Week 14- 26th
April- 3rd May 2012
Classes over, the sun is shining, but sadly the work still
continues here in Copenhagen. For this last month we have to complete an
Individual Assignment, in which we compare an aspect of our home countries
education system with Denmark. We have all of May to complete this and it involves
not only writing the paper, but visiting a variety of different schools and
talking to teachers and pupils to enable us to gain a deeper understanding of
the Danish system.
After our special needs modules and placement we had at home
this year, I realised that this was an area of education that I was interested
in, and therefore decided to do my project based on special needs, and how
schools here dealt with pupils with SEN as well as integration policies. It is
an area that I have a good understanding of within the Northern Ireland system
and therefore I felt it would be beneficial to look at how other countries cope
with the same situations. However, contacting and getting into schools has not
been as easy as I first thought, as many schools do not reply to emails,
perhaps due to the language barrier or because they are so busy. I have been
lucky enough though to be able to go back to the school I did placement in and
visit a Special needs unit there. After two weeks in that school, I wasn’t even
aware that this unit existed, so I was really looking forward to going in to
visit and to meet the teachers and the pupils!
There were only 6 children in the class, 5 boys and 1 girl,
and two teachers. Their classroom was in a separate area of the school and I
discovered that other than break and lunch times they were never integrated
into the rest of the school. There was such a calm and relaxed atmosphere
within the classroom and I immediately relaxed as the teachers made me feel so
welcome! At first it was difficult because I could not speak to the children
and they were shy, however it didn’t take them long to try and say the few
English words they knew (even though these were often animals and colours!)
just to try and make conversation. I learnt a lot that day about how the class
worked and the different activities they take part in. Every Wednesday the
teachers take them on a trip using the train, to help integrate them into
society and learn about how to travel. I was lucky enough to join them on this
day and we went to a playground where we could enjoy the sun, and they made me
go on all the slides, ziplines and climbing frames!
Overall, my first experience of being in a SEN school/unit
in Denmark was great. It really made me think about the differences between
this classroom and the mainstream, as well as the differences and similarities to
this type of classroom at home. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to visit
more classes like this and hopefully deepen my knowledge and understanding of
this type of education. This was one of
my best days of being in school in Denmark, as I finally felt more useful and
had the opportunity to connect with the pupils- hopefully if I have time I
might even get back to this class before I come home!
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| Enjoying the sunshine- finally! |
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| Visiting the Copenhagen Icebar! |
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