Our first outing in Copenhagen is to the Technical Education Copenhagen, who educate 4000 upper secondary school students taking the more vocational track. Students in Copenhagen have a choice at age 16 of following a more academic stream at gymnasium or move on to a technical HTX school which incorporates academic threads with more vocational subjects. Unfortunately we will not get to see any of the other types of schools, HHX or HF.
We visited an electrical class here and when speaking to the students they enjoy the hands on approach to education compared to a gymnasium. Students study Danish, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Science but then take on an electrical based subject. Students in this class are happy to be in the front of the queue when it comes to applying for a job with their extra skills but can also choose to head into higher education with the HTX examination.
Looking around they are doing maths related to electrical learning and the classroom is split into a practical area where I assume they have been installing power points and tables and chairs for more theory based learning. Each classroom also has a section for quiet study and in this room beanbags had been placed in the corner for this.
The students we spoke to had only been in classes for a short time as they spent the start of the school year on Innovation Camp, learning to “nut crack” as one student called it. The camp focuses on problem solving and students getting to know each other and happens at the beginning of each school year. Benny, our guide at the school believes their is a great focus on innovation at his school, but seeing innovation as improving the workplace rather than inventions.
Our afternoon visit was to the Landsorgansatonen (LO), an umbrella organisation for 17 trade unions including metal workers, retail, construction and low level public sector workers such as teachers and nurses. 75% of all Danish employees are organised in a trade union where they have a long tradition of collective bargaining, compared to around 20% in Australia.
It was one union’s (Danish Teacher’s Union) stand off with the Local Authorities Association (KL) that led to a 4 week lock out of students and teachers from schools. The dispute started when the union did not want to sign on to an increase of working hours from 25 contact hours (from a total of 36) to allowing head teachers decide how many hours teachers receive for preparation as well as some other changes to the ‘Danish Model.’ In response the KL closed the doors to schools and half a million students for 4 weeks when teachers went back to the forced agreement.
In talking to students and locals, their main response was in support of teachers, although this Guardian article talks about a shift in parents thinking of schools as a babysitting service. There was obviously a lot of publicity and talk of the lock out in Denmark with the effect on parents and students. Cheryl, one of my colleagues introduced me to this video clip on You Tube made by three local teachers, although in Danish you can hear the message as they sing “fucked up, shit conflict.”