Teachers reveal dozens of special arrangements for pupils

Teachers in Denmark say they are struggling to keep track of growing numbers of special arrangements for pupils, with one teacher managing 38 agreements in recent years, DR reports.

Signe Kløve Dreyer, a teacher at Skolen på Islands Brygge, says the agreements reflect a public school system that is not equipped for full inclusion. She says more pupils have special needs because more have diagnoses.

The arrangements can include reminders to drink water, exemptions from giving presentations and requests to work only with certain classmates. Dreyer says the time spent managing them can take attention away from the rest of the class.

“I don’t always feel I can meet the needs of the larger group because I spend so much energy on individual pupils,” she says.

At Ulfborg Skole, a school near Holstebro, teacher Gitte Bach has made a timetable listing the arrangements in her class so other teachers and substitutes can keep track. She says there are arrangements in 23 of the school week’s 29 lessons.

Some pupils have agreements to arrive at different times, leave early or take breaks from lessons. Bach says she is willing to make an arrangement if it helps a pupil stay at school for the full day, but the number of requests has become too high. Her class has 28 pupils, she says, with many different needs to consider.