“The future starts at the school” is the title of a new Danish campaign launched by the Danish Union of Teachers (DLF) on 16 June. This campaign focuses on the folkeskole (public schools) and teachers' importance for the individual pupil and the immediate society.
“Teachers do much more than just teach children to do maths and write,” said DLF Vice-President Dorte Lange. “A large part of their job is also to help shape pupils as persons and citizens. We believe that it is important to draw the Danes' attention to this, so that the folkeskole is regarded as an important investment in Denmark's future and not as an expense.”
DLF: Teachers key to students developing a future role in society
With this campaign, DLF has decided to highlight how teachers collaborate on teaching issues with local organisations, companies and associations.
“When teachers move teaching out of the classroom and help pupils to transform and use their knowledge in new situations, we take part in developing creative young people capable of independent thought,” noted Lange. “In Denmark, we live on knowledge, so that is why it is important that our children in the folkeskole- the resources of the future - find out how school knowledge can be transformed into work knowledge. A prerequisite for this being possible is that the pupils are taught by competent teachers.”
The DLF campaign will run during the last few weeks of June before the school summer holidays and again in the autumn, when teachers and pupils have returned to school.
EI: Quality teachers indispensable for quality education
“We welcome this Danish campaign to ensure students are taught by quality teachers,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “We also wish to stress once more that well-trained and qualified teachers are the major element leading to quality education, together with quality teaching and learning tools and environments. Public authorities are responsible for guaranteeing enough resources are put into public education, schools and teachers, for their society’s sustainable development.”
The DLF campaign website is available here