SCHOOL REFORM

Denmark is one of the richest countries in the world, with probably the most developed welfare state. Can that be sustained in the future, as the combination of an ageing population, ferocious economic competition from (relatively) poorer countries, and the popularity of free schools increases? Yes, say Danish politicians (well they would, wouldn't they). Yet even they also say that it will only be possible if the next generation of Danes are more educated than both their ancestors and their international peers.

Which makes today's announcement of a major proposed reform of the "folkeskole" (the state school system from ages 7-16) both more interesting and more important. The key elements are, first and foremost, a much longer school day; the school week for a 7-year old will go up from 18.3 to 30 hours a week (an extra 60%+), that for a 16-year old from 28.4 to 37 hours a week, the same as the adult working week. The extra lessons will focus primarily on Danish and mathematics, and English will start in grade 1 (i.e. at the age of 7 or 8) instead of grade 3. More freetime activities such as sports, which today take place mainly out of school in clubs, will be brought within the school system in order to ensure that all children participate.

It's one thing to mandate more classtime, but someone has to provide it. Which means that we are shaping up for a massive fight between the teachers unions and the local authorities who pay for their services (schools in Denmark being run locally). For some time, politicians of all stripes have felt that teachers get too cushy a deal, with too little classroom teaching and too much administration and courses; and that this is an issue that needs to be tackled head on, once and for all. Perhaps emboldened by what they have seen take place in SAS, they have decided that now is the time to take on the teachers. Watch this space!

Walter Blotscher