Danish schools prepare for a different kind of school year

Schools, their reopening and their future functioning are some of the most hotly debated and discussed topics in Europe – and have been since March when the coronavirus pandemic first hit the continent. For the time being, however, with students in summer recess, the topic sits on the back burner, while officials are quietly tinkering with ways to adapt schooling to the new reality forced upon us by COVID-19 and the related restrictions and lockdowns.

Combining in-person education with distance learning

Education experts in Denmark are of the firm opinion that physical presence is essential for one to receive a good education – be it in university or in school. That is why higher learning establishments in the country quickly went about adopting social distancing rules and measures that would allow them to remain open and functional for as long as possible.

Yet with the beginning of the next school year on the horizon, new questions are emerging – most notably, how will schools and universities go about enforcing rules in the long-term and how will they successfully implement different distance learning methods.

Universities, for example, are set to follow a high number of tight regulations, stipulating how many people can be present in a single room at any given time, as well as the distance that they must keep between each other. Yet the reliance on digital technology and distance learning will not disappear, as different alternative teaching methods will remain a key component of education for the foreseeable future.

New students will also be guaranteed in-person attendance in Denmark’s universities, as a fully digitized experience might prove especially harmful to their enthusiasm as well as to the ultimate results of the curriculum.