Six researchers
from the Greenland Research Center for Learning and Education, Ilisimatusarfik, have reacted
to Naalakkersuisut's proposal for a new school law, which proposes comprehensive changes at the youngest level, which concerns students
in grades 1 to 3.
The experts believe that the proposal for a new primary school law "will have too great consequences for our children's educational level, so that they are de facto disadvantaged in terms of being able to continue in the education system, and that it will not address the real pedagogical and didactic challenges that schools already face."
The bill, which is under consultation, proposes a sharp reduction in the number of teaching hours from today's 700 to 560 hours. In addition, there will only be 180 school days, compared to today's between 200 and 240. As a consequence, a large number of subjects will be eliminated - including Danish, English and science to strengthen mathematics and the teaching of Greenlandic.
Removing Danish and English to teach only Greenlandic languages is contrary to the knowledge that experts already possess, according to the researchers' consultation response:
- Recent language research tells us that if a child is taught two languages, the child's cognitive development increases, and thus the chances of doing better in later educational life.
We know that.
The researchers Professor Rikke Ørngreen, Associate Professor Lars Demant-Poort, PhD, Assistant Professor Louise Pindstrup-Scavenius and the three PhD students Ivalo Mathiassen, Kirsten Føns and Line Groth Nielsen also refer to the following facts about the current elementary school:
Based on the above, the researchers recommend that there should be a fundamental discussion of "what quality is and should be in the Greenlandic primary school" before starting to make extensive changes.
The researchers are upset that the comments on the bill argue that “shorter school days give students the opportunity to be children for longer, with room for play, curiosity and informal learning situations outside of school”. They believe that school should be the place where “one tries to create more space for play, curiosity and informal learning situations”, and that “creative subjects are given priority”.
Vulnerable children
It worries the researchers that there are plans for fewer school hours and days and a reduction in teaching weeks from 40 to 36.
- What should children do in those places where there is a more limited offer? What does it mean for vulnerable children that adult contact is further reduced and that they are left more to themselves, ask the six school experts, who point out that "with shorter days and four extra weeks each year, parents will potentially also have to find additional childcare options for their children, also because vacation time for parents is not increased with this bill."
As a starting point, the researchers are positive about the basic idea of creating a simpler schooling for the students, but the changes to which subjects should be included in the youngest grade should be "reconsidered," it says.
- In the reduction of subjects, and the choice of which subjects the students will then take throughout stage 1, Danish and English are chosen from, based on an objective to strengthen the Greenlandic mother tongue. This contradicts the conclusions in a report from the Expert Group on Strengthening Language Acquisition, established by the Government of Greenland (2018). This expert group argues that a reduction in languages will impair the students' educational opportunities. The point is that the Greenlandic language must be strengthened through increased quality in teaching, for example, the report suggests teaching that is characterized by a "communicative approach to language as a resource and as something that must be played with and experienced with all senses", the researchers write in the consultation response.
They also recommend that the many children who have a mother tongue other than Greenlandic be taken into account by offering them Greenlandic as a second language to accommodate their opportunities to acquire Greenlandic.
Pilot project
Specifically, with such far-reaching changes in hours and subjects, "a pilot project should be carried out in two or three schools, in order to get as thorough a result as possible to make decisions based on," the six experts point out.
The consultation period for the bill is set for tomorrow, Tuesday. The bill and the comments on it can be read here on the Greenland Government's website.
