Future Democrats
Democracy must be learned and maintained – and here, primary school is an important training ground. Pupils should have better opportunities to shape their everyday teaching, and this is not solely the responsibility of individual teachers. Therefore, school decision-makers should listen to the recommendations for better pupil participation that come from Danish School Pupils. Read the full commentary from Director of Egmont's Grant Administration, Heidi Sørensen.
Looking around the world, it is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot take a well-functioning democracy for granted. It must be maintained. One way of doing so is by giving citizens experience in engaging with society and, through that, building confidence that it is possible to have influence.
The Danish primary and lower secondary school may be one of the most important arenas for developing this democratic formation and confidence. When pupils are given the opportunity to help shape everyday teaching, they learn some of the basic steps of democracy: to express their opinion, to listen to others, and to understand that the opportunity to have influence is not the same as the right to decide everything.
The purpose clause of the Danish “Folkeskole” Act states that schools must prepare pupils for life in a democratic society. It also states that working methods, approaches and choice of subject matter must, as far as possible, be determined in cooperation with the pupils.
An important path to democratic confidence
This ambitious goal, however, is far from the pupils’ own experience. Only one in six pupils, 17 per cent, say that they are highly involved in the planning of teaching. As many as 37 per cent feel that they are involved only to a low or very low degree.
Many pupils would like to be involved more, and the majority of their teachers support this. Neither pupils nor teachers want to change the fact that teachers lead and are responsible for the teaching.
This is shown in the study we present in this issue of Egmont Insight, which has been produced together with Danish School Students.
The study shows that 50 per cent of pupils who feel well involved in the planning of teaching have a high level of democratic confidence at school. Among pupils who experience a low degree of involvement, this applies to only 10 per cent.
Student engagement can benefit many more pupils
At the same time, the study shows a strong correlation between the extent to which pupils feel involved and a range of other positive characteristics of a good school life: intrinsic motivation, academic confidence and well-being in everyday school life. Importantly, these correlations apply across all schools — including those where pupils, on average, come from weaker socioeconomic backgrounds.
In this issue of Egmont Insight, a leading school researcher points out that, when student engagement is carefully balanced and well designed, it can help include more pupils in teaching and strengthen more pupils’ democratic formation, motivation and academic outcomes.
Seven recommendations from Danish School Students
Based on this new knowledge, Danish School Students calls for stronger student engagement in Danish primary and lower secondary schools. In this issue of Egmont Insight, they present seven recommendations for everyone responsible for the development of the Danish primary and lower secondary schools — from national and municipal decision-makers to individual school leadership teams. No teacher should be left to carry this task alone.
Among other things, the pupils’ organisation would like the principle of student engagement to be clearly incorporated into the new subject curricula for all subjects in the Danish primary and lower secondary schools.
As a foundation, we want to contribute
At Egmont, we support children and young people living in difficult circumstances. We have a long tradition of supporting initiatives that strengthen children’s and young people’s participation and empowerment, and that help young people at risk get safely through compulsory schooling.
We know that when adults listen to children and young people, it strengthens their confidence, autonomy and agency. That is why we hope that the recommendations from the pupils will be listened to.
With this issue of Egmont Insight, we want to contribute to the conversation about how student engagement can be strengthened in the Danish primary and lower secondary schools. Like Danish School Students, we are committed to preparing the young generation as well as possible for their role in a living democracy. Is that not also an obvious ambition for the newly elected democratic assemblies — both in municipalities and at Christiansborg?
Enjoy the read!
Heidi Sørensen, director of Egmont’s Grant Administration