Nearly 47 percent of parents asked in a Jyllands-Posten survey, released yesterday, said that they are predominantly in favour of the school reforms set to be put into place when public school children return after summer holiday. Only 20 percent gave the reforms a thumbs down.
Parents had previously expressed concern about the longer school day at the centre of the reform package, but the head of the parents association Skole & Forældre, Mette With Hagensen, said those concerns seem to be lessening.
"The school day will be longer, but the content is good, and there will still be time for leisure and family life,” Hagensen told DR Nyheder.
Hagensen said that now that parents have had meetings with their children’s individual schools to see how the reforms will be implemented, their impressions have improved. The results of the recent poll show that 52 percent of parents favoured the longer school day, while just 33 percent remained opposed.
Reality check
Hagensen also praised the specific goals mapped out in the reforms that she said allow students – and parents – to focus on what they need to learn.
“They help parents and students see exactly what they need to learn in class,” she said.
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The positive vibes coming from parents about the reforms were not shared by the head of the Danish teacher’s union DLF, Anders Bondo Christensen.
“Parents will feel differently about the reforms in a year, once they learn what the reality will be,” Christensen told Jyllands-Posten.
