medborger_i_danmark_engelsk.pdf - Ny i Danmark

The school providesbasic knowledgePupils learn activeparticipation and jointresponsibilityPupils’ councilsare heardNo marks before8th gradeThe municipal primary and lowersecondary schools give pupils basicknowledge in maths, languages, socialstudies and science. The school also aimsto familiarise them with Danish cultureand give them an understanding of othercultures.Other goals of the primary and lowersecondary school system include furtheringthe personal development of thechildren and stimulating their imaginationand urge to learn.The school must prepare the children forlife in a society based on freedom, equalityand democracy.This is achieved by givingthem influence and responsibility and byteaching them about rights and obligations.The pupils learn to express their ownopinions.They may set up a pupils’ council,which is consulted when importantdecisions are made at the school.In the first years of primary school, thepupils’ work is evaluated in oralconsultations between the teachers andthe parents. There are no actual grading,testing or examinations until they reach8th grade.Private independent schools atprimary and lower secondary levelParents may opt for another kind ofschooling than that provided by the publicThe aims of the Danish primary and lowersecondary school system (Folkeskolen)The Danish primary and lower secondary school system is based on the“Act on the Folkeskole”.This Act states the following objectives for Danishprimary and lower secondary education:“1. (1) The Folkeskole shall – in cooperation with the parents – further thepupils’ acquisition of knowledge, skills, working methods and ways ofexpressing themselves and thus contribute to the all-round personal developmentof the individual pupil.(2) The Folkeskole shall endeavour to create such opportunities for experience,industry and absorption that the pupils develop awareness, imaginationand an urge to learn, so that they acquire confidence in their own possibilitiesand a background for forming independent judgments and for takingpersonal action.(3) The Folkeskole shall familiarise the pupils with Danish culture and contributeto their understanding of other cultures and of man’s interactionwith nature.The school shall prepare the pupils for active participation,joint responsibility, rights and duties in a society based on freedom anddemocracy.The teaching of the school and its daily life must therefore buildon intellectual freedom, equality and democracy”.