A calmer atmospher and higher grades in school

The “Perspekt” teaching material strengthens pupils’ social and academic skills. The first results indicate a clear improvement in the grades of the pupils.

Help is at hand for Denmark’s hardpressed primary and lower secondary school teachers, who often seem to spend more time sorting out conflicts between pupils than they do actually teaching. The aim of the “Perspekt” teaching programme, which has been sponsored by the Rockwool Foundation for the past two years, is to improve children’s concentration in school, thus avoiding disruption and inappropriate behaviour.
“Perspekt” is cognitive-based teaching material which aims to develop children’s personal and social skills, putting them in a better position to benefit from the teaching they receive in school.
The name Perspekt comes from combining the Danish words for perspective and respect. The programme typically covers around 60 class lessons. Perspect as been developed by Allan Knægt and Jane Vinter, both of whom have many years of experience with experimental educational projects.

Learning can be fun. The pupils at Gurrevej School in Helsingør use LEGO bricks as part of the “Perspekt” teaching programme. 

Better grades in Vollsmose

The first testing of the material was conducted in 2007 at Abildgård School in Vollsmose, a suburb of Odense with a high percentage of immigrants in the population. A sixth grade class was taught the “Perspekt” level 2 programme, and a ninth grade class worked through “Perspekt” level 3.
With only two small classes, each with 15 pupils, no stastically significant conclusions could be drawn from the results – but there were clear indications that teaching the Perspect material had had a positive impact when the pupils from these two classes were compared with pupils in the two parallel classes who had not taken the course. The “Perspekt” pupils displayed greater enthusiasm and drive, and an increased capacity to solve problems and handle difficult situations, compared to the parallel group. And the “Perspekt” pupils improved their ability to make self evaluations of their own strengths and weaknesses.
These positive effects of “Perspekt” were reflected in the pupils’ grades. The ninth grade “Perspekt” pupils achieved overall mid-year grades that were on average 0.3 points higher (on the Danish 12-point scale) than those of pupils in the parallel class. The most noticeable effect was the improvement in grades between the midyear assessment and the final exams. Here, the “Perspekt” students achieved an increase in their grades that averaged 0.5 points more than the students in the parallel class.
The results thus suggested that the improvement in personal and social skills that the pupils acquired through the “Perspekt” programme had an impact on their academic grades as well.

New initiatives

The positive results from the pilot project with the two classes in Vollsmose have already prompted new initiatives undertaken without needing the support of the Rockwool Foundation. Abildgård School has decided to continue with “Perspekt” in the next school year with courses for both the sixth grade classes. In addition, Gurrevej School in Helsingør (Elsinore) will use “Perspekt” for a fifth and an eighth grade class during the school year 2008-09, again without the need of support from the Rockwool Foundation.

Teaching material for the very young

Because of the good results obtained with “Perspekt” 2 and “Perspekt” 3, the Rockwool Foundation has decided to support the development of material for “Perspekt” 1, so that the youngest pupils can also make the most of their schooling by improving their personal and social skills. A course programme has been run in three reception classes and three firstgrade classes at Gurrevej School. The young pupils’ parents are also being involved, participating in a course where they are taught using the same methods. In this way the children receive support in the development of their personal and social skills both in school and at home. The pupils are assessed according to a number of parameters. There are tests of their reading and maths skills, and assessments of their self-evaluation skills and of their sense of well-being. The pupils are evaluated both before and after the “Perspekt” course so that a thorough assessment of the effects can be made even for these very young pupils.

Vollsmose to follow suit

The staff of Abildgård School in Vollsmose have had such good experience with the earlier projects that they firmly believe that the “Perspekt” 1 course will also have a positive effect. The school is therefore already planning to run the course in one or more of its reception classes in the next school year.