The education systems in Denmark and in Finland rank among the best in the world. The Finnish school system is organized in a very decentralized way. The main responsibility of management and control of the schools is given to the Municipalities. The Ministry of Education is charged of the school statistics, of the evaluation of the system and of the international representation. The National Curriculum is just a hint.
Compulsory education begins at seven; it is organized in a unique structure and ends at 16. Secondary education lasts 3 years and includes two addresses:
- General for the progress in studying, among which the general cultural school;
- Professional for the inclusion in the working wold, to be attended in working-school attendance.
The 10% of best graduates with Graduation of 2nd level in all the university addresses is recruited for teaching and benefits of a starting pedagogical training and in-service training.Denmark’s education system includes both public and private schools. Around 15% of students in basic school attend private schools. The public education system is free from primary to higher education. Although compulsory education is only up to 16 years of age, more than 80% of students go on to study in the following education levels.Education is divided into the following levels: preschool (grade 0 – age 6), primary education (grade 1- 6 age 7-13), secondary education which includes lower and upper secondary school (grade 7 – 12 age 14-19), and higher education. Neither kindergarten nor day-care is mandatory in Denmark, but preschool is.Attending 10th Grade is optional but it can be recommended by the school. Students use this year as an opportunity to improve their grades or to decide on their next course of studies. Most students do attend this grade level. Once children complete folkeskole, they can continue their education at the upper secondary level. This school level typically corresponds to ages 16 to 19 and is not mandatory. However, to access university, they should complete these years of education. Students can choose from two types of programs exactly like Finnish students.
Denmark has been branded a “test case” country in its response to the COVID-19 crisis. Its swift response earned it this status, having implemented a widespread lockdown and closed its borders early in crisis. Actually, Denmark closed its schools on 16th March. As these measures quickly paid on, Denmark was one of the first European states to announce the gradual and controlled easing of restrictions. Relatively spared from the COVID-19 pandemic, Denmark began easing restrictions gradually and carefully on April 15th with pre-schools and elementary schools welcoming back young Danish children. On May 18th, the scheduled reopening of middle and high schools began. Danish elementary schools have become the first in Europe to reopen after the shutting down for the coronavirus.The reopening of schools has seen classes split in two or three groups to keep two metres between each child, with each new grouping given its own room and designated teacher, more lessons taught outside and a rigorous hand-sanitising regime and it has not led to a spike in cases among staff. In order to stop the spread of infection, parents were not allowed inside. Teachers could not gather in the staff room. The school floors have been covered with new markings, showing pupils how far apart they have to stand.
Hand washing has become a part of the school routine — the first stop for all pupils at the start of every day, and then on the hour thereafter. Tea ladies have the new task of touring the school with disinfectant, cleaning each door handle at least twice during school hours and Disinfect contact surfaces like sinks, toilet seats, and door handles twice daily. The libraries have been closed. Teachers aim to do as much teaching as possible outdoors. Instead of arriving through a single entrance, pupils must enter through several side doors, depending on the location of their classroom.Elsewhere in Denmark, these concerns led some parents to create Facebook groups protesting the reopening of schools, fearing their children were being sacrificed to save the Danish economy. Different attitude in Finland. During lockdown period, pre-primary education and grades1-3 continued for the children of parents working in sectors critical to the functioning of society, as well as for children with special needs from pre-primary to upper secondary education. Early Childhood Education and Care was provided for all children, whose parents were unable to arrange their care at home. For all other students, Due to the corona outbreak, school premises were closed and education was provided remotely as distance learning. The starting point in the arrangements is to aim at deviating from normal operation as little as possible.
Moreover, while most of Finnish schoolchildren were studying at home under coronavirus restrictions, schools were still offering pupils free meals, a practice seen for decades as a cornerstone of the Finnish egalitarian society. Actually pupils were interrupting their home study to go to school for a free hot meal. Schools were closed for all pupils aged 10 or older while under law, they had to remain open for younger pupils, even though they were strongly advised to stay home. Finland is the first country in the world to introduce free school lunches for all pupils in 1948 in order to make sure all children are well nourished and that is widely seen as having helped Finnish education system achieve some of the world’s highest scores in PISA rankings. Social distancing restrictions were in effect for the school meals and a maximum of 10 children ate at the same time. The Government decided to gradually lift the restrictions on education on the basis of an assessment by the health authorities at the end of April regarding early childhood education and care as well as primary and lower secondary education, and subsequently on 6th May regarding general upper secondary schools, vocational schools, higher education institutions and liberal education.
Contact teaching will resume in early childhood education and care as well as primary and lower secondary education on 14 May. General upper secondary schools, vocational schools, higher education institutions and liberal education might start to provide contact teaching on that date, although the Government recommended that they continue distance teaching until the end of the semester. Once the Decree on the Application of the Emergency Powers Act is no longer effective, education providers could not organise teaching in the form of distance teaching. Local authorities themselves could not decide to close schools, nor could local authorities decide to organise teaching only in the form of distance teaching. The right to basic education is a subjective right laid down in the Constitution and belongs equally to everyone.
Clara Peruzzi, laureata cum laude in Lingue e letterature straniere presso l’Università degli Studi di Bari, Dirigente Scolastico presso il Secondo Circolo Didattico San Giovanni Bosco di Terlizzi (BA) e ex-docente di lingua inglese di scuola superiore a tempo indeterminato da ventisei anni, con esperienza quadriennale di lavoro presso le Nazioni Unite a Vienna (IEAE), nonché traduttrice in lingua inglese, francese e tedesca presso il Tribunale di Trani, è docente formatrice delle insegnanti di scuola primaria di lingua inglese specializzata in didattica della lingua, formatrice per corsi per adulti e ragazzi con certificazioni CAMBRIDGE di vario livello e referente esami TRINITY. Negli anni ha curato vari volumi collettivi e ha pubblicato “The First English Book for Teachers and Headmasters 100%”, “The English Book for nursery and primary school teachers”, “L’inglese per i docenti di scuola primaria e dell’infanzia” e il videocorso “Let’s start learning English together- from 0 to B1”.