Welcome to the Centre for Danish Educational History

The Centre for Danish Educational History aims to raise awareness of the importance of school history. It consists of physical collections as well as a digital platform for educational history. The platform explains and explores 400 years of educational history based on thorough academic research as well as facilitating the exchange of knowledge between cultural institutions and researchers.

Click to find info on us and how to get in contact.

Teaching materials

Danish Educational History has developed a series of teaching materials for primary- and lower secondary school. Focusing on the historical development of the danish school, the material can initiate dialogue and insight into the school we are constantly affecting. Please note that the language of the materials are in Danish. Please contact us if you would like to know more.

Short cuts

Wallcharts

Historical School Photographs

Parish Maps

Historical School Objects

Danish School Laws

Historical Pedagogic Study Collection

About us

The Parish Maps of Trøst-Hansen

A photographic presentation of Danish parishes with the local churches, pastors, provosts, teachers and of course, schools. An amazing undertaking started in the beginning of the 20th century by merchant Trøst-Hansen, but unfortunately never completed. We know of 856 parish maps, which can be found in our collections, but there were just over 2,000 parishes in Denmark at the time.

The Collection of Danish School Laws

A collection of selected digitized school laws dating from 1521 to the present day. There are legislature documents for primary school, secondary school, high school/college and HF (Higher Preparatory Exam), and the education of teachers and pedagogues.

Wallcharts

Wallcharts were a part of the ‘learn-by-pictures’ lessons, which took place from the mid-1800s onward. Most schools had very few or no books at all and the children only rarely left their parish. This made the wallcharts a very effective teaching material to help the teacher illustrating and explaining the world. Through the wallcharts, the teacher could show the lives of animals and plants, how factories worked, remote countries and foreign cultures. The pictures could illustrate the teacher as he or she told the stories of the known Danish soldier and war hero Tordenskjold, the victories of king Christian IV or the progress of industrialization. It is the largest wallchart collection in Europe, and consists of approximately 12,500 Danish and foreign wall charts. Read more and have a closer look at the Wallchart Collection.

School Historical Network

The centre of Danish Educational History cooperates with researchers, museums, schools, libraries, archives and others engaged in school history. Both nationally and internationally. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have a proposition for a future project or collaboration. Read more about the network here.

International conference on school history

In July 2019, we were pleased to invite interested scholars and other interested parties working with school museums, collections and educational history to participate in the 18th Symposium for School Museums and History of Education Collections.

Wallcharts, history and European identity

History Wall Charts is a european collaboration on communicating the history of wall charts. The project allows you to compare pictures from the same geographical area, the same period or thematically. Read more about the collaboration here.

Review of the collection from the Danish School Museum In 2008 The Danish School Museum closed and the collection was rapidly stored into containers. In 2016 The National Museum of Denmark went through the collection and offered the objects to interested museums in Denmark. This documentary follows the entire proces, from opening the boxes untill all shelves are empty and The National Museum wrapped up the project. With English subtitles.

Tales from school

When was gymnastics introduced in school and why did it take much longer before girls started having gym lessons? When did we officially start educating teachers? What was the role of the female teacher and why? Which subjects have the pupils had throughout history, what did the teachers focus on and why was religion a central subject in school 100 years ago? Those are some of the questions we seek to answer in this theme page. Both in text, sound and pictures. Please note that all articles are in Danish, but we hope you can still get an impression of the site. If you are curious on Danish school history, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Historical Pedagogic Study Collection

This collection consists of materials that cover the history of the Royal Danish School of Educational Studies, The Danish School of Advanced Pedagogy and the Danish National Institute for Educational Research, until the merger of all three institutions in the year 2000.

Historical collection of school photographs

The collection consists of about 4.500 photographs from the 1880's to the 1960's. There are pictures of schools, schoolchildren, teachers, seminars on school matters and of course of classrooms. Go directly to the database.

Collection of historical school objects

This collection consists of photographs of historical objects from danish schools. The oldest are from late 1800 while the youngest are from the 1950's. Go directly to the database here. Please note that the database is in danish.