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EDUCATION

Denmark spends most on education: OECD

A new OECD report reveals that Denmark has maintained its position as the country that invests the most in education but unemployment rates for academics have doubled in recent years and teachers spend less time in the classroom than most other countries.

The 'Education at a Glance 2014' report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has revealed that although Denmark continues to spend more on education than other countries, national unemployment rates are up across all education levels. 
 
Denmark is the OECD country that spent the largest share of its wealth on education. With 7.9 percent of its GDP in 2011 spent on public and private institutions at all levels of education, Denmark was the top investor in education. Iceland (7.7 percent) and South Korea (7.6 percent) closely followed. Denmark also topped all OECD countries in education spending in 2010.
 
The report, released on Tuesday, also found that Danish teachers earn higher salaries than the OECD average despite spending less time teaching. 
 
Teachers’ starting salaries are between $42,200-$45,500, which is up to 50 percent higher than the OECD average. Meanwhile, Danish teachers spend considerably less time in front of their pupils.
 
“Teachers in Denmark spend less time teaching than those in most OECD countries. In 2012, the number of teaching hours per year for Danish teachers in public institutions was markedly lower than the average across OECD countries especially at the upper secondary level of education,” the report read. 
 
When compared to the OECD average, Danish teachers spend 123 fewer hours teaching at the primary education level, 35 fewer hours in lower secondary education and 286 fewer hours in upper secondary education. 
 
Denmark also saw unemployment rates increase significantly between 2008-2012 for adults across all education levels. 
 
In those four years, Denmark went from fifth to 22nd in unemployment rate for adults with a below upper secondary education level, from third to 19th for those with an upper secondary education level, and from sixth to 14th for those with a tertiary education. 
 
Despite the across-the-board increases, the unemployment rates were still lower than the OECD average. 
 
Unemployment rates for young academics in Denmark outpace those of its Nordic neighbours. 
 
“Among the younger generation, the unemployment rate of 24-35 year-old Danish tertiary graduates reached 7.7 percent in 2012, which was higher than that of their Swedish (5.4 percent), Finnish (4.5 percent) and Norwegian (2.6 percent) counterparts,” the report read.

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EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

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