoretical education, i.e. 10 weeks in all.
The security guard training programme
The security guard is a key person when it comes to making people feel secure. The guard will ensure that any threats to citizens’ life and welfare are averted, in private homes, in companies and in public institutions and buildings.
There are three tracks for training to be a security guard
• If you are below 25 years old you must take the 18 month post-secondary (youth training) programme.
• If you have turned 25 years and have gained job experience and/or taken training in the area you may follow a special track comprising school study and practical training.
• If you have turned 25 years and have at least two years of job experience in the sector you may complete a basic adult training programme GVU.
Training to be a bus driver
The job as a bus driver requires a commercial driving licence for bus driving. If you do not meet this requirement, you may apply for a job with a bus or coach operator that will ensure that you get the lessons to pass the test for the driving licence.
Continuing training
People who work in the technical and maintenance service area may improve their qualifications through a wide offering of adult vocational (AMU) training programmes. These include targeted courses in the areas of cleaning, property service and security. Most of these programmes are free of charge to participants and if their employers do not pay their salary while they take a course, it is possible to receive the VEU allowance (adult continuing training allowance), which is equal to the unemployment benefit rate.
Continuing training to be a climate guide
Technical service workers and supervisors play a key role in monitoring the energy use of local authorities. Therefore, FOA has taken part in planning a pilot programme with the Adult Vocational Training Authority for the training of climate guides, i.e. people who are qualified to pinpoint areas in which their workplace can be more energy efficient.
If you are looking for a job in Denmark in these areas
- care of the elderly, sick and disabled
- children and young people
- catering and cleaning services
- technical and maintenance services
