This report concerns the Ministry of Children and Education’s follow-up on two key requirements of the Folkeskole Act.
The purpose of the study is to assess whether the Ministry of Children and Education has satisfactorily followed up on the Folkeskole Act’s requirements regarding the minimum instruction time and teacher qualification coverage in Danish and mathematics. Rigsrevisionen answers the following questions in the report:
- Has the Ministry supervised whether schools deliver the statutory minimum number of hours of instruction in Danish and mathematics?
- Has the Ministry followed up on the proportion of instruction time in Danish and mathematics delivered by teachers with subject-specific qualifications in the two subjects?
Rigsrevisionen finds that the Ministry of Children and Education’s follow-up on the Folkeskole Act’s requirements regarding minimum instruction time and teacher qualification coverage in Danish and mathematics has been unsatisfactory.The Ministry has only monitored schools’ planned instruction time and planned assignment of teachers, which do not reflect the instruction actually delivered by schools. Rigsrevisionen notes that, almost eight years after the Danish Public Accounts Committee criticised the Ministry for monitoring only planned instruction, its practice remains unchanged. As a consequence, the Ministry has not had the necessary insight into the number of hours of instruction actually delivered or into teachers’ qualifications. Consequently, the Ministry has been unable to respond to non-compliance with the requirements of the Folkeskole Act.
Rigsrevisionen initiated the study in September 2025.