Report of the studyvisit for Leonardoproject nr: 2011-1DK1-LEO04-03526 6 Title: "Training the Change agents: a programme for educational leaders and experts in the field of educational needs".

SEMINARIUM VOOR ORTHOPEDAGOGIEK

Onderzoek, scholing, begeleiding

Studyweek: (6-11-2011 till 11-11-2011) Destination: Land: Denmark Place: Kolding Institute: UC South Denmark’s campus, Pædagogseminarium, Dyrehavevej 116, 6000 Kolding. Represented by: Tove Heidemann, Trine Rønholt, Bodil Gaarsmand, Anni Korsbæk, Participants: Drs. H.G.Groeneweg Drs. A.Koffeman Helma Feunekes-Colijn Rianne Zoet

Teacher Trainer Seminarium voor Orthoppedagogiek Teacher Trainer Seminarium voor Orthoppedagogiek (1597060) Master SEN-student (1605000) Master SEN-student

Daily Report: Date: 7 November 2011 Morning: We had an introduction of the Danish school system with a special focus on leadership by Trine Rønholt. When a baby is born mothers are allowed to stay at home for one year. Half of the year is fully paid and the other half is reduced. After that year 85 % of the women go back to work full-time. Then they can choose between day-care mother, private solution and kindergarten. 80 % of the children go to kindergarten. 1/3 of the costs is paid by the parents and the culture influences the moms to go to work. The will be looked upon when they stay at home. In Denmark they have 9 years of basic education (Folkeskole) pre-school (5-6), primary (6-12) and lower secondary school (12-15/16). For the pupils who want to go to the Gymnasium there is an extra class, class 10. This is only available for a part of the students before they go to upper secondary school. The others go to Vocational Education Institutions. Both Gymnasium and Vocational Education are 3 years. After upper secondary school there are two options, University and University College. University is only available for the Gymnasium students and the University College is available for all students. At the University College you can’t get a Master degree, this is only possible at the University. It’s also very difficult to go from University College to the University. The last 20 years they have been taking pupils out of the class for special education (exclusion) in the Folkeskole and now they are trying to have these pupils in the class room with special help. These are social educators. Trine Rønholt, (2011) says that there is a new aim “How can we help these children with less money?” Afternoon: We visited Lyshøjskolen. There were three leaders who explained about their school system, Ib Hansen, Jørn Jorgensen and Grete Dahl. They told us that they are changing their inclusion policy and some of the aims are: 1

- two teachers in ordinary classes with students with special needs. - That they use part of the staff from our day care centres after school time as teacher assistants in the ordinary classes. - That PPR (Pedagogical Psychological Advisory) must participate in every school, advising the schoolmasters and the teachers how to deal with students that give special challenges in the lessons. - That they build new special schools and organize special classes in ordinary schools dedicated to students with so complicated special needs that it is meaningless to include them in ordinary classes.

Daily Report: Date: 8 November 2011 Morning: We visited Købmagergades Skole which is a State school and has 425 students and 65 staff members. It’s a school with five different lines. Special needs, receiving class (immigrants), mainstream, individual and international lines of which the last two start from class 7 to 9. In groups we visited three different lines, the international line, receiving class and special needs. We saw 24 students in the international class who were having a maths lesson in English. These classes are available for everyone, they don’t look at the grades. For selecting the pupils they start looking at their own school and then they expand their area. The pupils in the receiving class are there for approximately 2 years. They are there to learn Danish and struggle the most with the sounds. For the older children the books they use are also used for Adults. Besides the Danish lesson they have gym, maths and English. The special needs class is in a separate building but at the same school ground. The classes are normally 6-9 pupils and have 1 teacher in the class. They do have more teachers, but they teach different subjects. The special needs children have their own breaks and after school activities. Afternoon: In the afternoon we got some more information about the school system and were able to ask questions we had about what we had seen during the morning. This was a nice conversation and we were able to exchange a lot of information about the differences and similarities in the school systems. After that we visited the after school facilities, where we had a look around and got some more information.

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Daily Report: Date: 9 November 2011 Morning: We went to Blåbjerggaardsskolen in Esjberg. Here the principal, a pedagogue and two teachers explained about the school. At the school there are 460 pupils and 60 staff members. The aims of the school are: - To prevent that kids run into failure. Go for the success. - Anticipate - Intervention When a pupil or group has a problem the teacher will go to the principal first to inform him. Then the teacher will make a LP-analysis (UNESCO), were aspect of the pupils is being explored. This is discussed in a children meeting and the participants use the LP-analysis as a guidance. A children meeting happens twice a month and the maximum number of pupils being discussed is 4. After this meeting a individual plan is made by the Special Needs teacher and this plan is being discussed with the teacher. Then the teacher discusses the plan with the parents and the child and it’s signed. When this is all discussed and agreed on the whole team will work on this plan for at least 2 – 3 weeks. The key terms for the school are: - Early intervention - Help in class - People are different / differentiation - Focus on possibilities instead of limitations - Support in class - Teachers are accommodating and flexible - Meet the children, parents and teachers where they are, not where you want them to be. In the school is are special needs classes for pupils with social or learning problems. There is a lot of structure in these classes. Some of the pupils are in these classes throughout there whole school period, others are here for a few years. Every year they try and look if there is a possibility that the pupil can go back to the mainstream. A meeting is organized with the teachers, social worker pedagogue and parents every year, this is obligatory by law. Next to the special needs classes and the mainstream there is a Davinci class. These classes are for 7th, 8th and 9th grade. In the class there are pupils who are bright and motivated to learn. Keys for these classes are: - Study environment - Cooperation with the Gymnasium - Globalisation Every pupil has a coach and is working at a higher level on subjects. It works more like a campus and after school the students have time to work on projects or homework. The Davinci students have exchanges with the Gymnasium but also with students abroad. Every morning they have a meeting and they give presentations about globalisation. All the students can join the Davinci classes, but do need to have the right motivation. This is very important. Afternoon: We went to a campus of the University to have a lecture about NVIE (knowledge centre for inclusion and exclusion). Christian Quvang told us more about the inclusion and exclusion in Denmark and how to approach this issue. After this lecture we had 3

two more lectures about internationalisation in Belgium and the Netherlands. How schools work on internationalisation nowadays and how they should improve this.

Daily Report: Date: 10 November 2011 Morning: We had an introduction on Special Needs Education and leadership in the Municipality of Haderslev. During the introduction they told us about how they fused smaller schools into bigger schools because of the economy. Their new aims are that all the pupils go to school in their own district and it’s not allowed to diagnose during the first 4 years. 20 % of the Special Needs pupils has to go to regular classes, therefore the teachers and principles need to be trained. This is because the teachers must be able to teach in Special Needs classes and regular classes. Some pupils can’t be included, because they think it’s not good for the pupils who have certain Special Needs. After this introduction we visited the Favrdalskolen, where Christen Koldsvej gave us information about the school. He told us that this school is a reflection of the Danish community, because they have regular, foreign, special needs and blind pupils. The school has 650 pupils and every group has a own building which makes their buildings a little school in the big school. The special classes are integrated in the regular system as much as possible. The young foreign pupils have to learn the Danish language first at a different school before allowed in the school. For the older pupils they have a class integrated in the school. Afternoon: There was a presentation about CSV were (young) adults go to follow courses or education. These adults can’t participate in the regular world and need guidance to return to society. At CSV they look if they need to work on skills to return and find a job and they build on their confidence so they feel like they can be part of the society again. The focus on the guidance is foremost to separate the problem from the person ‘This is your problem and this is you’. They also guide people with dyslexia and give them courses to give them help with how to deal with the dyslexia. They let the adults tell them what they want to learn and adapt the education to their wishes. The adults are met at were they are and look for possibilities to help them.

Daily Report: Date: 11 November 2011 Morning: We had a discussion with a principal of a regular school and 2 teachers from a special class. They told us about inclusion and exclusion. We were able to ask all the question we had left after seeing and hearing many things throughout the week. In the end we could conclude that it’s not possible to include all pupils and sometimes it’s better to have them in special classes or it might cause more problems. Special needs pupils in regular classes could have negative experiences, which might cause a negative self-image. In special classes is the most important aspect getting a positive self-image. 4

To get a pupil in a special class you need permission of the parents. If the parents say no the pupil will have to stay. The principle must give a clear explanation about the problems, how the pupil is behaving and what will help the pupil. To be able to place more pupils in the regular classes, they need more money, extra teachers, extra support for them, more expertise in the school, training for the teachers (extra courses). After this we evaluated the week and had a lunch. Then it was time to say goodbye to each other. It was a interesting, informative and instructing week which we will remember and hopefully be able to apply in real.

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