Chair of the Danish Teachers' Association’s Education Committee, Regitze Flannov, holds a piece of paper with a line drawn down the middle.

On the left, she has noted everyone who has recommended technology understanding as a standalone subject in primary schools. On the right, those who support it as an elective.

"On the left side, I’ve written the Danish Teachers' Association, students, school leaders, upper secondary education institutions, teacher training programs, universities, municipalities, regions, and a number of researchers. On the other side, it says: The government," she tells folkeskolen.dk/it.

That’s why Regitze Flannov is surprised by the decision to introduce technology understanding as an elective, a decision finalized in Tuesday’s major school agreement at Christiansborg.

"We will engage constructively in ensuring that the subject is implemented in the best possible way within the framework that has now been decided. But I think it’s a shame that in a wealthy country like Denmark, with a strong identity as a digital frontrunner, technology understanding is not considered a mandatory skill to acquire in primary school," she says.

Professor Ole Sejer Iversen chaired the expert group that drafted the objectives for the pilot subject Technology Understanding and was appointed last fall as the head of the newly established Knowledge Center for Digital Technology Understanding.

That it will now be offered as an elective, he hopes, "is the beginning, not the culmination."

"After taking a moment to collect my thoughts, I’m initially happy for the sake of our children that the government has introduced technology understanding in schools," says Ole Sejer Iversen.

Read the rest of the article on folkeskolen.dk