More pupils leave lower secondary school without passing Danish and maths

More than one in 10 pupils failed to pass both Danish and mathematics in the 2025-26 school year, according to figures reported by DR. A total of 10.5 per cent did not achieve at least grade 2 in both subjects.

School researcher Andreas Rasch-Christensen of VIA University College called the figure too high, saying it initially prevents those pupils from moving on to upper secondary education.

The average grade in the compulsory final exams for ninth grade was 7.3, almost unchanged from the past four years.

Rasch-Christensen described the combination of an almost unchanged average and the rising share of pupils failing Danish and mathematics as worrying, particularly following a PISA study published the previous week that showed Danish pupils had worsened in mathematics, reading and science.

“Looking across the figures, we are dealing with a public school system that is struggling to support the academic development of all pupils,” he said, particularly pointing to pupils facing difficulties and those from disadvantaged families.

The proportion of pupils leaving ninth grade without passing both subjects has increased from 3.4 per cent in 2020-21 to 10.5 per cent in 2025-26. The figure was 6.9 per cent in 2018-19.

Figures for the school years 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, when fewer exams were held and grades were fully or partly based on teachers’ assessments.

Denmark’s municipalities were called to an emergency meeting on Monday morning to discuss the public school system. Before the meeting, a school leader urged greater focus on pupils with an immigrant background, who performed significantly worse in the PISA study than children without an immigrant background.