Two-subject school days bring calm and focus to Danish primary school
Wednesday 17th June 2026 on 12:15 in
Denmark
A primary school on the Danish island of Mors has replaced traditional 45-minute lessons with two extended blocks per day, each lasting two hours and 20 minutes, reports DR.
Dueholmskolen introduced the model two years ago as part of the national “Folkeskolens kvalitetsprogram – frihed og fordybelse” reform, which gives schools more flexibility to structure the day for better academic and personal development.
The change has brought noticeable calm to the school of 700 students and 100 staff, according to principal Lars Zedlitz Alberg and teacher Chalotte Kristensen. The reduction in transitions between subjects has eliminated much of the daily disruption.
For older students, the school day now runs from 08:00 to 13:30, freeing up time for extracurricular activities. Kasper Nørgaard, chair of the school board and father of a sixth-grade student, reports his son returns home more relaxed.
Longer lessons allow for deeper engagement with subjects. While it is too early to measure the impact on grades, teacher Helle Møller believes the approach will lead to academic improvement. Jeppe Bundsgaard, professor at the Danish Institute for Pedagogy and Education, supports this view, noting that 5–10% of a 45-minute lesson is often lost to settling in. The old schedule sometimes wasted up to two hours a day on transitions, Zedlitz Alberg estimates.
Staff sick leave has dropped significantly since the change. In 2023, under the old system, absenteeism was 6.84%. By 2026, it had fallen to 2.72%, with no stress-related absences in the past three years.
Conflict levels have also decreased. The school has recorded no incidents of threats or violence between students and staff in the past two years, whereas such cases were monthly occurrences in 2023. Pedagogues now focus on prevention rather than intervention, Zedlitz Alberg says.
The main challenge is ensuring smaller subjects do not get neglected. To address this, the school revises its schedule every 10 weeks, ensuring no subject is sidelined for too long. Teachers also adjust timings if a subject has been absent from the schedule for an extended period.