Denmark

The Danish Constitution from 1849 (section 76) states that education shall be compulsory (whether provided by the family or school) and free in public institutions. It defines the goal of education to be the development of the pupil's personality, aptitudes, and needs, and the promotion of academic achievement and practical skills on the one hand and spiritual values and community consciousness on the other. Danish education has further been shaped by a small number of historic statutes and regulations such as the Grammar Schools Act of 1809, the Act of 1857 abolishing the control of crafts training by the guilds, the Apprenticeship Act of 1889, and the Act of 1814 introducing seven years of compulsory education, as well as a number of pieces of legislation in the second half of the 1900s.