Antorini: The municipal primary and lower secondary school should become New Nordic School

Inspired by the world of gastronomy, the municipal primary and lower secondary school is to be reformed under the heading of New Nordic School. That is the intention of the new Minister for Children and Education, Christine Antorini.

The new Minister for Children and Education Christine Antorini has great visions for the municipal primary and lower secondary school. The Minister is preparing the ground for a new learning perspective called New Nordic School. It is a learning perspective inspired by the new Nordic cuisine with Danish NOMA, ranked the best restaurant in the world, leading the way.

“What the chefs did was to take the best from the Danish and Nordic food tradition and with an open mind combine it with the best from foreign cuisines on areas that could inspire and evolve the Nordic cuisine.”

Likewise, with regard to the Danish municipal primary and lower secondary school, there is a range of Danish pedagogical traditions – ingredients if you will – that differ from foreign traditions, the Minister explains:

“We have educated our children under the heading “learning from inclination”. We have prioritized the importance of educating ourselves in communities, across social differences, in which we use each other as role models and grow wiser from one another. Furthermore, it is a tradition to develop subject knowledge and personal skills on equal terms,” she says and continues:

Developing new pedagogical methods

“What is beautiful about the Nordic school tradition is the fact that you learn to think independently in a community. Just as the chefs in the new Nordic cuisine, we will focus on how to learn from the best of the past and combine it with the present society.”

According to Christine Antorini, this is how the New Nordic School will develop new methods. The minister gives the following example:

“One aspect we will focus on is how IT and digital learning methods can become a natural part of the way we learn and work. How can we for instance use social media and the internet to work with language, culture and society. How can it be part of a learning tradition in Denmark? On this point, New Nordic School will develop pedagogical methods rooted in tradition, for instance deep subject knowledge and social skills, class community, project work and practical training in combination with theory, but with an eye for renewal,” Christine Antorini says.