📋 Tender Overview
A broad majority significantly reduces the management of public schools in favour of more local freedom. At the same time, the agreement involves massive investments in specialist rooms and books. It should contribute to better teaching with a smaller screen.
The primary and lower secondary schools are given more freedom, so that the most important thing comes into focus – the students' professional development and formation.
This is the basic idea of the Agreement on the quality programme of primary and lower secondary schools - freedom and immersion - which the Folkeskole conciliation circle (the Social Democrats, the Liberal Party, the Moderates, the Liberal Alliance, the Conservative People's Party, the Radical Liberal Party and the Danish People's Party) has agreed on.
With the agreement, which consists of a total of 33 initiatives, DKK 740 million will be prioritised annually to strengthen primary and lower secondary schools. In addition, there are a number of one-off investments, such as a boost of DKK 540 million for more physical books as a counterweight to screen-based teaching. In addition, DKK 2.6 billion will be invested in more classrooms to ensure, among other things, physical settings that support more varied teaching.
Freedom, immersion and quality
The agreement reduces the central control of primary and lower secondary schools, so that fewer decisions are made at Christiansborg and more can be made locally.
For example, it will be a local decision whether the school day should be shorter. Supportive teaching, which was introduced with the 2014 reform of the Folkeskole, will be abolished and replaced by the school's timebank, which can be used locally to raise the quality – for example in the form of teaching with two teachers, pedagogues in primary school, camp schools or strengthened norms in the after-school care.
In addition, the school's timebank allocates DKK 500 million annually to a strengthened effort in Danish and mathematics for the approximately 10 percent academically most challenged students. The schools themselves can decide whether the interventions should take place in class or in small teams.
The radical renewal and slimming down of the current curricula of primary and lower secondary schools, which today consist of more than 4,000 binding and indicative targets, has already begun. During a transitional period – until the new curricula enter into force – the constraints will be further relaxed. This means that an additional 866 targets will be removed, leaving only 215 binding. This will ensure that teachers quickly have more freedom in teaching.
As something new, schools will also have the freedom to decide to give grades from the 6th grade if you wish to do so at the school. The RV does not support the initiative, but does not block the planned entry into force of the initiative. The Folkeskole settlement continues as adjusted with this agreement and with the same circle of conciliation.
Freedom of choice and more practical teaching
While the youngest students get a shorter school day, the older students get more freedom of choice to influence their own schedule. With the agreement, the oldest students get twice as many elective hours in the form of an extra practical/musical elective in 8th and 9th grade and more elective hours. One of the new electives will be a completely new course on technology understanding.
All students in 8th and 9th grade also have the opportunity to choose to become a junior apprenticeship, where they get the opportunity to spend 1-2 days at a company, vocational training, FGU institution or municipal youth school. For the remaining 3-4 days, the pupils are taught a reduced range of subjects in primary school, which as a minimum includes Danish and mathematics, and a final exam is made, which is intended to give access to vocational education.
Finally, the conciliation circle wants to make work experience compulsory for all pupils.
Tranquility and surroundings
The agreement also gives the teaching staff a better opportunity to strengthen their competencies, for example in special education and classroom management, so that they are better equipped to help students with special needs. Among other things, it will contribute to meeting the challenges that many schools experience with unrest in the classes.
Minister for Children and Education Mattias Tesfaye says:
The government wants an academically strong primary school with calm in class, less screen and more local freedom of choice. That is why, in the autumn, we presented a large number of proposals. Now we have made a broad agreement that first and foremost transfers power from Christiansborg to local decision-making. In addition, students will experience more hours of practical electives. A significant investment in better classrooms. And more real books in the school bag. I am particularly looking forward to the new junior apprenticeship getting started. Here, the oldest students can choose to go to school for three days and spend two days at a company. Many of the initiatives in the agreement originate from discussions with the parties regarding primary and lower secondary schools, and the government will continue the close dialogue with teachers, pupils, school leaders and municipalities. Primary and lower secondary schools are best changed with close involvement.
Children and education spokesperson for the Social Democrats, Astrid Krag, says:
We must spend our time on the most important things in primary schools. The screens should take up less space. So now we are investing billions in better classrooms where teaching can be varied and more practical, and allocating funds for more textbooks. School pupils will have a better school schedule: the youngest pupils will have shorter school days and fewer different adults.
