FREE SCHOOLS (4)

Consolidation in the Danish school sector continues apace, with the number of free schools creeping up. Since I last wrote about this in 2012, the total has risen from 526 to 550, covering 110,000 pupils. This is despite the fact that the subsidy given by the state to free schools has fallen from 75% to 71%.

Although there are concerns about the state education sector, much of the development continues to take place in rural areas, where free schools are replacing small state schools that would otherwise have closed. That process is far from complete.

Walter Blotscher