On 13^th September 2022, the Danish government and a broad majority of the Danish Parliament agreed on a new and better primary and lower secondary school teacher education programme. In 2020, the government had set up a committee whose recommendations on how to improve the teacher education programme now form the basis of the agreement.

The agreement comprises three objectives for the new teacher education programme:

1. higher quality, enhanced professional standards, and an increased depth of studies;
2. more teaching practice and an improved interaction between the teacher education programme and a teacher’s day-to-day life in the classroom;
3. greater autonomy to implement the education programme at the local level, and less regulation from the national level.

To achieve higher quality, enhanced professional standards, and an increased depth of studies, the agreement includes the following initiatives, among others, for the benefit of student teachers:

• up to four more hours of instruction per week;
• more practice-based instruction, for example through training in classroom management, inclusion, home-school collaboration, etc.;
• more academic feedback and guidance, including via an annual status meeting that aims to give students individual feedback and guide them in relation to their professional development and motivation;
• more opportunities to complete part of one’s education abroad.

Initiatives to increase the amount of teaching practice and improve the interaction between the teacher education programme and a teacher’s day-to-day life in the classroom include:

• more extended time dedicated to teaching practice, so that students can acquire teaching experience in school settings during all four years of the education programme;
• more focus on practice in the final examination, which consists of a written examination and an oral examination;
• the reintroduction of Special Needs Education and Danish as a Second Language as core subjects in the teacher education programme.

Initiatives to ensure that the education programme is implemented with greater autonomy at the local level, and that there is less regulation from the national level, include the following actions:

• the many and detailed objectives presently listed in the course descriptions will be simplified and replaced with clearer objectives, so that each individual institution’s curricula and lecturers can enjoy greater autonomy;
• the current modules-based system will be replaced by one where students will all follow the same courses, in order to ensure professional progression, improved coherence, and stronger social integration.

The new primary and lower secondary school teacher education programme is scheduled to be launched in August 2023.

More information (in Danish)

Please consult the agreement at the following link: En ambitiøs læreruddannelse tæt på folkeskolen og til gavn for folkeskolen.

Source: Eurydice Unit Denmark