Comparability
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Population and education, Population statisticsAsger Bromose Langgaard
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There are statistics on folk high schools in Denmark dating back to 1901, but the statistics are in their present form comparable from 2005 to the present. However, the short courses, under 12 weeks, are only included from 2012. There is no common international standard for statistics on folk high schools, but similar statistics can be found for Norway and Sweden. There are other statistics on folk high schools in Denmark, but there may be differences between definitions (e.g. the school year) and calculation methods (e.g. calculation on the basis of grants or actual activity) which may mean that there is no direct comparability.
Comparability - geographical
Eurostat and OECD do not have statistics on folk high schools. Statistics Sweden has a statistic on Swedish folk high schools but uses different categories that are not directly comparable. Statistics Norway has a statistic on number of pupils which falls some where between full-time equivalents and Participants. Statistics Norway only has statistics on long courses and it is not known if they use the same definition of a long course.
Comparability over time
In general the comparability over time is high. The statistic can be compared to the statistic done by the Ministry of Education; however, this statistic is carried out for the purpose of calculation of the financial support to the folk high schools. Courses that last less than 12 weeks have only been collected since 2012, because of this there will be a large spike in the total number of participants from 2011 to 2012. Courses that last 12 weeks or more can followed back to 2005. Statistics on folk high schools can be traced back to 1902 with 1901 as the first year in which data is collected. However data before and after 2005 are not necessarily comparable due to methodological differences.
Coherence - cross domain
Participants at folk high school courses are published in the Statistics Denmark's register of adult education and continuing training. The same classifications of educations as in the ordinary education statistics (full time educations) is used and it is therefore possible to make comparisons across the two areas.
However, there are some differences between the specialised folk high school tables (with the exception of VEUHOJ15) and the table for the total adult and continuing education area. The school year is defined for the folk high schools as August 1 to July 31, as this reflects the working method of the folk high schools. In contrast, for the total adult and continuing education area (statbank table VEU20), the school year is defined as 1 July to 30 June, as this fits best with the many different course areas it contains. In the tables for folk high schools, (statbank tables VEUHOJ11 and VEUHOJ21), age is measured on 30 September, while the total adult and continuing education area measures the age of 1 January of the specified year.
New versions of the tables have been published in the statbank for folk high school students (statbank tables VEUHOJ 11 and VEUHOJ21). The new tables use a less detailed, but more correct, breakdown by institution type than the discontinued tables (the statbank tables VEUHOJ10 and VEUHOJ20). There is also a smaller revision of the figures in the new tables.
The Ministry of Education has on several occasions published statistics on full time equivalents of students at folk high schools. This is done on the basis of the grants paid to the folk high schools. Statistics Denmark compiles the activity based on the reported duration of the individual courses. This does not give the same amount of activity at the folk high schools. This is due to differences in the scope of activity realized and the amount of subsidy paid, and that the accruals for reporting are different.
Coherence - internal
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