What do you hope to achieve during the next year in the international committee? To me, it made a big difference when we had a representative from the union at our school who spoke fluently English and could answer all our questions. If people don’t understand what a union is in a Danish context, they often don’t see any point in joining. I believe that the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools should ensure that there is a flow of information about the Danish system to international teacher, but you are up against the knowledge and cultures that the teachers have from their home countries. It is my experience that once international teachers understand the role of the unions in Denmark, they realize how big a difference it makes if you are a member. How do you think the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools could organize more international teachers? In some countries, you are considered a rebel or a communist if you are a member of a union. For some international teachers, the Danish union system is very different from what they know in their home country. I know how it works in Spain, and I am not saying it is better or worse, I am just saying that it is different. But international teachers need to figure out how the union system works in Denmark. You don’t have any international teachers as far as I know in Folkeskolen (the Danish municipal primary and lower secondary school), so the vast majority of international teachers in Denmark are working at independent schools, and they are organised in the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools. I believe that the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools is the key for international teachers in Denmark. How do you see the role of the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools in relation to the international teachers? Some teachers are so deeply affected by their cultures that even if they are told about the Danish rules, they show up sick again and again. I have had colleagues who have shown up for work, sick with a fever, because they don’t know that in Denmark you don’t have to do that to get paid or not lose your job. Often, when international teachers are offered jobs at Danish independent schools, they feel so happy about the opportunity that they forget to ask about their rights, or ask themselves if they know enough about their rights as an employee at a Danish independent school. I have lived in Denmark for seven years, and there are still a lot of things about the Danish system that I don’t understand.Īnother main challenge, in my opinion, is that we don’t know our own rights and duties. It took me three years to really understand my payslip with the different “tillæg” (supplements) and how my pension was connected to my salary, and so on. Our biggest challenge is to get used to the Danish system. What do you see as the main challenges of being an international teacher in Denmark
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This year, one of the other participants taught me how to fill in a PPR-report quicker, better and in a more specific way, and that really makes my life easier. We can learn a lot from each other because we have a lot of the same challenges. I always get great help from the secretary, but at the seminar you have two days only about being an international teacher and an international member of the union.Īlso, the seminar is a unique opportunity to network with other international teachers. I can ask specific questions to Uffe (chairman of the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools) and Rikke (contact person from the executive committee) and get a direct and precise answer. We are a small group of members in the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools, but at the international seminar, I really feel that I am listened to. It puts the specific questions from the international teachers on the agenda. I see it as our biggest task to organise the international seminar. In your opinion, what is the most important task of the new international committee?
So, it seemed natural to put up my candidacy for the international committee, and I am happy that the other members of the committee elected me as chairman. Some years ago, I helped organise the international seminar, and I have been involved every year since. What are your thoughts about your new role? You are the first chairman of the international committee of the Teachers' Union for Danish Independent Schools.
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