Become a cleaning technician

A cleaning technician keeps schools, hospitals, offices, food businesses and institutions clean, hygienic and safe to spend time in. It is a trade with system to it: you measure up, draw up a cleaning plan, dose the chemicals correctly, work with colour-coded equipment to avoid moving bacteria around — and the quality can be checked against a common Nordic standard.

Because cleaning always has to be done — and because the trade has become a profession. Today cleaning is measured on the result via DS/INSTA 800, the chemistry is regulated by CLP and safety data sheets, and hygiene is about preventing the spread of infection. You get responsibility, independence and an educational path that builds on itself.

• 01Always in demand — every industry needs cleaning.
• 02Professional system — quality per DS/INSTA 800, chemicals per CLP/SDS.
• 03Hygiene that matters — you prevent infection and cross-contamination.
• 04Independent work — you plan and check your own effort.
• 05Career path — from cleaning technician towards service assistant and specialist tasks.

Cleaning technician is level 1 of the VET programme for service assistants (BEK no. 192/2026). For young people, the main programme on level 1 lasts 1 year with 12 school weeks, spread over at least two periods. If you take the programme as an adult through EUV, there are 11 school weeks. Level 1 gives access to level 2, where you choose hospital service or company service. Many start with short AMU courses in cleaning, which can give credit if you later take the programme.

On top of the 55 days come at least 1 week of electives. All subjects must be passed with at least 02 before you get your school certificate.

Level 1 ends with an exam in the last school period. You draw a practical cleaning task by lot, solve it and explain orally what you do and why. The exam lasts 30 minutes including deliberation. There is an examiner and an external examiner, and you get one grade. Everyone takes the exam, including those who continue to level 2. The training certificate is issued by the trade committee, not by the school.

The service assistant programme is an adult programme. Of the 625 who started in 2025, 577 were at least 25 years old, and 377 were 40 or older. Three out of four were women (468 of 625), and half were immigrants (313 of 625). Many have worked in cleaning for years before they take the programme.

Source of the table: Statistics Denmark, UDDAKT34, the programme «Service assistant programmes» (Serviceassistentuddannelser), retrieved 06-10-2026. Intake is counted only once per programme.

With a training agreement you get an apprentice wage from the company. The service collective agreement between 3F and DI sets the hourly wage and says that the student's normal working hours are at least 30 hours a week. If the company is open during school holidays, you must attend on weekdays.