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EDUCATION

Half of parents approve new school reform

Although many parents approve of the changes in their children's school, more than one fifth say that the reform has had negative consequences.

Half of parents approve new school reform
Students at Gasværksvejens Skole in Copenhagen's Vesterbro district. Photo: Thomas Lekfeldt/Scanpix
With their children now having been back in school for a month, doubts about the largest school reform in modern Danish history have begun to subside. 
 
In the first opinion poll conducted since the school year began, nearly half of all parents with children in public schools are pleased with what they have seen thus far. 
 
Of the parental respondents, 47 percent thought that the changes brought on by the school reform were either ‘good’ or ‘very good’ for their children. Twenty-one percent said the changes were ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’, while 26 percent thought that the changes have made no difference either way. 
 
 
The education minister, Christine Antorini, welcomed the poll results and predicted that even more parents would give the reform passing marks as the school year progresses.
 
“This is a really big reform and there will certainly be some mistakes here and there and things that will have to be done differently. Therefore we need to give the schools some peace and quiet to carefully find their legs,” she told DR. 
 
“Hopefully a majority of parents will come on board when they can see that the reform is something that both makes their children both better and happier to go to school,” she added. 
 
The biggest and most obvious element of the national school reform is the introduction of longer days, but the reform also includes the introduction of ‘homework cafes’, where students can get help with their assignments during school hours, compulsory physical activity and an stronger focus on foreign languages. 

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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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