Mother’s call for fewer school tests wins applause in Aarhus

A mother of two won the loudest applause at a meeting with Denmark’s prime minister and education minister after calling for fewer tests and more focus on students’ personal development in schools, DR reports.

Stine Trolle Elmholdt, whose children are in fourth and seventh grade at Sølystskolen in Aarhus Municipality, spoke at a meeting attended by around 200 parents on Thursday evening. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Education Minister Magnus Heunicke had invited 300 parents to the event at Frederiksbjerg School in Aarhus.

Elmholdt said the public school system had lost sight of developing well-rounded people, with too much emphasis on covering material and testing students. She said she was pleased with her children’s teachers but criticised the 2014 school reform, arguing that its many learning targets and associated tests had limited teachers’ freedom to give students time for deeper study.

Heunicke acknowledged concerns about testing, particularly a reading-speed test that he said puts students under stress and is designed so they do not finish. He said he would investigate whether the test should remain, be changed or be scrapped.

Frederiksen said she wanted more focus on personal development in schools and education, but added that exams, grades and tests remained important to identify which children were doing well and which were not.