The first week we went to see a school nearby the university.
Immediately it became clear that there are a lot of differences between the Danish and the Belgian school system...
1. The number of hours
In Belgium a school day starts at 8.30 and ends at 15.30.
08.30 - 10.00: Lesson
10.00 - 10.15: short break (playing)
10.15 - 11.40: Lesson
11.40 - 13.15: Lunchbreak (eating + playing)
13.15 - 14.25: Lesson
14.25 - 14.40: Short break (playing)
14.40 - 15.30: Lesson
This is the schedule for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday they only have to be in school until 12 o'clock.
In Denmark the school starts at 8.45 and ends at 13.45, with an hour break from 10.45 until 11.45.
2. The amount of teachers
I can tell you two different things regard the amount of teachers:
The first thing that's different from our country is the fact that there are more teachers for one class. In Denmark, every teacher had his/her specialty and teaches that in various departments. So you can teach children who are 8 years old, but you can also teach children who are 12 years old. The advantage of teaching children of various ages is that you get a lot of variation. Another advantage is that the teachers are very good informed about their specialism. This is sometimes a problem in Belgium. We have just one teacher per class. This means that the teacher has to know and give everything; from mathematics to geography and spelling. We are not specialized in just one or two things.
However, a disadvantage is that you always have to adjust your teaching style and activities every time you go to another classroom, another age.
The second thing that's different is that in Denmark there's more than one teacher in the classroom at the same time for only 10 or 15 children. In Belgium there is one teacher for 20 children. I prefer to have my own class, without the interference of someone else.
3. The safety of the schools
In Denmark, the schools are not 'protected' at all... There's no fence, there's nothing locked and the children are put outside to sleep... This is unimaginable in Belgium. There are always fences around the school. Not because we are afraid that the children will run away, but because we don't want that strangers can walk into the school whenever they want to. Belgium has a history of kidnapping.
4. The surveillance
At first, I didn't believe it when Ibe said that there's no control of the teachers what so ever... They don’t have to follow a certain syllabus. I think this has both advantages as disadvantages.
A very big advantage is that they don’t know the word stress. What isn’t done today, will be done tomorrow. The second advantage is that the teacher can choose what he wants to learn the children. However this can also be a disadvantage. For example if a child moves to a different school. It’s possible that those children have learned completely different things… Then I think is very difficult for this child to keep up with the other children of his (new) class. Another disadvantage of this system is that you don’t know (especially as a parent) of your child is educated the right way. Is the teacher doing what he has to do?
So, my provisional decision is this:
Both the Belgian as the Danish school system has his advantages and his disadvantages.
The Belgian school system is too much focused on the “learning”. We don’t really look at school through the children’s eyes. We look to school through our eyes. And that is where we go wrong.
The Danish school system on the other hand is very ‘child friendly’. But I think that they are sometimes a bit too focused on the children. Sometimes they just have to learn certain things…
So, in my opinion, if we combine these two school systems, we get an ideal mix of ‘child friendly’ and ‘learning’.
These are my experiences until now, maybe they will change during another visit at the school… I’ll keep you posted!
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