On attaining qualification to teach, the candidate is ready for probational appointment but generally has to serve for some time as substitute or part-time teacher.

Teachers at state schools are appointed either by the Ministry of Education or with its approval; teachers at municipal schools, by the municipal or communal authorities; and at private schools, by the authorities of the school concerned.

Vacancies for teaching are announced quite generally in a journal for official announcements of the country concerned and in educational journals. The announcement gives details concerning the position, including the time within which and the place where application for it should be filed.

Unless a teacher has served under permanent appointment in a previous position, 2 years of successful service on probation are required for permanent appointment except in Norway where elementary school teachers may receive permanent appointment after 1 year of successful work.

As may be noted in the accounts of the individual countries, teachers are prepared for the specific type of work they intend to pursue. Thus a secondary school teacher who has attained qualification to teach science and mathematics can receive appointment in a competitive system of appointment only in the subjects in which qualification has been attained.

Status. In all five countries those who become teachers and receive permanent appointment rarely leave before the age of retirement. Among the contributing factors for this are the spirit of loyalty and pride of the teachers themselves in their profession, the high regard in which the profession is held by those in other fields of work, and the feeling of modest security a teacher may have for himself and his dependents after attaining the goal of permanent appointment.

Statistical data.-The areas and populations of these countries need to be kept in mind in order to have an understanding of the relative sizes of the school systems and main population classes that they serve. The Netherlands is the smallest of the countries but it has the largest population and, for a people more than 50 percent rural, an amazing number of people for each square mile. Denmark also is densely populated and more than half the inhabitants are classed as rural. Norway, Sweden, and Finland are sparsely populated and a com

paratively low percentage of the people are urban dwellers. These and other important factors are indicated in the following table:

Table 1.-Area and population data for Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Finland

Education, Appointment, and Remuneration of Teachers

Elementary Schools

Organization of elementary and secondary education prior to April 1, 1938. Prior to April 1, 1938, the elementary school in cities in Denmark was a 6-, 7-, or 8-year school with a separate teacher for each year (class). In rural areas the elementary school generally ranged from a 2-year school with one teacher to a 6-year school with three teachers. After the completion of 4 or 5 years of elementary schooling a boy or girl who wished to pursue intermediate and higher studies entered a 4-year middle school (Mellemskole) completion of which qualified for admission to the 1-year modern or real class (Realklasse) or to the 3-year gymnasium. The middle school closed with the middle school examination (p. 20); the real class, with the real or modern examination (p. 20); the gymnasium, with the student examination (p. 21).

Organization of elementary education after April 1, 1938.-By the elementary school law of May 18, 1937, effective April 1, 1938, the elementary school in cities comprises either a 4-year foundation school (4-aarig Grundskole) and a 3-year main school (3-aarig Hovedskole), or a 4-year foundation school and a 4-year middle school (Mellemskole). Within a city, however, elementary schools must be uniform in type.

The middle school may be a theoretical middle school (teoretisk Mellemskole), that is, the regular middle school of the former period closing with the middle school examination, or it may be a practical middle school (pratisk Mellemskole) offering instruction in the general subjects of the elementary school and closing without examination. A community that has a theoretical middle school must provide also a practical middle school. In the latter the fourth year is optional and need not be offered unless at least 10 pupils desire the work. From the viewpoint of examination the schools are designated as middle-school-with-examination (Eksamensmellemskole), and middle-school-without-examination (Eksamensfri Mellemskole). Theoretically they are equal. Practically, however, the middleschool-with-examination is a part of the secondary school system; and the middle-school-without-examination, a part of the elementary school system.

As hitherto a 1-year real class preparing for the modern or real examination may be attached to the theoretical middle school. In Copenhagen the elementary school comprises a 5-year foundation school and a middle school of two divisions: A 4-year theoretical

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