The Danish Free School Tradition
— a Lesson in Democracy
Curlew – 40 pages – Illustrated – rrp £ 4-95
ISBN 1 900259 98 2
In the academic year 1989-1990 I worked at several schools in Denmark, spending between one and three weeks in each before moving on to the next town or village. It was one of the happiest periods of my life. That year left a profound impression on me.
Ten years later, at a conference on Freedom in Education held at Askov Folk High School in Jutland, I was asked to write some articles about Danish education for Human Scale Education News. Those articles eventually became this booklet.
Denmark has moved on since I worked there. There is now a completed chain of great bridges that connect the larger islands, not only to each other and to Jutland and thus to Germany but also to Sweden. The country is part of the European Union, and the integration of Denmark with the rest of Europe, and with the world economy as a whole, is bringing about changes that many Danes fear will undermine the country's long-standing democratic, communitarian and liberal traditions.
If Denmark is losing a degree of uniqueness, it is also the case that some of her social traditions are being adopted by other nations. In Sweden, a country long regarded as a champion of conformity, government funded free schools have sprung up all over the place. And in some parts of Eastern Europe, especially those areas where the ethnic and cultural divides are greatest, many are looking to the example of Denmark's long-standing openness to German language schools in her border areas.
In Britain we are beginning to re–discover the idea that there is, after all, such a thing as society, and that it needs democracy to thrive. Throughout the UK we are now re–learning the value of co–operative and mutual institutions, most obviously in the world of finance, and a number of our politicians are at last looking to Scandinavia for ideas on how to improve upon our over–centralised, largely unaccountable and frequently unhappy school system.
The Danish Free School Tradition – a lesson in democracy is intended as a contribution to the current debate on how to educate children (and adults) in, and for, a free, caring, peaceful and democratic society.
- Chapters include –
- The Folkeskole – the local authority comprehensive
- The Friskole – the grass-roots alternative
- The Efterskole – a year away from home
- The Folkehøjskole – a residential community of adult learners
- The Origins of Freedom in Education – historical and social roots
- Grundtvig and Kold – giving voice to inspiration
- Minority Rights in Denmark – and the principles of national and individual self-determination
- Examples of the various types of school
The Danish Free School Tradition – a lesson in democracy, ISBN 1 900259 98 2, is available from Mark Westwood of Westwood Books (015396–21233), via the Amazon website.
