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Public schools shrink as reform starts second year

When school resumes on Monday, more and more students will file in to private schools instead of the public system, which is entering the second year of a historic reform programme.

Published: 7 August 2015 15:07 CEST
Public schools shrink as reform starts second year
Photo: Jonas Skovbjerg Fogh/Scanpix
The percentage of Danish students enrolled in the public school system fell from 82 percent in 2008 to 78 percent in the 2014-15 school year, numbers from the Ministry of Education reveal. The number of students now attending private schools, meanwhile, has reached 16 percent. 
 
Many are seeing the decline in public school enrolment as a sign of frustration over last year’s school reform, described as the most comprehensive education reform in modern Danish history. The biggest changes to the public school system included the implementation of a longer school day, more hours in Danish and maths, and an increased focus on foreign languages. 
 
 
Another element is the concept of ‘inclusion’, which has seen a slight increase in the number of special-needs students who have been brought in to the public schools’ normal classes. The Ministry of Education said in a press release this week that the number of students in special classes has fallen by around 6,800 since the 2010-11 school year. 
 
For many parents, the reform has been a disappointment and still carries with it the bitter memories of a conflict over teachers’ working hours that resulted in some 67,000 teachers nationwide being locked out from their jobs for three weeks in April 2013. 
 
When classes resume on Monday, there will be 21 brand-new private schools nationwide, the largest number of new schools in several years. 
 
The chairman of the Danish Union of Teachers (Danmarks Lærerforening) said the new private schools are a direct result of the school reform. 
 
“These are schools that are opening in protest,” Anders Bondo Christensen told Politiken. 
 
Kirsten Von Wildernradt is one of the parents who have opted to send their children to brand-new private schools rather than keeping them in the public system. 
 
“The framework after the public school reform has become too rigid. It is very stiff in comparison to the opportunities one has in a private school,” she told broadcaster DR. 
 
 
Von Wildernradt’s daughter will attend the new Marieskolen in Tønder, where the school’s associate leader said that the conflict surrounding the school reform still lingers. 
 
“There are a lot of things that take the focus away [in public schools, ed.], including the new school reform and the lockout. It has unfortunately taken the focus away from the things that the public school system can do,” Birgitte Klippert told DR. 
 
Christensen from the teachers’ union warned that Denmark is quickly approaching the “pain threshold” when it comes to the number of students who are choosing private schools over the public system. 
 
“If the resourceful residents turn away from the public schools, there is no one left to carry them,” he told Politiken. 

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SCHOOL

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Published: 12 March 2021 17:12 CET
Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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