SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION WITHIN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

The general objectives of special education are that handicapped children should as far as possible be taught in ordinary school environments, and that all children are entitled to an instruction which is adapted to their prerequisites, possibilities and needs. Following this, the objectives of the teaching is identical to the ones applying to the different levels of the education system.

Special education can be organised in different ways. In most cases, the pupil remains in a mainstream school class and receives special education in one or more subjects as a supplement to the general teaching. A pupil may receive special education that substitutes the pupil's participation in the normal education in one or more subjects. A pupil may alternatively be taught in a special class either within a mainstream school or within a special school. And finally a combination is possible in which the pupil is a member of either a mainstream school class or a special class, but receives education in both types of classes. Special classes exist for pupils with intellectual disabilities, dyslexia, visual handi-cap, hearing problems, and for pupils with a physical handicap.

Pre-school education
Special educational assistance for infants is regulated by a ministerial order from 1979.
Contrary to children at school age, the obligation to offer special educational assistance to infants comprises only infants with speech and/or language difficulties that require special support provisions. Special assistance is offered to these children in order to prevent a development that would be harmful for the child and to limit the consequences of the handicap, as well as to support and develop the child's linguistic and communicative skills. A speech/hearing therapist is normally engaged to work with the child.

The parents can contact the pedagogical-psychological advisory service in their municipality and ask for special educational assistance for their child.  However, request for assistance is normally initiated by other parties who are in daily contact with the child, such as health visitors, day care nurses, doctors or staff in nurseries or kindergartens.

The pedagogical-psychological advisory centres (PPR) service is obliged to assess the child's needs for special educational assistance upon request.

The Ministry of Education's guidelines on special educational assistance for infants was elaborated in 1980. According to these, special educational assistance for infants shall take place in an active learning environment and must form a well-integrated part of the overall framework of provisions put together for the child; thus it must be well co-ordinated with other activities.

This being said, special educational assistance given in the Folkeskole should seek to avoid as far as possible to remove the infant for teaching and/or training in privacy. Focus shall be on guiding parents and educationalists in day-care centres etc. on how best to support the child's development. Furthermore, co-operation should be established with other institutions and professionals working with the same children.

The role of the municipality and the pedagogical-psychological advisory service
The municipality and the county are obliged to follow up on the development of children referred to special educational assistance. They must, at least once a year, meet to discuss necessary adjustments to be made, i.e. continuation, alterations or discontinuation of the assistance.
The head teacher decides to continue, alter or discontinue the special educational assistance provided for the child, on the basis of advice from PPR. Decisions on special education and other special educational assistance provided by the county are taken by the municipality. Decisions on the contents of extensive special educational assistance are taken by the county council upon consultations with the municipality. All decisions must be taken in consultation with the parents.

As for infants, the PPR advisory service is obliged to re-assess each case within the course of no more than six months.

Compulsory Schooling
The Act on the Danish Folkeskole  outlines the necessity of a close co-operation between the school and the pedagogical-psychological advisory centres (PPR) regarding the provi-sions of special education offered to pupils in the mainstream school system. Special education is always initiated upon advise from the local PPR - deviations from this rule are made only in case the support is offered as a provisional arrangement, i.e. for no more than 15 school days,
Special education counselling is partly under the responsibility of PPR, who are therefore important contributors to the on-going work of providing special educational resources to the mainstream education system.

Special educational assistance comprises all sorts of provision needed for instruction of the pupils:
•  Teaching within all subjects of the Folkeskole
•  Training functions and work methods
•  Special educational assistance to parents, teachers etc.
•  Special educational materials and technical aids
•  Personal assistance
•  Special arrangements and activities

Teaching materials and technical aids
PPR is responsible for estimating whether specific teaching materials or aids could enhance a pupil's learning opportunities or compensate for difficulties such as a handicap. For instance, PPR estimates the necessity of providing a computer in school or at home for a pupil. PPR does not always possess the internal expertise needed in a given situation, and therefore planning - including budgetary planning - must include expenses of buying external expertise in order to meet with the professional requirements that are expected from the service as the basis of a proposal elaborated by its staff.

Extensive special educational assistance
The municipality refers children and young people to the provision of special education and other special educational assistance that lies under the responsibility of the county. The municipality will refer pupils whose development requires special consideration or support that is best provided by the county.

PPR will advice on the structure and nature of the special educational assistance proposed for the child and whether it should be provided by the county or the municipality. If the county is recommended for this purpose, PPR must outline why extensive special support is best provided by the county. The statement from PPR must include an estimation of the municipality's possibilites to meet the needs of the child, in terms of availability of facilities and/or needed expertise.

The county is responsible for organising and providing special education within the main-stream education system, for pupils and students below the age of 18, who reside in the county and who have been referred to special education by the municipal council. The county also decides on the content of the educational programme, on the basis of consultations with the municipality and upon a specific request from the municipality.

Some Danish counties offer pedagogical-psychological counselling also to parents, whose child has been referred to extensive special educational assistance, provided by the county.

Development of mainstream educational services
New rules on special education in the Folkeskole outlines the importance of inclusiveness and differentiated teaching. Enhancing educational inclusiveness in order to limit the segregation of pupils with special needs is given high priority in the Folkeskole.

Current legislation on special education in the Folkeskole was introduced in 2000. The eductional-psychological advisory services plays an important role in promoting inclusiveness in mainstream schools.

A child is notified for a pedagogical-psychological assessment procedure if it is assumed that he or she has special needs that cannot be met with in a mainstream school class, or if the general well-being or social situation of the child is of concern. Special education will be initiated only if it is not possible for the child to follow an educational programme in the mainstream class.

•  Differentiated teaching
Teaching in the Folkeskole shall be organised so that it corresponds to the needs and prerequisites of the individual pupil. The use of differentiated teaching methods should be promoted, not only by the individual teacher in his or her classroom, but as an overall principle of the school.

It is very important to try out all possibilities to meet with the pupil's needs in the mainstream classroom - including differentiated teaching - before he or she is referred to special education.
Differentiated teaching methods should be practiced in relation to contents, time, teaching methods and materials as well as all pedagogical and special educational provisions offered at the school.

According to law, special educational support should always be initiated within the framework of a mainstream educational programme. The responsible parties must seek to organise the support so that it does not bring along unnecessary changes and interventions into the pupil's school life.

•  Assessment
If a pupil's needs are considered to require resources and support provisions that are not available within the mainstream school, the school will notify the pupil for pedagogical-psychological assessment procedure upon consultation with the parents and the pupil. If the parents do not wish to notify their child for assessment, the head teacher must state very strong reasons for doing so without their acceptance.

The parents and the pupil can also apply directly to the local PPR for pedagogical-psychological counselling. Special educational assistance is provided for the child on the basis of:
•  the assessment procedure
•  proposals from PPR
•  and, if needed, a written report.

If the PPR advisory service finds that the pupil needs special educational assistance, it will elaborate a more detailed proposal to the head teacher of the school. If it is found that assistance is not needed, PPR will inform the head teacher and offer to discuss further the situation and needs of the child with the teachers who have notified him or her for assessment.
The proposal of PPR is followed up by a written report if necessary. Parents are always entitled to request such a report.

PPR is obliged to consult relevant external experts during the assessment procedure, i.e. professionals from the social and health service sector, county advisors and knowledge centres. PPR will then elaborate the proposal for assistance in consultation with the parents. In case of disagreement between the parents and PPR, the advisory service must inform the head teacher and state whether they find it "imperative" to initiate special educational assistance for the child. On the basis of this, the head teacher decides if the child should be referred to special educational assistance or not. Consent from the parents is needed, unless it is stated "imperative" to refer the child to special educational assistance.

Complaints
Parents can file a complaint with the municipality against the decision of the head teacher. The final decision lies with the municipality. Parents can bring forward the municipal decisions concerning special educational assistance, rejections or revocations to a complaint's board dealing with extensive special educational assistance. The same goes for the county's decisions on the content of the educational programme.

If the child is proposed to receive special educational assistance in a special school, the parents are entitled to receive an alternative proposal for instruction in the mainstream school - to be given either in the mainstream classroom or in a special class.

Transition Period
Already during the last year of primary education, which is in Denmark the 6th grade, plans for the future of each individual student are elaborated, in the form of thoughts about what should happen after compulsory education or the voluntary 10th grade following compulsory education.
In Denmark this transition plan is partly elaborated on the basis of the so-called "Uddannelsesbogen" (the Educational Record) and the "Uddannelsesplanen" (the Educational Plan). This latter presents a kind of portfolio, which is created in the 6th grade. It contains summaries of individual dialogues between the counsellor and the student. These dialogues last approx. 20 minutes each and are held once a year during the 6th and 7th grade plus twice a year during the last two years of compulsory education (8th and 9th grade) and 10th grade.

The Educational Record provides the necessary documentation with regards to the counselling process and the student's choices during this process. The course of choosing a youth educational programme or employment after schooling is also shown in the Educational Record.

The Record deals with issues such as the student's forte, interests, expectations to the future and wishes in terms of development. The student's efforts during a certain time span could also be described and put forward as intermediate aims in the Record.

The student's wishes and expectations, as put forward in the Educational Record, are not binding for his or her future choices. They are meant to serve as guidelines for defining important issues in relation to the transition from school to further education or employment.
On the basis of the Educational Record the student will elaborate an Educational Plan during 9th grade and perhaps again whilst attending the 10th grade. This Plan will show the student's aims and objectives in relation to further education or employment. The reason why it could be elaborated again after the 10th grade is that compulsory education finishes after the 9th grade.

To strengthen the student's abilities to choose a programme for further education or em-ployment, educational, vocational and labour market relations are taught as a subject during the last years of schooling. Furthermore, all students are offered vocational training programmes within an enterprise. Young people with special educational needs are offered a more comprehensive vocational training programme than others, and it is also possible to offer to them a so-called work training programme of a longer duration during their last years of schooling. This will be arranged either for two whole days per week, and the student will then attend school for the remaining three days, or it can be for five after-noons per week, so that the student attends school each day from 8 a.m. to 12 approxi-mately. The student will receive non-tariff based remuneration, i.e. a so-called financial reward for participating in the work-training programme. This kind of work training is well known in several European countries as "The Dual System".

Furthermore, each municipality can offer to all students to participate in a so-called bridge-building programme in the course of the 10th grade. These are programmes combining guidance and teaching. They aim at providing the young person with better possi-bilities and motivation in order for him or her to choose and accomplish a youth education programme and to develop professional and personal qualifications. In Denmark youth education programmes cover:
•  General upper secondary education
•  Vocational upper secondary education (e.g. vocational education and training, agricultural education, social and health education).

The duration of these bridge-building programmes varies from 8 to 40 weeks. They comprise two to four elements from various types of schooling as mentioned above, or they can be organised so that the students will attend courses at production schools or labour market introductory courses. Each element lasts from 4 to 36 weeks. In parallel, the programmes contain some elements from the subjects of the 10th grade.

In parallel, the student will accomplish a compulsory task on an individually chosen subject as part of the 10th grade. This will give him or her a possibility to work individually on a given subject, based on the aims and objectives set out in the Educational Plan, on the bridge-building programmes and other activities described in the Plan.