ERASMUS EN HADERSLEV: SIXTH WEEK

Tuesday, 5/03 DANISH SCHOOL:

Today, we had an international class where two international students showed us how is the Danish school and Kindergarden. They explained us the basic values in the educational system:

aim: to play an active role in a globalised, knowledge-based society.
education for all
high standards
lifelong learning: upgrading the workforce
active participation

Then, they told us about the expectations of the Danish school system and all the erasmus together tried to find the solutions in this dealing with difficulties in the classroom:

There is a child who swears a lot in class and is verbally abusive to everyone, including the teachers. How would you deal with this issue?
There is a girl who is absent from school a lot of the time. When she comes to class, she is behind the other students and does not participate. How would you deal with this?
There is a class where two boys bully their classmates so much, that none of the pupils want to answer any questions in class. How would you deal with this problem?

In the end of the session, we worked in groups of countries to do a "teaching sequence" about the culture of our country. We came up with one activity that wich all the children will work in groups and will make a final presentation about differents topics in Spain (culture, food, films, art, traditions...):

Wednesday, 6/03 SPECIAL NEEDS:

We started making a short PRESENTATION, but introducing our partners, so we had to present the person that we are interviewing. We told about:

- Name

- Country

- Your motivation for choosing this course

- What are you good at?

- What are your expectations to this course?

Then, we talked about the CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD. This Convention is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights-civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.

In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention just for them because people under 18 years old often need special care and protection that adults do not.

The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognized that children have human rights too.

The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have:

the right to survival
to develop to the fullest
to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation
and to participe fully in family, cultural and social life.

The four core principles of the Convention:

are non-discrimination
devotion to the best interests of the child
the right to life, survival and development
and respect for the views of the child. Every right spelled out in the Convention is inherent to the human dignity and harmonious development of every child. The Convention protects children's rights by setting standards in health care, education, and legal, civil and social services.

In SALAMANCA STATEMENT believe and pro claim that:

every child has a fundamental right to education, and must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning.
every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs.
education systems should be designed and educational programmes, implemented to take into account the wide diversity of these characteristics and needs.
those with special educational needs must have access to regular schools which should accommodate them within a childcentred pedagogy capable of meeting these needs

INCLUSION - WHAT IS IT?

Inclusion is concerned with all children and young people in schools, it is focused on presence, participation and schievement. Inclusion and exclusion are linked together so that inclusion involves the active combating of exclusion, and inclusion is seen as a never-ending process. Thus an inclusive school is one that is on the move, rather than one that reached a perfect state.

Thursday, 7/03 SCHOOL VGIE:

Today, we went to Vojens in order to know the VGIE school.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, Kim Hahn invited us to brunch and then, he explained us about his school:

Since 1814, Denmark has had compulsory education rather than compulsory schooling.

COMPULSORY SUBJECTS:

Danish: all Classes
English: Classes 4 to 9
Christian studies: all Classes
History: Classes 3 to 8.
Social studies: Class 9.
PE and sport: all Classes.
Music: Classes 1 to 6.
Art: classes 1 to 5.
Textile design, wood/metalwork and home economics: one or more of Classes 4 to 7.
Mathematics: all Classes.
Science: Classes 1 to 6.
Geography and biology: Classes 7 and 8
Physics/chemistry: Classes 7 to 9
Schools must offer instruction in German in Classes 7 to 9. The pupils may be offered instruction in French instead of German in Classes 7 to 9.

EFTERSKOLE: are private schools offering education specifically for the 8th to the 10th form. In addition to the compulsory subjects, a variety of activities ins sport, music, art, etc. are offered. Most of these schools are boarding schools, and they are very popular among young people.

THE DANISH EFTERSKOLE

Common educational purpose:

Each Efterskole is a self-governing independent institution and they all deal with both the educational and personal development of the students. They embrace a common educational focus on enlightenment for life, general education and democratic citizenship.

History:

The first "Efterskole" were founded about 150 years ago. The school were closely related to the Danish Folk High School and the educational ideas of N.F.S. Grundtvig (1789-1872) who wanted schools to provide enlightenment for life rather than formal vocational training.

Freedom of the Efterskole:

Compared to public schools the Efterskole has substantial freedom in terms of eg. choice of subjects, teaching methods and educational approach. These vary in accordance with the school's political, religious or pedagogical orientation.

Freedom of Efterskole is assured by substantial state subsidies to both schools and students.

Teacher-student relationship:

One of the things that are unique about the "Efterskole" is the teacher-student relationship. The teacher is responsible for both teaching and supervision outside of school hours. this means that teachers and students are together all day from the time the students wake up until they go to bed. This often engenders a close, personal and non-formal relationship between students and teachers.

Number of schools and students:

There are more than 260 "Efterskole"s spread across Denmark, mostly in rural areas or near provincials towns. At present approximately 28.500 students attend the schools. Schools vary in size from 25 to 500 students but must have a minimun of approx 100 students. The number of students has increased considerably within the last 25 years.

Reasons for attending an Efterskole:

a need to change to a new environment or to get a fresh start (Danish students often share the same teachers and classmates from form 1-9).
a wish to meet a new friends.
to improve the relationship with their parents.
an aspiration for personal development, improvement of selfconfidence.
a desire to come to a school with a certain political, religious or educational orientation.
a need to improve skills and knowledge of basic subjects.
a wish to try those subjects and extracurricular recreational activities offered by the Efterskole or to devote more time and energy to certain subjects e.g. music, theatre, and physical education.
a need to mature and become able to make a more qualified choice concerning future life and educational direction.

Facts about VGIE:

was founded in 1939
The founding quote was: "To be stone that would fence our home Form evil that rise in the south"
The school should offer education for young people in the region
Boys in the winter and girls in the summer.
From 50 students to 171 students today
Changed name in 2006 to Vojens Gymnastik og Idraetsefterskole (Vojens Gymnastics and sports "efterskole").
171 students age 15-17
9th and 10th grade
Offers the academical subjects required by the state (Danish, math, physics, english, german, biology, etc)
7 majors sports: football (soccer) for boys and girls, team handball for boys and girls, badminton, rhytmical gymnastics and tumbling.
A variety of small subjects (home ec, wodwork, art, music, etc)
Internationalisation at VGIE
Want to get in contact with schools and clubs in Europe.
Goals: mmet young people from other countries, practice language skills, practice sport with them and visit schools in cities they visit.

Then, after this presentation about VGIE, we visited 10th graders in English, 4 English classes in groups of 7 and we talked with them something about ourselves, about the school and our country.

At 11:40 we did a tour of the school with pupils as guides: