Why Danes detest tests
The Danish approach to curriculum thinking - a remnant from the past or a model for the future?
Secondary
Poul Otto Mortensen, County Education Centre, Vejle, Denmark
[ Editorial note: we wish to thank www.on-lang.net where part of this text was first published]
Taking part in a project like On-Lang. Net, the purpose of which is to evaluate and to develop an on-line evaluation model of language competences, that is develop tools for testing and assessment, is in many ways a new experience for me as a Danish educationalist brought up with our approach to both curriculum and assessment.
In many ways Denmark is "the odd-man out" of Europe when it comes to testing in schools. In this area we are a country that differs considerably from all other European countries. We have been very much concerned about the negative effects of testing: de-motivation, lack of self-confidence, disciplinary problems, and a sense of failure among students.
Also in our country we have a long tradition for language learning being very much an oral phenomenon, also when it comes to testing. Our final exams at all levels are based on oral communication in the target language between the student, the teacher and an external evaluator.
Today in Denmark there is a heated political debate on evaluation and assessment. This is maybe because many politicians fear that we might have missed something, especially as Denmark is not as high up on the European hi-score list when it comes to Pisa results of factual knowledge and achievement tests as the politicians would like us to be.
As a new tool the Danish Government is introducing compulsory on-line assessment in English as a second language from Year 7. The aim of this test is to establish and secure a more coherent national standard of achievement in schools.
What colleagues and teachers from all over Europe have asked me many times is:
How it is possible to imagine a school with no formal tests or exams as you have practised it for decades in Denmark?
What about student qualifications, why are you not lagging behind the rest of Europe when it comes to research and business?
How do you keep your students motivated to work?
Is the fact that this does seem possible a remnant from our distant and somewhat peculiar educational past, or are we among the first out of the starting gate to a development in school and learning that might also happen in other countries of Europe?
But maybe we also have something to contribute? Maybe part of what we are doing is what other European countries are looking for?
I do not have the answer to these questions, but our students do not lag behind in comparison to students from other parts of Europe. Danish business and our economy are doing very well, exports are booming, unemployment is among the lowest in Europe. Danish students do seem to possess some of the right competences and qualifications for both business, research and life. And Denmark is not even close to being on the European Pisa high-score list.
Denmark is the one country where the compulsory school system has not, up till now, imposed any formal testing until after year 9, the school leaving exam. The Danish Folkeskole is not an examination- or test-oriented school. The word "Folkeskole" means the school for the people.
The main rule in my country is that a pupil attends a class with pupils of the same age all through compulsory school. Children remain in the same group of pupils from Year 1 to Year 9. This means that they will be sharing the same experiences in all subjects with peers of all types of background and covering the whole range of abilities. The concept of social equality underlies this comprehensive concept. School failure as a formal thing is therefore a non-existing phenomenon in the Danish Folkeskole. No marks are allowed until Year 8. "No formal distinction is made among students. No end-of-summer-term anxiety, no national examinations until age 16, no chance of failure."1
All of this is laid down in the general aim of the Danish school system. "The aim of the school is to foster an atmosphere of tolerance, cooperation and peer learning. Competitiveness and elitism are usually negatively loaded expressions in Danish schools.2"
(1) The Folkeskole shall - in cooperation with the parents - further the pupils' acquisition of knowledge, skills, working methods and ways of expressing themselves and thus contribute to the all-round personal development of the individual pupil.
(2) The Folkeskole shall endeavour to create such opportunities for experience, industry and absorption that the pupils develop awareness, imagination and an urge to learn, so that they acquire confidence in their own possibilities and a background for forming independent judgements and for taking personal action.3
One of the results of this is the highest level of student motivation to attend school in Europe. Truancy is not a serious problem, and students' self confidence and belief in their own possibilities are the highest in Europe. This is one area where we are on the Pisa hi-score list.
In my opinion this has very much to do with the lack of formal testing end evaluation. Teaching to the test is simply not an issue.
The Danish school system still believes in the importance of the individual teacher. Danish teachers are responsible for their own teaching to an extent that leads foreign colleagues to ask:
How dare you leave so much to the teacher?
This means that the Act on the Folkeskole only sets the framework for the activities of the school. The rest is very much up to the individual teacher. The Danish system is a "bottom-up system" with maximum influence at the bottom of the system and as little as possible at the top of the system.
The Danish Parliament decides on the overall aims of the education. In Denmark we have a broad consensus among political parties in Parliament and also in the population about the tasks and values of the compulsory school.
The Minister of Education sets the targets for each subject, and the municipalities and schools decide on how to reach these targets. As a help in this process the Ministry of Education publishes curriculum guidelines for all subjects. These are recommendations, not mandatory for local school administrators. Furthermore these guidelines are very vague and must be interpreted by the individual teacher or team of teachers.
Schools are permitted to draw up their own curricula as long as they are in accordance with the aims and proficiency areas laid down by the Minister of Education.
Nearly all schools choose to accept the centrally prepared guidelines as their binding curricula
To understand this special "Danish approach" to education in a sea of Europe one has to be acquainted with the Danish educationalist, philosopher and writer N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783 -1872). He has had an enormous influence on the way Danes think about school and learning:
"The man has never lived, whose wisdom did not stem from things he loved most dearly."
"The path to riches is quite sure, when few are rich and fewer poor."
"Freedom is our watchword here in the North, freedom for Loke as well as for Thor."
"The primary aim of school still is to foster children's independence, drive and sense of responsibility towards themselves and others - what Grundtvig called vitality."4
One of the important factors in this process is the fact that Danish children normally have the same class teacher for several years, who apart from teaching Danish to his or her class, is also responsible for the well-being of the individual pupil and class and also responsible for keeping the parents informed about their child's progress and development. The class teacher is also responsible for collaboration among the team of teachers who teach the class. The system relies on a close, almost intimate relationship between pupils and their class teacher.
The system is very much built on trust. Trust in the ability and qualifications of the individual teacher, trust in the responsible individual. Danish children are brought up to take responsibility both at home and at school. With parents away from home for much of the day working, children mature very early and are maybe - too early - entrusted with too much responsibility. Most Danish students in secondary school have part-time jobs, which help them to mature, but also make them financially independent of their parents. Many students have more pocket money than their parents have.
In this educational and sociological environment it will not be easy to introduce testing and assessment as we know it from many countries of Europe.
What we are looking for are tools that are able to test or assess what is important, not focusing on what is testable and thus making this the important part of learning, teaching to the test.
In Denmark there is a lot of scepticism towards formal evaluation, assessment and testing. We are very much aware of the negative effects of testing: de-motivation, lack of self-confidence, disciplinary problems, and a sense of failure.
When it comes to foreign language skills, we focus very much on strategic skills and productive skills, both oral and written. Fortunately this is going to be one of the main focus areas of the On-Lang. Net. project.
The problem that we are faced with in our educational system is:
How can we retain an atmosphere of tolerance, cooperation and peer learning as the general atmosphere of our educational system?
How can we avoid being trapped in what are the inevitable pitfalls of evaluation and testing?
Or … to use a translation of a Spanish proverb, which I learned from Spanish colleagues in Catalonia last year:
Why not let the chicken grow, instead of weighing the chicken all the time?
Literature
The Danish Educational System: http://eng.uvm.dk/education/General/general.htm?menuid=1505
Heidemann, Tove, Europe in Education, Copenhagen, The Institute for Educational Research and Innovation.
On-Lang.Net: http://www.on-lang.net
Please click here for the Humanised Testing Course.
1 Heidemann, Tove, Europe in Education, Copenhagen, The Institute for Educational Research and Innovation
2Heidemann, Tove, Europe in Education, Copenhagen, The Institute for Educational Research and Innovation
3The Act on the Folkeskole, Ministry of Education 2003
4Heidemann, Tove, Europe in Education, Copenhagen, The Institute for Educational Research and Innovation
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