Secondary education in Denmark (in
Danish:
ungdomsuddannelse, "youth education") usually takes two to four years and is attended by students between the ages of 15 and 20. Secondary education is not compulsory, but usually free of charge, and students have a wide range of programmes to choose from. Some education programmes are academically oriented, the most common being the
Gymnasium. Others are more practically oriented, training students for jobs as e.g.
artisans or
clerks through a combination of instruction in
vocational schools and
apprenticeship.