Education needs to support all children not just those who are good at maths

The lessons Pernille Kruse Madsen learnt helping the victims of trafficking in Nepal apply to all children, she tells Emma Loffhagen

VERY child needs and deserves access to a good education, wherever they are, to set themselves up with the skills needed for life." Having dedicated the last 10 years of her life to improving education access for the most underprivileged children in Nepal and Kenya, one might assume that Pernille Kruse Madsen, founder of the Human Practice Foundation, wouldn't bat an eyelid at the problems facing London's schools. But on the day I meet her, she is keen to discuss the capital's concerns.

"Drop out rates in school are a concern everywhere," Madsen says. "There are lots of reasons children might not want to go to school - anxiety, which is made worse by social media, or bullying." It is a similarly serious issue in her native Denmark, with students dealing with stress, loneliness and anxiety. Concerns about how this affects students in the short and long term led Madsen to set up an "inner strength programme", a course for schools, led by teachers, which is designed to help students understand their own feelings and behaviour.

"We emphasise academic education but also what we call life skills - social and emotional learning," she says. "We go in [to schools] and help the children with the ability to really trust and believe in themselves, and also to understand others from their perspective. A lot of children have difficulty accepting themselves inner strength of a child is extremely important for this."

It's a programme that would work well in London, too. Madsen is well aware that the number of pupils classed as persistently absent in London spiralled during Covid and remains above pre-pandemic levels, with some boroughs seeing up to a quarter of pupils repeatedly skipping school. "It's very important that the education system supports all children, and not only the ones who are good at maths and English - academic in a traditional way," she continues. "That's what the world needs, people with different skillsets."