2nd - An introduction to the Danish school system

On Monday afternoon we had a lesson with Torbjorn Ydedard (I am sorry, Torbjorn, I don´t have the strange special Danish letters on my keyboard to write your name correctly). The lesson was a part of the first-four-week module called "Comparative Studies" and Torbjorn introduced us to the Danish school system - its history, current constitution as well as the key ideas.

These are some main and interesting things that attracted me:

In Denmark "All children of school age shall be entitled to free instruction in primary schools."
It means that all children are invited to go to school for free, but still, if they parents want to educate them at home, thay can. (Anyway, they are examined then, of course.)
If they want their children to go to school, they have a free choice out of these:

• public schools (grade 0-9 / 10)

• private schools - grade 0-9 / 10

- "boarding schools (but not similar to English ones) 8 -10 grade

• private teaching
  

There is difference between private and public schools (="Folkeskolen").
Private schools are usually small and the teaching there is according to their own convictions. Therefore private school can differ according to their "beliefs" and ways of thinking and approaches. There can be muslim private schools, German schools (especially in South Jutland area which used to be a part of Germany for about 100 years before WWI) and a great variety of "alternative" schools... And parents have to pay 20% of the cost of the education at a private school.
However, there are some things, which both public and private schools have in common - so called "common goals" for each subject.

And some of the " key ideas" and characteristics of the education system in Denmark are:

• cross-curricular teaching
• cooperation of school and parents
• feedback to the parents - evaluations
• differentiated teaching according to individual needs of pupils
• teacher - pupil cooperation concerning individual- and class- goals
• equality between teacher and pupil
• children learn to be social
• focus on autonomy
• focus on pupils
• teachers often make self-made materials
• motto: "Have a courage to use our own understanding"

This is really interesting for me, because characteristics and ideas of the Danish school system is similar to Czech system called "framework educational programme" (=RVP). This programme has been being introduced to Czech primary and lower secondary schools since September 2007. The Czech programme is therefore in the beginnings (and maybe more in ideas, than in real practice since now, because its changing slowly). It´s why I was so curious about the Danish school system and I really want to see and experience it in practice.
And on Thursday our first visits of schools were to come...

PS: And I forgot - pupils address teachers always with their first names in Denmark!
(Equality and a freedom of speech are one of the most important things for the Danes, so maybe that´s why...) :-)