According to the Folkeskole Act, it is the responsibility of each school to provide variation in teaching methods, teaching materials, subjects etc. in order to meet the needs and prerequisites of each pupil. The school leader at each school is responsible for ensuring that the individual teacher provides adequate challenges to all pupils irrespective of their varying capabilities and prerequisites.
The concept of differentiated teaching is an overall framework and does not specify the actual means adopted. In effect, the individual teacher is granted substantial autonomy in providing differentiated teaching.
There are other ways of meeting the special education needs of the pupil if the differentiated teaching approach is not sufficient.
Definition of the target group(s)
Special educational teaching and other special pedagogical support is given to pupils with special needs. The group of children with special educational needs is broadly defined. In the Folkeskole Act, the group is termed "children whose development requires special consideration or support". Children requiring special educational needs are those who are incapable of developing satisfactorily within the framework of differentiated teaching.
Special educational support exists for pupils with intellectual disabilities, dyslexia, visual disabilities, hearing impairment and physical disabilities.
According to the Ministerial Order on the Folkeskole’s special educational teaching and other kinds of specialist pedagogical assistance, the procedure for deciding when special education is needed is the following:
Generally, it will be the teacher(s) of the ordinary teaching who experience(s) a given pupil’s special needs. The pedagogical-psychological counselling service, consisting of offices in the municipalities, looks into the nature of the need and makes proposals for remedying it. On the basis of this, the school leader will decide if a pupil should be referred to special education.
In the long term, it is the head teacher in cooperation with the pedagogical-psychological counselling service and the parents who are to follow the development of the pupil with a view to make the necessary adjustments. Once a year, at a minimum, it will be decided whether the special educational support should be continued, adjusted or discontinued. This decision will be reached on the basis of a pedagogical-psychological assessment and in consent with the pupil and the parents. The opinion of the pupil should be included in the decision considering, however, the age and maturity of him or her.
Specific support measures
According to the Folkeskole Act, it is the responsibility of the municipal board to ensure that special educational teaching and other forms of special pedagogical help is available to children and young people whose development require special support. The municipal board is furthermore to ensure that special pedagogical assistance is available to children who have not yet started school.
Special education is a part of the special pedagogical assistance in the Folkeskole which, according to the Ministerial Order on the Folkeskole’s special educational teaching and other kinds of specialist pedagogical assistance, includes:
- Special pedagogical counseling to parents, teachers and other people with significant impact on the development of the pupil
- Special teaching material and technical aids necessary in connection with the teaching of the pupil
- Teaching in the subjects and subjects area of the Folkeskole organised according to the pupil’s prerequisites for learning
- Teaching and training in function methods and working methods which can help the pupil cope despite his/her function difficulties
- Personal assistance in order to overcome practical difficulties in connection with school
- Special organised activities
Based on a concrete assessment in each pupil’s case, the special educational support can be provided in the form of support within the normal class and teaching, special classes or special schools. There are many ways to plan special pedagogical support, however, it is always the pupil's needs that decide which method should to be chosen.
Educational support
If a pupil needs educational support for less than 9 teaching lessons per week, the educational support must take place in the normal class and teaching.
Measures such as differentiation of teaching, creation of groups, dual teacher arrangement and the use of teaching assistants can be employed for the benefit of the pupil in question as well as the class as a whole.
By choosing this organisation form, the pupil will keep his or her relation to the class and participate in the ordinary teaching. It is important to underline that the offer on special pedagogical support must not make the pupil miss out on the in-class teaching. The planning of the special pedagogical support must take place together with the teacher team of the class.
Special education
Special education is given to pupils when the above mentioned educational support for less than 9 teaching lessons per week is considered insufficient. The decision as to whether a pupil’s development requires special education depends on a concrete assessment in each individual case. According to the Folkeskole Act, this assessment must be made upon pedagogical and psychological counselling and upon consultation with the pupil and the parents.
Special education can be arranged in several ways:
- The pupil can remain in a mainstream school class and receive special education in one or more subjects as a supplement to the normal teaching. This arrangement is the one most commonly used. In these cases, the pupil will follow the ordinary teaching and maintain a connection to his or her class but at the same time receive special support in one or more subjects in addition – i.e. outside the ordinary class time table. This teaching can take place before or after the ordinary teaching. The planning of the special pedagogical support has to take place together with the teacher team of the class.
- The pupil can receive special education which takes place parallel with the ordinary teaching time. In these cases, the pupil will keep his or her relation to the class but receive special planned teaching in the subjects needed parallel with the ordinary teaching. This form of special teaching is only used if the school's leader, from a pedagogical-psychological assessment and after consultation with the parents, decides that this is the best solution for the pupil.
- If a pupil’s difficulties in one or more subjects are considered to be comprehensive, all teaching in the subjects in question must be given as special education. The pupil will then be taught in a special class or in a class at a special school. The pupil's connection to the ordinary class hereby ends and all teaching is given in the special class. Such a class can, depending on the pupil's needs, be placed in an ordinary folkeskole, a special school or a regional teaching offer.
- Finally, the special educational teaching can be organised as a part of a day treatment offer in connection with a placement. However, this presupposes that the child has been placed here by the social authorities.
Apart from the specification in the Folkeskole Act which states that the number of pupils in a class must not exceed 28, there are no regulations on the number of pupils in the different provisions of special education.
If a pupil has so many difficulties in a subject that it is not appropriate to offer the pupil special education in the subject, the pupil can with its parents’ consent be exempted from the teaching in the subject cf. the Ministerial Order on the Folkeskole’s special educational teaching and other kinds of specialist pedagogical assistance. However, this does not apply to the subjects Danish and mathematics.
Furthermore, grading can, by agreement with the pupil and the parents, in one or more subjects be replaced by a written statement of the pupil's standpoint. The statement needs to explain if the pupil has reached the goals set for the teaching in the given subject.