Anders Poulsen. The Handbook of International School Psychology. Editor: Shane R Jimerson, Thomas D Oakland, Peter T Farrell. Sage Publications. 2007.
Denmark is located in Northern Europe, between the North Sea and Baltic Sea, with Germany to the south and the Scandinavian Peninsula to the north. Denmark is a small country, with an area of 44,000 square kilometres (approximately 16,600 square miles) and a population of 5.5 million. In addition to Denmark’s landmass on the Jutland Peninsula, it has 406 islands, connected with numerous bridges and ferry services, resulting in a total coastline of 7,300 kilometres. Denmark also includes the world’s largest island, Greenland, and the Faeroe Islands, both of which are located in the North Atlantic Ocean and have home rule. Data about those areas are not included here, although their educational systems, including provision for pupils with special needs, are similar to those found in Denmark.
Denmark’s population growth is flat, with an annual increase of 0.34%. Its median age is 39 for males and 40 for females. Approximately 19% are between birth and age 14, 66% between 15 and 64, and 15% are 65 years and older. Denmark is largely farmland (65%), along with woodlands (12%). The remaining 23% consists of towns, roads, and lakes. Thus, historically, agriculture provided a significant economic base. As of 2002, only 4% of the population was working directly with farming, with 17% working in industry and the remaining 79% in services (Denmark, 2005). Although a small percentage of its population works directly with farming, Denmark is the world’s fifth largest exporter of food products, most of which are secondary agricultural products. Denmark is poorly endowed with raw materials, having only chalk and, in the North Sea, oil and gas. Denmark’s other important resources are less tangible yet important: education, ideas, and commerce. Its most rapidly expanding industrial sectors focus on technology, including biotechnology, information technology and software, and technology for environmental protection and energy conservation. The country’s important exports include windmills, pharmaceutical products, and hearing aids. Denmark has a market economy featuring high-tech agriculture, contemporary small and corporate industry, extensive government welfare measures, comfortable living standards, a stable currency, and a large amount of foreign trade. In 2005, the gross domestic product was estimated at US$188 billion, US$34,718 per capita (Denmark, 2005).
The Folkeskole, Denmark’s public primary and lower secondary school system, was founded in 1814 to provide 7 years of education for all children. Several major changes have been made in the education system since then. Today, education, not schooling, is compulsory for those between ages 7 and 16. Parents may decide to educate their children in publicly supported municipal schools, private schools, or at home, provided certain standards are met and an adequate range of subjects is provided. Most children (88%) attend public schools. Education is free, from preschool class (kindergarten level) through university levels.
Preschool classes for children age 6 must be offered by the municipalities. Although attendance is voluntary, almost all children attend. Primary and lower secondary schools provide a basic education of 9 years. The pupils progress automatically from one grade to the next irrespective of their yearly attainment and may elect to attend school an additional 10th year. The number of pupils in a Folkeskole class may not exceed 28. However, classes normally are smaller, often considerably smaller. The average number of students per class is approximately 19. The pupil-to-teacher ratio is 11 to 1. Approximately 48,200 teachers are employed, of which 64% are women. The net operational annual expenditure per pupil averages DKK 47,850 (about 6,425 euros).
Approximately 13% of the pupils in the primary and lower secondary education levels receive special education services for some time during each school year. Most attend normal mainstream classes and may receive additional support either in their class or through group lessons each week outside the class. About 2% attend special classes in their local municipal school system or, in some very large municipalities, in special schools. Some of the most severely disabled attend special schools established at the county level. The Danish education system services approximately 55,000 bilingual pupils from 40 countries (a figure that constitutes 9% of the total number of pupils), of whom 20% are of Turkish origin and nearly the same percentage from other Middle Eastern countries, and with about 5% each from Iraq and Somalia. A few municipalities have almost 50% bilingual pupils.
On completing the compulsory 9 years of education, about 35% elect to continue in the general upper secondary education programme; more girls than boys elect to continue. About 13% discontinue their education after completing the lower secondary compulsory school. Some leave the educational system, at least for the time being. Most elect to receive a vocational education. Among teenagers ages 15 though 17, only 8% are not in education. Pupils from non-Danish ethnic groups are less likely to engage in education after completing lower secondary compulsory school.
The Folkeskole is regulated by the education acts that establish the framework for school activities. Individual municipalities decide how their schools are to implement practices within this framework. Children remain with their peers in the same class and often with the same teacher from the 1st to the 9th (or 10th) grades, sharing the same experiences in all subjects with peers from various backgrounds who display a range of abilities. The Folkeskole has three important and broad goals. The first is, in cooperation with the parents, to further the pupils’ acquisition of knowledge, skills, working methods, and ways of expressing themselves so as to attain well-rounded personal development. The second goal is to create opportunities for experience, industry, and absorption that enable pupils to develop awareness, imagination, and an urge to learn, leading to self-confidence and the ability to express independent judgements and take personal action. The third goal is to familiarise pupils with Danish culture and contribute to their understanding of other cultures and of human interaction with nature. The school shall prepare the pupils for active participation, joint responsibility, and the rights and duties of citizens in a society based on freedom and democracy. Therefore, teaching both within the school and in daily life must promote intellectual freedom, equality, and democracy.
The Folkeskole is financed by grants from the government to municipalities. The school system always has been decentralised, with decisions on the content of the learning made at the municipal level. During the past 20 years, this autonomy has been further highlighted by allowing administrative decisions to be made at the local school level rather than by municipalities or the Ministry of Education. These efforts are intended to strengthen the influence of parents and pupils in the day-to-day running of their schools. Each school has its own school board, elected for a 4-year period, normally consisting of five to seven parents of pupils attending the school, two teachers, two pupils elected by their peers, and the head teacher. Administrative reform, to be introduced in 2007, will reduce Denmark’s municipalities from its current figure of 275 to 98 and its 14 counties to 5 regions. These reforms are to impact both regular and special education services. The new and larger municipalities will assume total responsibility for all education, including pupils with severe disabilities, through the secondary level. An exception is for children with the most severe disabilities, such as deaf-blind children, where the five regions will assume collective responsibility. The effectiveness of the Folkeskole is under review, triggered, in part, by results of an international study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2003), which ranks Denmark’s achievement low in reading and science.
The availability of private school education constitutes an important feature within Danish education and reflects the country’s democratic structure. Parents who believe the primary and lower secondary school programmes offered their children are unsuitable can elect to send their children to one of approximately 450 private schools attended by approximately 75,000 pupils. The cost of private school education is assumed largely by the State (80% to 85%), with parents assuming the additional 15% to 20%. About 12% of all pupils attend private schools. Although private school attendance has increased since the early 1980s, this trend now seemingly has stabilised. The decision by parents to send their children to private schools generally is prompted by one of three concerns: their religious denomination preferences, the pedagogical theories of the competing schools, or a family’s political and social preferences. Most private school enrolments typically are small, usually with no more than 100 to 200 pupils. Private school attendance generally is not considered to be elitist. Pupils who attend them derive no added status or advantage that affords them a smoother passage through upper secondary and tertiary education and beyond (Ministry of Education, 2000).
Special education and other special educational assistance is given to children (also before school age) if their development requires special consideration or support. A teacher, head teacher, or parent may refer children who are thought to need special education assistance for a pedagogical-psychological assessment. After consulting the parents, the head teacher sends the referral to the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office (Pædagogisk Psykologisk Rådgivning). The staff at this municipal institution then evaluates the child and, in consultation with the parent(s) and the school, determines whether the child needs special education or other special pedagogical services. A parent can refuse to accept this recommendation.
Staff from the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office monitors the development of pupils who receive special education services. Various administrative options are available. Pupils may remain in a mainstream school class and either receive special education in one or more subjects as a supplement to the general education or receive special education services that substitute for their participation in regular education classes in one or more subjects. If these options are not viable, a pupil’s participation in a mainstream school class stops in favor of having the child receive his or her entire education in a special class, either within a mainstream school or within a special school. As a third option, a pupil may receive education in both mainstream school classes and special classes.
Origin, History, and Current Status of School Psychology
The term school psychology first appeared in print in Denmark in 1880 (Merregaard, 1880), and the foundation for school psychology was laid during the first two decades of the 20th century. A major breakthrough came with the formation, in 1924, of The Committee for School Psychological Examination, in part, because it assumed responsibility for developing achievement tests in reading and arithmetic and, in 1930, for publishing a Danish version of the Binet intelligence test. The same year (1930), a wealthy municipal school system in the suburbs of Copenhagen asked one of its teachers, who had a master of arts degree in psychology, to examine 15 children to determine whether they needed services provided by special education classes to “protect” backward children. This event marked the beginning of school Psychology in Denmark. In 1934, this teacher was appointed as the first school psychologist in the country. This appointment established a long-lasting tradition for school psychologists: All were former teachers with additional university degrees in psychology.
The connection between school psychology and the development of a modern Folkeskole is very close. Thus, a brief description of some major legislative changes concerning special education and school psychology services is provided to promote an understanding of the evolution of school psychology in Denmark. Originally, the Danish municipal Folkeskole was not obligated to educate children with special needs. The Denmark Ministry of Social Affairs initially assumed this responsibility, with services provided in day schools and boarding schools. Although the Education Act of 1937 did not obligate the Folkeskole to provide special education, the Act, for the first time, acknowledged this issue and stated, “For children who cannot follow ordinary teaching, special education must be provided if conditions allow it” (Ministry of Education, 1937). Many municipalities introduced special education services following this recommendation, resulting in the initial growth of school psychology. Its further growth occurred at two other periods: after 1957, when the provision of special education services by municipalities became compulsory (Ministry of Education, 1958), and in 1975, when the Ministry of Education required that special education services be provided only on the recommendation of a school psychologist, based on an assessment of the child (Ministry of Education, 1975).
During the 1960s and 1970s, a large number of major and far-reaching reforms were introduced that impacted both the education and the social welfare systems. Those that had the most impact on school psychology are discussed here. In 1969, the Parliament passed a 9-point programme to reform the elementary and lower secondary education system (Ministry of Education, 1969). Parts of this programme were directed toward promoting educational facilities for children with disabilities with the goal of allowing them to remain, as long as possible, in their normal school environment. Soon thereafter, large social reforms occurred that were to impact the Folkeskole and school psychology in important ways. All authority for administering schools and institutions for the “handicapped” was transferred from the State to counties and the municipalities, including responsibility for providing educational services to those served in these institutions. In 1980, this programme was implemented nationwide.
From 1980, the Ministry of Education had a unified responsibility for all basic education. These changes led to numerous changes for children with disabilities and those who served them. Municipal educational authorities now were responsible for identifying special needs children and serving them, including providing support services, regardless of the nature and severity of the disability. If needed help and support could not be provided within local schools, local authorities were required to locate where needed help could be provided, usually by referring the child to an institution, school, or agency in the county in which the municipality was located. Reform also required municipal educational systems to introduce preschool stimulation programmes, thus providing other opportunities for school psychologists to work with special needs children. School psychologists strongly supported these reforms, given their belief that the reforms would have an enormously positive impact on children and allow school psychologists to better serve them.
The services provided by school psychologists expanded greatly following these and other reforms. As a result, no one school psychologist could be expected to provide the wide range of needed services. Thus, activities that involved examination, evaluation, counselling, and decision making had to be based on teamwork, which necessitated a staff with differentiated knowledge and experience. Thus, in the early 1970s, a Ministry of Education Commission recommended a staffing pattern for the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office to better address their functions, including the designation of catchment areas with a minimum of 5,000 pupils.
Staffing levels for the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office were recommended to consist of a chief school psychologist, two assistant school psychologists (who also would teach part-time), two clinical psychologists, a social worker, and part-time specialists in speech, hearing, mental retardation, and other areas as needed. These recommendations were not implemented uniformly in Denmark, and, for a number of years, services developed rather unevenly. Nevertheless, since the 1960s, teachers and parents throughout the country have been able to consult, at no charge to them, with qualified professionals with considerable experience with children who display varied educational problems.
School psychology services have been an integral part of the local educational system. Their central offices were either in a school, an independent building, or the town hall. Schools often had an office specifically for psychology services. Staffing patterns generally included various professions serving on one team. A school psychologist always served as the leader of this team. Clinical psychologists (i.e., persons with a Candidate in Psychology degree and an additional 2 years of supervised work experience) were added to this team to assume responsibility for pupils’ school-related social and emotional problems. In addition to serving as team leaders, the chief school psychologists often had important roles as advisers to school principals and the director of the local school system.
Although school psychology flourished during the 1970s and most of the 1980s, the legislative and administrative decisions outlined earlier contained the seed for a fundamental restructuring of administrative and service delivery systems, including the roles and functions of school psychologists. Many municipal politicians and their administrative staff became motivated to use their local authority, one decentralised from the State, to serve their constituents, including children, in new ways. Various needs seemingly were not well served through locally provided and publicly funded professional services. For example, many children posed challenges to the local social welfare department as well as to schools, thus warranting close cooperation between the two service agencies.
As a result, most school psychologists, previously serving only the local educational system, now became responsible for providing various counselling services needs within the community. Unfortunately, schools, which had formerly been the main area of their work, now often feel neglected. Further erosions occurred in the primary roles of school psychologists. For example, the leader of the municipal counselling services for children and young people is no longer always a school psychologist and instead may be a clinical psychologist, social worker, or from some other professional background. Due to these developments, nationwide statistics on psychological services provided in educational systems or on the number of pedagogical psychologists (school psychologists) are not available.
The salary system is rather complicated. Danish school psychology has its origin in Folkeskolen. Thus, for historical reasons, the teachers union negotiates salaries for psychologists holding a teacher’s certificate (currently called “pedagogical psychologists” instead of “school psychologists”). Salaries for assistant pedagogical psychologists are similar to those of an assistant principal at a large school, and salaries for the leaders of the service, if they are pedagogical psychologists, are similar to those of a principal of a large school. Some of the psychologists employed by the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office may not hold a teacher’s qualification, and their salaries are negotiated by the Union of Danish Psychologists. In 2005, the average annual salaries were estimated to be approximately DKK 270,000 to DKK 335,000 (equivalent to approximately 36,240 to 44,965 euros) and are a little lower than those with the teacher’s certificate. Generally, psychologists, whether working for private or public employers, have the same salary level as all other university graduates with the same length of training. For instance, candidates of law, economy, and science receive similar salaries. The unemployment rate of psychologists generally is high, about 7%, and is somewhat lower for psychologists holding a teacher’s certificate. Job security for psychologists at the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office is high. A recent survey by the Union of Danish Psychologists (Dansk Psykolog Forening, 2003) indicated that some employees of the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office experienced difficulty prioritising the services they perform and that they were unable to comply with the expectations of those they were serving. Nevertheless, they reported high rates of satisfaction in reference to their independence and freedom in planning their own work.
Infrastructure of School Psychology
The Union of Danish Psychologists (Dansk Psykologforening) serves as the professional association for Danish psychologists. Founded in 1947, it has about 7,400 members, among whom 73% are women. The Association of Pedagogic Psychologists, founded in 1956, has 882 members, among whom 70% are women. Psychologists holding a teacher’s certificate and working in the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office generally are members of both the Union of Danish Psychologists and the Association of Pedagogic Psychologists. Among those eligible for membership in the Association of Pedagogic Psychologists, close to 100% are members. Almost all members of this association also are members of the Danish Teachers Union—given its important role in negotiating salaries. All three organisations function efficiently and effectively and are influential when negotiating with the central government on practice issues that impact the Danish municipalities and the general public. The Union of Danish Psychologists and the Association of Pedagogic Psychologists offer a large number of continuing education courses and other continuing education programmes.
Both professional associations publish journals. The Union of Danish Psychologists journal, Psykolog Nyt (Psychology News), is as old as the union itself. The Association of Pedagogic Psychologists journal, Pcedagogisk Psykologisk Rädgivning (Pedagogical Psychological Counselling), publishes six issues annually; articles include English abstracts and are devoted to various educational and psychological subjects. The journal Pcedagogisk Psykologisk Rädgivning is highly respected for its professional quality, reflected, in part, by its wide distribution among not only psychologists but also other professionals. Its circulation of 1,900 is more than twice the number of association members. The Association of Pedagogic Psychologists also publishes a newsletter. The Association of Pedagogic Psychologists and the Union of Danish Psychologists established a publishing company many years ago, the Danish Psychological Publishing Company (Dansk Psykologisk Forlag), which develops national testing materials and also translates and adapts foreign tests. Its goal is to maintain high ethical and other professional standards in the development, distribution, and use of tests in Denmark. Today, it publishes many textbooks and journals.
Preparation of School Psychologists
In 1944, the University of Copenhagen established a 3-year programme to prepare school psychologists who held a teacher-training certificate. The programme awarded the degree of Candidate in Psychology, a title still used for graduates in psychology from three Danish universities. The contents of this programme have been changed at various times, most recently because of European Union efforts to bring consistency to academic and professional programmes in member countries. The current programme consists of a 3-year bachelor programme plus an additional 2 years of graduate preparation. This programme emphasises important theoretical as well as applied features of psychology. Those who complete this programme continue to hold the title Candidate in Psychology. The programme offers candidates various opportunities to specialise, including supervised training and workshop experiences, thus preparing them to provide a wide range of psychological services. However, if they are employed at a Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office, they cannot be appointed to a job with functions in traditional school psychology, as this requires a teaching certificate or a similar recognition of expertise and experience in education, a requirement the very strong teachers union has been able to maintain.
In 1963, the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies (currently the Danish University of Education) established a programme parallel to the Candidate in Psychology programme that built on the 4-year training required for a teacher’s certification. This new 3- to 4-year programme was designed specifically for psychologists intending to work mainly with educational issues in the Folkeskole. The graduates of this programme received the Candidate in Pedagogical Psychology degree and enjoyed the same professional rights as those who received the Candidate in Psychology degree. Unfortunately, this programme recently was dropped as a result of efforts to bring greater unity to programmes in Danish universities. Current plans call for offering a 2-year programme, building on the 4-year training for a teacher’s certificate, to prepare candidates to provide specialised services in educational systems. As this is not sufficient to train a candidate in psychology, strong efforts are being made to add additional training to this programme so as to preserve proper preparation programmes for school psychologists to work in the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office. This is not yet approved, for which reason Denmark currently does not offer any university programmes that prepare professionals to function in the role of traditional school psychologists in the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office. Thus, data on the number of candidates admitted to school psychology preparation programmes are unavailable. Professionals who hold a Candidate in Psychology or a Candidate in Pedagogical Psychology degree may elect to pursue a 3-year Ph.D. programme. Few have elected this programme because it is geared toward those who plan to teach at the university level and conduct research. Applied psychology is not emphasised.
Programmes that prepare students to take the degrees of Candidate in Psychology and Candidate in Pedagogical Psychology have high professional and academic standards. They typically offer the following courses: psychology of personality, cognition and learning, social psychology, developmental psychology, human biology, psychiatry, quantitative methods of research, the science theory of psychology and methodology, clinical psychology, psychology of labour, educational psychology, intervention techniques, history of psychology, and test theory. In 1993, the Act of Psychologists was passed, in part, to protect the title “psychologist” by using it to refer exclusively to persons holding the degree Candidate in Psychology or Candidate in Pedagogical Psychology. Furthermore, this Act introduced the title “authorised psychologist” to be used by those who, following their university degrees in psychology, work under supervision for 2 or more years, full-time, providing various services. Almost all psychologists work to obtain the designation authorised psychologist, in part, because it will add almost 10% to their annual salary.
On obtaining this title, many will further upgrade, often at their own expense, to specialise in one or more of 10 areas, among which 3 focus on providing services to children. Specialisation requirements are stringent and include at least 3 years of work experience within the specialisation area, 200 hours of personal supervision, 300 hours of theory, and the completion of a dissertation. The Union of Danish Psychologists and the Association of Pedagogic Psychologists support this upgrading programme by arranging courses and internships and through other ways. Universities also are supporting this effort by offering courses that emphasise theory. In addition to obtaining the teaching credential, a large proportion of Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office psychologists will obtain their authorisation status, and about 20% will pursue the specialisation in pedagogic psychology.
Roles, Functions, and Responsibilities of School Psychologists
The roles, functions, and responsibilities of psychologists employed by the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office are broadly defined, not detailed: (1) They support and influence schools, administrators, and staff and foster instructional activities with the goal of serving all children, especially those with special needs, so that as few as possible are segregated from their classmates. (2) They evaluate pupils referred in light of their possible special needs. (3) They are committed to the implementation of preschool programmes that help prevent later academic and other school-related difficulties. These three statements provide some headlines for the multiplicity of activities and responsibilities in which a well-functioning and well-respected Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office will be involved.
Some of the most important working methods include the parent meetings in kindergartens and in schools and group or individual consultation or counselling. In addition, the counselling service is represented in local committees consisting of leading representatives from the local police, social services, and schools, who collaborate to prevent drug problems, youth crime, and so on. Here, functions relating to consultation and systemic work are seen as important. In relation to the individual class or child, Danish school psychology has always stressed the importance of class observation; teacher, parent, and child counselling; and working within the total social and emotional context in which the child lives. Testing is a natural part of these functions but rarely the major or most important part. All the best-known international tests, from the United States and elsewhere, are used, to some extent, in Denmark but with the greatest degree of care and reservation if professional Danish adaptations and standardised instruments are not available.
A large number of achievement tests developed in Denmark are used (some reading tests have been translated and adapted in other countries, such as Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and some of the Baltic States). Assessment tests available in Denmark include the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III (both adapted for use in Denmark) and a Danish version of the Differential Abilities Scales supplemented with elements from the original British Ability Scales. Numerous foreign tests, known all over the world, are also used in Denmark: for example, the Thematic Apperception Test, the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, and the Leiter International Performance Scale.
Current Issues Impacting School Psychology
Denmark is engaged in countrywide administrative evaluations that will lead to reforms to be implemented in 2007. These reforms will influence almost all aspects of government, including those relating to education. As can be expected, reforms lead to changes and thus foster insecurity. The Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office views this transition period with concern as well as a time to assume additional responsibilities. Denmark generally is proud of its school system. For more than 30 years, professionals and politicians have been able to work together with the goal of fashioning a Folkeskole that serves all children in an institution that is inclusive and democratic and minimises labelling and segregating pupils. These efforts have not been fully achieved, and these goals remain important. Thus, politicians, educationalists (including psychologists), and others are engaged in discussions to find areas of agreement about the reasons for problems and methods to solve them.
Some are concerned that the Danish school system is too expensive, especially special needs education and care, and that academic attainment is low. However, others focus on information that indicates that the Folkeskole is exceptional in its efforts to promote creativity and a cooperative spirit among children and adults and in its ability to prepare its citizens to compete favourably in a global world. Amendments to the General School Act are expected to be voted on by the Parliament during the first half of 2006. The goal is to improve learning in the basic subjects, and computerised national tests will be introduced, which are seen by some as a pedagogic tool. Details are not yet decided, but eventually they will be available at the Ministry’s Web site. The functions and roles of the Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office are being reviewed within the context described earlier in this chapter and are likely to change significantly. The Pedagogical Psychological Counselling Office anticipates its assessment work will further decrease and be replaced by an emphasis on its role as process consultant, given the goal to change the inner life of schools in the direction of being even more inclusive while improving achievement in the major school subjects. Political systems, including those in Denmark, often have the unrealistic expectation that significant social and education change can occur just by upgrading the qualifications of those employed. One may take solace in the following belief, expressed in 1899: “Well started as the school psychology now is, it will for sure have a bright future in our country” (Hansen, 1899). In the coming years, Denmark surely will experience various problems that require the continued services of school psychology.