COPENHAGEN Two signs are attached to the gate of Ellebjerg school: the primary school located in the suburbs of Copenhagen has received the titles of Unicef children’s rights and Save the Children ambassador school titles.
Nine year olds Esther, Amelia and Aya Luma like their school a lot.
– Our teacher is really nice, the girls say almost in unison.
The public Ellebjerg school is a neighborhood school for girls, so the journey to school can usually be completed on foot or by bike. And a class of 23 students is a suitable size for third graders.
Esther’s mother Anna Rosenblad however, knows that not all parents in the neighborhood want to send their children to Ellebjerg. The school’s teaching and the children’s different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds do not have a good reputation.
The non-governmental organization Bruge Folkeskolen (“use public school”) wants to change this.
The grassroots movement grew into an organization
Project coordinator Anna Rosenblad says that the organization was founded 20 years ago in Copenhagen’s multicultural suburb of Nørrebro.
– The parents of elementary school students, my former colleagues, noticed that not all parents wanted to send their children to a public neighborhood school. They wanted to show that nearby schools have a better reputation.
The grassroots organization today operates with both volunteers and three full-time employees. It receives financial support from the municipality and a private foundation.
According to Rosenblad, the bad reputation of certain schools is caused by many different things.
– Not all parents want to send their child to a school where many children come from less educated and rented families.
– The ethnic background of the children also affects the attitudes of the native population. Some parents have many years of negative news about the school in their memory.
Prejudices are broken with these means
With its partner schools, Bruge Folkeskolen strives to improve the reputation of public schools through various means. These include, for example:
Both Rosenblad and the principal of Ellebjerg school Anne Graah tell that the campaigns have had an impact. Cooperation schools now have a wider spectrum of children from families with different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds than before.
– Even the decision-makers listen to the children’s parents more than just what our schools tell us, says principal Anne Graah.
Rosenblad adds that it is of course also about housing policy and the segregation of residential areas, which the organization cannot directly influence.
The popularity of private schools is not the problem, but the reason for the popularity is
In Denmark, parents are allowed to choose a school other than the nearest one for their child, if the desired school only has places for children who do not live in the area in question.
In addition to public schools, there are private schools that cost around 150–350 euros per month. Private schools have existed for decades, but what is new is that more and more parents are choosing a private school instead of a public educational institution.
At the same time as public schools have been abolished, more new private schools have been established.
Vice President of the Public School Teachers’ Union Dorte Lange says that the proliferation of private schools is not a problem in itself.
– But if a private school is chosen because the public school is not high-quality, that’s a problem.
According to Lange, public schools must have the right class sizes and quality of teaching to compete with private schools. In addition, activities such as Bruge Folkeskolen have positive effects.
– In some cities, the ethnically so-called native Danes have made a joint agreement to send their children to a nearby public school.
Dorte Lange reminds that parents themselves have a responsibility in creating a good school atmosphere: In Denmark, it is even written into law that public schools and parents must cooperate.
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