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Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Other Dimensions of Internationalisation in Early Childhood and School Education

Denmark

13.Mobility and Internationalisation

13.4Other Dimensions of Internationalisation in Early Childhood and School Education

Last update: 27 November 2023

European, global and intercultural dimension in curriculum development

Denmark has a long tradition for including international topics in various learning environments. This is partly due to the size and location of Denmark, which has contributed to an international orientation in the Danish society. The international focus and the international collaborations increase the knowledge of best practices in ECEC and school education, which strengthens the educational institutions.

Since 2004, all ECEC settings have had to compose an educational curriculum that consists of six different themes. The theme called culture, aesthetics and community revolves around the understanding of different cultures, norms and traditions and thus relates to internationalisation.

The Consolidation Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Education states that the schools should provide the pupils with a greater understanding of other countries and cultures. The pupils receive English teaching from year one. When the pupils reach year five they can choose between the subjects French or German.

The Act on Vocational Education and Training and the Law on General Secondary Education state that the educational programmes should provide the students with a greater understanding of the European and global perspective.

Partnerships and networks

Nordplus horizontal

Nordplus Horizontal is a part of the Nordic Council of Ministers' programme for education. The purpose of the programme is to strengthen the cooperation across the traditional educational sectors. This is done to strengthen the synergy between different educational sectors and to support projects that employ other, new, wider and more complex problems and challenges.

The target groups for Nordplus Horizontal are educational institutions, organisations and other participants that work with education and lifelong learning.

The programme supports project and network activities, which are transverse and innovative in a number of areas. Activities that are eligible for funding are among others: seminars, workshops, conferences, studies, development of course modules and use of new learning platforms. 

References

Bibliography

Ministry of Education, 2018. Internationalt arbejde (International Work). [Online] Available at: https://uvm.dk/internationalt-arbejde/om-det-internationale-arbejde [Accessed 24 May 2019].

Ministry of Education, 2019. Folkeskolens fag (Subjects in Primary and Secondary Education). [Online] Available at: https://uvm.dk/folkeskolen/fag-timetal-og-overgange/fag-emner-og-tvaergaaende-temaer/folkeskolens-fag [Accessed 30 April 2019].

Nordplus, 2019. The Nordplus Handbook 2019. [Online] Available at: file:///C:/Users/b045567/Downloads/Nordplus%20Handbook%202019%20(in%20English)%20(2).pdf [Accessed 30 April 2019].

Legislation and official policy documents

Retsinformation (Legal Information), 2018. Bekendtgørelse om pædagogiske mål og indhold i seks læreplanstemaer (Order on Pedagogical Objects and Content of the Curriculum). [Online] Available at:  https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/r0710.aspx?id=202350 [Accessed 30 April 2019].

Retsinformationen (Legal Information), 2021. Bekendtgørelse af lov om folkeskolen. (The Consolidation Act on Primary and Lower Secondary Education). [Online] Available at: https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2021/1887 [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Retsinformationen (Legal Information), 2022. Lov om de gymnasiale uddannelser (Law on General Upper Secondary Education). [Online] Available at: https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2022/957 [Accessed 19 July 2022].

Retsinformationen (Legal Information), 2022. Bekendtgørelse af lov om erhvervsuddannelser (The Act on Vocational Education and Training). [Online] Available at: https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2022/956 [Accessed 19 July 2022].