The French-Danish comparison decodes the efterskole, the “school for life” founded in 1851 on Grundtvig’s ideas: 245 schools, 28,000 students, democratic citizenship and practical chores.
The French-Dutch comparison analyses the Metis Montessori Lyceum: school autonomy, skills portfolio, pedagogical coaching, VMBO / HAVO / VWO tracks and Technasium.
The French-Italian comparison documents “Educazione civica” (Law 92/2019), the concordat and secularism; the French-Spanish comparison compares the role of the bursar and the organisation of school time; the Greek notes describe a system that is not attractive but very caring, where private afternoon lessons complement school.
The Greek part relies in particular on a two-hour interview with Marina Kazakou: public and private provision around 90% and 10%, ministry budget of about 5 billion euros including universities, 35 teaching hours per week in the first two years of high school, panhellenic exams in June, teachers paid about 1,200 euros a month after 19 years of service and close to 30% non-tenured.
The Danish part describes the nine-year Folkeskole ending with the Afgangeksamen, an optional tenth year chosen by about 50% of students, classes of around twenty students followed by the same referent teacher, and grading from 0 to 13 (average 6) nonexistent before the age of 14 or 15.