Danish pre-school education

Pre-school Education in Denmark takes place in different types of schools or day care centres covering the time before children enter compulsory education. Preschool is where most children enter the Danish education system.

Historical overview

The first pre-schools were established in the 1820s by a private initiative intended to instruct the children of working families, where both parents worked outside the home. During the period between 1850 and 1900, private educational institutions appeared that were open only on a part-time basis. These institutions had pedagogical objectives unlike those of the previous schools that were mostly mere retention centres for children of working parents, and were aimed at the children of the more privileged classes.

The social reform of 1933 made it possible for these institutions to receive up to 50 percent of their operational expenditure from the state. From that point on, the state and the municipalities have gradually obtained the biggest financial and pedagogical responsibility for the administration of these institutions. Financial support was also made available in 1949 for institutions that had not been entitled to it before, as they did not meet the conditions of the act to the effect that they catered to children from disadvantaged families. The pedagogical objective of the institutions was thus recognized.

An act in 1964 obliged the authorities to make all public services available to all citizens. The right to pre-school education was also emphasized in the Social Assistance Act of 1976, which demanded that the municipalities create the necessary infrastructure to meet the needs of families.

In 1987, the state delegated responsibility for the financial administration of the pre-school institutions to municipalities.

Types of Institutions

75% of established day-care institutions are municipal day-care centres while the other fourth are privately owned and are run by associations, parents, or businesses in agreement with local authorities. In terms of both finances and subject-matter, municipal and private institutions function according to the same principles. In 2007 96% of all children aged 3–5 years and about 90% of the children aged 1–2 years attended a day-care institution.

Pre-school education is primarily offered in the following institutions:

• Nurseries (Danish: vuggestuer), literally 'cradle halls') for children between six months and three years of age. Size: 30 to 60 children;

• Kindergartens (Danish: børnehaver) for children between three and six to seven years of age. Size: 20 to 80 children;

• Integrated institutions for groups with a wider age-group distribution than the two other types. Size: 40 to 150 children;

• Municipal child-care facilities established by private individuals taking in a few children (Danish: dagpleje). Size: 5 to 10 children.

• Pre-school classes (Danish: børnehaveklasser, literally 'kindergarten classes') established at primary schools and catering for children from the age of five to six as the first year of compulsory education (cf. US Kindergarten, English Reception). Average size: 19.7 children (1999)

Admission Requirements

In theory, the only admission requirement to this type of institution is age, so that the minimum age to attend a nursery is six months, kindergartens three years, integrated institutions one year, and pre-school five to six years. However, as there are more parents requesting space in the first three types of institutions than there is space, municipalities distribute places taking into consideration the following categories of children:

• Children with special pedagogical or social needs

• Children of one-parent families

• Children sent by another authority

• Children of parents working away from the home

• Children whose brothers or sisters are already enrolled in the institution.

General Objectives

The Social Service Act stipulates that pre-school facilities shall form part of the total plan for general and preventive measures for children. It is the general objective to create, in co-operation with the parents, a framework which favours the development, well-being, and independence of children. These measures must ensure children have a normal day that at the same time give them security and challenges, and where close links with adults can develop. Furthermore, according to the Act on the Folkeskole, its aim is to familiarize children with the daily routines of school life.

The work of the day care centres are carried out by pedagogues rather than teachers. They are usually assisted by untrained assistants. The pedagogues tend to use a recognizing approach where the child is appreciated as a human being.

There is a large focus on learning social skills, motor skills, cultural norms etc. rather than traditional school work such as learning how to read and write. Leading researchers argue to that these factors are one of the reasons why Danish people are the happiest in the world.

Curriculum, Subjects, Number of Hours

In principle, pre-school teachers are free to choose content, working methods, didactical material, and so forth. However, a municipality may draw up an educational plan, and the boards may define the principles of the activities an institution. Teaching takes the form of play and other development-based activities. There are no formalized classes or lessons. In fact, the earlier stages of Danish pre-school education mostly have the character of childcare rather than formal education.

There is no educational plan for the activities in pre-school classes, but school authorities may propose guidelines for the content of the activities. The weekly minimum number of lessons in pre-school is 20 lessons divided into three to four hours a day, five days a week.

Evaluation

There are no formalized rules regarding observation and monitoring, but many educators have an interest in working with interaction-based observation. It is common for an institution to hold parent consultations, where the staff of the institution discuss with individual children's parents how children thrive in the institution, what they occupy themselves with, their strong and weak points, and about their social relationship with other children.

Pre-school playgroup

A pre-school playgroup, or in everyday usage just a playgroup, is an organized group providing care and socialization for children under five. The term is widely used in the United Kingdom. Playgroups are less formal than the pre-school education of nursery schools. They do not provide full time care, operating for only a few hours a day during school term time, often in the mornings only. They are staffed by nursery nurses or volunteers, not by nursery teachers, and are run by private individuals or charities, rather than by the state or companies.

In the United Kingdom, since around the 1980s, the traditional territory of the playgroup has been encroached on by the expansion of more formal nursery education, and playgroups often now cater only for two and three year olds before they move onto a nursery school. Over the same period there has been an increase in the state supervision of playgroups.

Playgroups in the USA

In the United States, a playgroup is an organization of parents with the expressed intent to have the children come together and play. There are playgroups that cater to specific categories of parents, particularly including stay at home dads, stay at home moms, and working moms. In areas of the US where homeschooling is popular, it is not unusual to see groups especially for homeschooling families. These can be part of local or even national playgroups. Churches, rec centers, and other community organizations sometimes sponsor weekly or monthly playgroups. Age limits are determined by the individual group. Some groups have upper age limits and some do not. It is not unusual to see groups where, in addition to activities for the children, there are social events for the whole family or for parents only. In highly mobile communities, playgroups can be an important tool for building the social network of young families who have recently relocated to the area. There are a number of resources online for parents to find playgroups in their area - including Playgroups USA and Social Toddler - both directories and social networks for parents in playgroups.