Day 1 Denmark
We visited school today in Sonderborg in the southern part of Denmark. This is the Jutland area of Denmark and is very close to Germany. We went this morning to Nybol Borneunivers which was a primary school with 130 pupils and it had children from the ages of kindergarten up to year 6 which was 12 years of age.
We were warmly greeted by Tine, the Principal and Lene one of the teachers. They showed us around the school and it was an amazing day full of little surprises at every corner. We got to meet the children at different levels and we got to spend time with some of the staff but the most amazing things were the kinds of resources that they had.
What we really noticed in all the classrooms were the different types of seating and places for the children. In our Irish schools we do tend to keep most children seated on the classroom chairs but there were different types of chairs here. There were different cushions for the kids, there were little mats/mattresses on floors, there was a little corner in one classroom called the nest where children could go down to and sit and there was also a felt divider that the children could stand up around them so that they wouldn't be distracted by other children. There were also foot swings so the children could put their feet on a swing underneath their table. There were different stands under the tables that they could put their feet on and generally we did see that there was a lot of arrangements made for children who might find it difficult to sit down.
The school was focusing on reading for this week so today they were doing reading in pairs so first of all they went off and they read and there was a great sense of quiet and respect for reading and respect for the teacher. It was lovely to see and then they had to go back and do a little review of their books. They don’t do cursive writing! On Thursday the students are doing a Book Marathon and the senior classes stay in overnight reading! This was certainly something we hadn't heard of before! Their teachers stay with them and on Friday morning they go home for a day off!
The staff showed us their new library where they have lots of books in store and they have many spaces where children can read. We got to see all the different specialized subject rooms. Their curriculum focuses on soft materials and hard materials so the soft materials were in the sewing room. They then brought us to the woodwork room which is something that Years 4, 5 & 6 do. This was incredible to see. Also all of the children in the school learn German so they learn German from the age of five and they learn English when they are age 6 or 7. Their levels of German are apparently are very good and their English levels were very good as well.
From speaking with the Principal there is a lot of money spent on education in Denmark and you can very clearly see that from the different materials, resources, spaces and places that they have.
The next school that we went to visit then was Dybbol Skolen which was a bigger school with about 840 pupils and it has a 65 teachers. It also has pupils from grade 1 up which is 7 years of age right up to grade 9 which is like third year in secondary school.
Interestingly enough the children are allowed to use phones in both schools - in in the first school we went to see they're allowed to have their phones so that they use them for different parts of the curriculum but at all other times the phones are in their bags and they don't take them out.
In the second school we met Michael Jacobsen, the Principal, who treated us to a traditional smørrebrød, which is basically an open-faced sandwich and is a beloved part of Danish cuisine.The sandwich consisted of a base of rugbrød (rye bread), the main component shrimp, and garnished with a salad. Simply delicious and such fresh produce!
Michael told us about the general area of Sonderborg which is in the municipality of Sonderborg with about 780,000 people. The schools have to put up different statistics every year so they have to put up about their attendance, their scores on their assessments for years 8 and 9 (which are equivalent to our 2nd and 3rd year secondary school students) and they have to assess the children in how happy and contented they are. This is public knowledge and can determine how parents choose schools. We went in to a Year 9 group who were learning English and we sat in their class and listened to the teacher teaching English. The children asked us some questions so we got to talk to them and we also had a meeting with two other teachers at the end of the day just about any other questions that we had. We visited their beautiful new library which is probably a similar size to the children’s section of Wexford library. It is an amazing resource.
All round there's a lot of organization, a lot of color coding in the schools and all children have a little box for their hats, personal items etc and even lockers. All children must bring in a laptop and there are a few spare for those who can’t afford to do so. Like all other schools we have been to on the continent, the children don't wear uniforms. The parents don't pay anything for schooling.
A big focus for them here in Denmark is the outdoor life so during Covid the first school built a huge place that the children could use for outdoor classroom work and from March every year until June they do a lot of work in the forest. The houses that surround the schools use all the facilities of the school at weekends and after hours. There's a lot of trust in the Danish spirit. We spoke about insurance concerns and possible litigation but they said that there's a great trust and there is a link with the police and the community but generally there is very little trouble.
Another huge focus is on cycling so the teachers bring the children out every week on their bikes. If they can cycle they must wear a helmet and if not the little kids go into a trailer on the back of their bikes and they go out for lessons and for exercises. Also, if a parent is having a party one of the teachers can cycle the children in the little trailer down to the house so that they can all be at the house which we thought was a lovely idea. Every year the children in Year 1 do a cycling course where they get a qualification.
This was a very interesting day where we learned lots, saw lots and drew up wish lists in our heads to bring home! The only thing that we need to back all of these ideas up is one simple thing called money!
Here is a video of the photos from the first day of our Erasmus trip! CLICK HERE for video!
You can join us again tomorrow to see Day 2! Tak (Danish for Thank You!)
Audrey, Deirdre and Edyta