Danish free school tradition inspires reform-friendly Chinese
Denmark has a unique free school tradition with efterskole* schools, folk high schools, free schools, private schools, and other independent institutions. The Chinese professor Yang Dongping has gained an interest in this, and tomorrow, Saturday October 23, at 12.30 (Danish time) he will hosts a large on-line education forum, in his capacity as chairman of the renowned 21st Century Education Research Institute. And Denmark is invited. Here, former folk high school principal Mogens Godballe will talk about folk high schools and Grundtvig, international Consultant Jakob Clausager Jensen, The Efterskole association, and children’s day care leader Mette Hjorth, Børnehuset Skoven will talk about day care and the use of nature in the children's daily lives. Presentation is followed by dialogue with Yang Dongping in front of a large online Chinese audience.
* There is no formal translation of the Danish efterskole, but an efterskole is a boarding school for students grade 9. - 10, where they participate in formal subjects, as well as in more specialized subjects such as art, water-sports, music.. depending on the subjects available on the school. Main reason for attending efterskole is to gain learning in a different environment and to socialize.
Focus on innovation
Every two years, the 21st Century Education Research Institute hosts a "LIFE Education Innovation" event, This year’s event has just started, and it ends with a summit in December - this year is the 4th LIFE Education Summit. Over the next three months, there will be various forums / festivals: "LIFE Education Innovation Live Forum", "LIFE Education Innovation Festival" and "LIFE Education Innovation Ceremony". We participate in the first forum - LIFE Education Innovation Live Forum.
Denmark among the few inspirational countries
The LIFE education event deals with innovation in China's education system and focuses, among other things, on greater equality between rural and urban schools, less work pressure for students and new teaching methods. Only a few countries are invited. In addition to Denmark, Germany participates, where the focus is on vocational education, the USA talks about PBL - problem-based learning and Canada talks about experiences with the use of nature in teaching. Finland focuses on academic versus practical education, while Israel talks about entrepreneurship through education.
Denmark and Danish values ??are popular
Yang Dongping was in 2018 on a two-week stay at Nordfyns Højskole, where he got to know life at a folk high school and got introduced to the Danish free school tradition, which based on diversity and a high degree of trust have helped to develop the Danish community. Even the Danish free school tradition has a history of more than 150 years, Yang Dongping became very fascinated by the thoughts behind it, and how the ideas have been implemented.
Incidentally, it is not more than a month ago that Denmark and Danish values ??were on thousands of screens in China, when LearnforLife.dk in collaboration with China Education Forum arranged 2nd edition of China-Denmark Education Forum. Here, the overall theme was well-being, which took place in dialogue among Danish and Chinese educators, students, parents and well-being experts at a 6-hour long forum, which over 1.3 million Chinese followed online.