Today’s big topic: Changes to the 9th-grade exams could affect boys especially hard
What’s happening?
As thousands of students these days finish elementary school, they have taken fewer exams than earlier cohorts were put through. In 2024, a majority in Parliament decided to ease exam pressure by cutting the number of mandatory tests from eight to six. Lawmakers also changed which subjects students can be assigned for their exams.
But the new mix of exams may be a direct disadvantage for boys. That is the conclusion of a new analysis from the Rockwool Foundation. Girls already generally earn higher grades than boys in school. Last year, girls averaged 7.9 on the final exams, while boys averaged 7.0. With the changes to the exams, the gap will widen by another 0.2 grade points, the analysis estimates, based on how last summer’s graduating classes performed. That amounts to a 17 percent increase.
Above all, it is the political decision to drop oral English as a mandatory exam for everyone that will widen the grade gap. It was the exam in which boys last year earned their highest average.
»English is a subject where many boys do relatively well, and that’s also true of the weakest students. It’s one of the tests that lifts some students just over the bar to get into upper secondary education«, says Mille Bjørk, the Rockwool Foundation’s head of analysis, who is behind the analysis.
Why it matters!
At the Confederation of Danish Industry, Mads Eriksen Storm, head of education and research policy, worries about boys — a concern reinforced by the new Rockwool Foundation analysis. He points out that 20 years ago, girls and boys earned virtually the same grades. So, he argues, there is something structural in the education system as a whole that is leaving boys behind. It could involve everything from exam formats to what is taught in the classroom to how the grading scale is constructed.
»When one half of the population gets so much more out of the school experience than the other, that’s a waste of talent. We owe the male half of the population an education system that makes them as capable as they can possibly be«, he says.
Still curious? Read the full article here.
In other news
– Popular mayor from Holbæk has been elected deputy leader of Socialdemokratiet
Christina Krzyrosiak Hansen was on Wednesday elected deputy leader of the Socialdemokratiet, she announces on Instagram. »It is a task I will approach with great humility«, she writes.
The 33-year-old politician has been mayor of Holbæk since the municipal election in 2017, and she has recived a high number of votes at every local election. At the 2021 municipal election, she received 18,590 personal votes, corresponding to 46.5 percent of all valid votes cast in the municipality. At last year’s municipal election, her personal vote count fell slightly to 15,785, but it was still enough to make her the biggest vote-getter in the country when measured by the share of personal votes in the municipalities, writes Ritzau.
– DMI issues new heat-wave alert
It will be hot this weekend — very hot. According to Ritzau, DMI on Wednesday issued a heat wave alert covering virtually the entire country. From midday Friday to Sunday evening, many places are expected to see temperatures above 30 degrees. On Saturday and Sunday, they could even reach 35 degrees. The air will also be humid, making it feel even hotter. DMI expects the night into Saturday and the night into Sunday to be so-called tropical nights, defined by temperatures that do not drop below 20 degrees.
– Remember to bring your blue health insurance card if you are travelling in Europe
It is important to bring the blue health insurance card when you go on holiday to a European country (in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland the yellow health insurance card applies). The card entitles you to necessary public healthcare on the same terms as citizens of the country you are visiting. But the blue card is only valid for five years from the date of issue, and it must be valid for the entire period you are abroad, so check the expiry date before you travel. You can order a new card at borger.dk. Delivery time is typically two to three weeks, but after ordering you will receive a temporary certificate that you can use until the card arrives.
Talk of town: Copenhagen has a new fountain — and you’re allowed to bathe in it
'Something Between US'
It’s been hot in Copenhagen lately, and the city’s harbour baths are packed. But there are other ways to cool down – for instance by stopping by the city’s new fountain ’Something Between US’, which looks stunning both in daylight and after dark. Politiken’s art critic Mathias Kryger paid it a visit and describes the fountain as fun.
The artist behind it is Jeppe Hein. For more than 25 years, he has been making a type of fountain he calls water pavilions, where jets shoot water up from below into splashing, temporary walls. There are already several of Jeppe Hein’s interactive so-called water pavilions in Denmark: in the parks at the art museums Ordrupgaard and Kunsten in Aalborg. One at the harbor in Aarhus and one by Præstø Harbor...
And now also in the newly inaugurated public space in Copenhagen’s Postbyen district, placed between a hotel, the new cylindrical high-rises and the urban view westward over the tracks.
Still curious? Read more here.
This newsletter features stories originally published in Danish. AI was used to shorten and translate the articles into English, after which a member of the editorial staff reviewed and refined the content.