Denmark - Country Background Information
- Describing the forms of education in the country
- Identifying an ‘inclusive setting’ in the country
- What an ‘official decision of SEN’ means in the country
- What ‘out-of-education’ means in the country
The EASIE data collection covers all recognised forms of education at ISCED levels 02, 1, 2 and 3.
This means any type of education organised by or approved by any recognised educational provider in the public or private sector: municipality, local or regional educational provider from the public or private sector, working with/for ministries responsible for education and areas such as health, social, welfare, labour, justice, etc.
In Denmark, there is a ten-year teaching obligation – age range 6–15. For further information see the diagram on the OECD websites.
What are the typical age ranges for the ISCED levels?
| ISCED LEVEL 02 | ISCED LEVEL 1 | ISCED LEVEL 2 | ISCED LEVEL 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-5 | 6-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 |
In the EASIE data collection, an inclusive setting is operationally defined as:
A recognised form of education where the child/learner follows education in mainstream classes alongside their peers for the largest part – 80% or more – of the school week.
The 80% time placement benchmark clearly indicates that a child/learner is educated in a mainstream class for the majority of their school week. At the same time, it acknowledges possibilities for small group or one-to-one withdrawal for limited periods of time (i.e. 20% or one day a week).
Very few participating countries can provide exact data on children/learners spending 80% of their time in a mainstream group/class. However, all countries can apply one of three agreed proxies that provide an approximation to this benchmark:
- Placement in a mainstream class implies over 80% or more
- Data is available on the number of hours of support allocated to a child/learner
- Placement in a mainstream class implies over 50% or more.
In the EASIE data collection, the agreed operational definition is:
An official decision leads to a child/learner being recognised as eligible for additional educational support to meet their learning needs.
Countries may have different types of official decision, but for all official decisions:
- There has been some form of educational assessment procedure involving different people. This procedure may involve the child/learner, parents, school-based team members, as well as professionals from multi-disciplinary teams from outside the child’s/learner’s (pre-)school.
- There is some form of legal document (plan/programme, etc.) that describes the support the child/learner is eligible to receive, which is used as the basis for decision-making.
- There is some form of regular review process of the child/learner’s needs, progress and support.
According to the ‘Folkeskole’ Act (primary and lower-secondary education):
Special needs education and special educational assistance as well as other forms of support are provided following a concrete assessment of the individual’s educational needs. Special needs education shall be given to children whose development requires special consideration or support and shall not be given alone on the basis of the student’s disabilities.
The school principal decides on needs for special education (Ministerial Decree on primary school special education and other special educational assistance - 'Bekendtgørelse om folkeskolens specialundervisning og anden specialpædagogisk bistand'). In this decision the principal should consider the pedagogical psychological assessment, perspectives from both parents and child and perspectives from other relevant professionals around the child.
Referral to special needs education, which is delimited to teaching in special schools and special classes and support for at least 9 hours a week in a mainstream school class, takes place following pedagogical psychological counselling and in consultation with the learner and the parents.
According to the ‘Folkeskole’ Act (primary and lower-secondary education), a concrete assessment of the individual’s educational needs is carried out by a special pedagogical psychological counsellor outside the school.
The teaching and teaching plans are regulated by the general primary and lower-secondary school legislation and associated executive orders.
The school head has the overall educational and administrative responsibility for the school.
According to the legislation, it must be decided at least once a year whether the special education and support in education must continue or must be changed.
Within the EASIE data collection, specific questions examine children/learners who are out of education. This means children/learners who should, by law, be in some form of recognised education, but who are out of any form of recognised education. A recognised form of education is any type of education organised by or approved by any recognised educational provider in the public or private sector.
ISCED 02:
Data is only reported for children enrolled in daycare for the age group 3–5 years. Also, the data only covers children in public institutions. The reported number of children is the population on 1 September 2021. Since ISCED 02 in Denmark is not educational in nature, it is assumed that all children reported in Q1.2 are without special needs education – the numbers reported in Q1.3 and Q1.3a are therefore similar. Thus, the special needs concept is not applicable to the Danish ISCED 02 context.
ISCED 1 and 2:
Data is only reported on public schools, because data about special needs education in private schools is not always of the best quality and because it is sometimes not applicable. For instance, mainstream private schools (1,013) are usually not allowed to establish separate special group/classes unless they are given permissions under certain conditions.
Data for for ISCED 2 Q1.1 is reported for the age range 13–16 years, although the typical age range for ISCED 2 is noted as 13–15 in the background information. This is because data for ISCED 2 in all cases includes primary school 10th grade, which in Denmark is optional. Thus, 10th grade is not a part of the ten-year teaching obligation even though it by definition is a part of ISCED 2.
ISCED 3:
No number is reported for Q1.1, since this number is not meaningful to define for ISCED 3 in Denmark. The reported numbers include all forms of mainstream education under ISCED 34 and 35 (general upper-secondary and vocational upper-secondary). The numbers reported are based on the population on 30 September 2021. The concept of special needs education is not applicable to the ISCED 3 level in Denmark, and thus the numbers reported in Q1.3 and Q1.3a are the same as in Q1.2.