2_1_ScanMag_71_Dec_2014_Text_MADS_Scan Magazine 1 29/11/2014 12:13 Page 47
Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Education in Denmark
RIGHT: Handball player at Viborg HK, Ann Grethe Nørgaard, coaches the students.
ready to study yet. Attending the cooking course here has helped me decide that I want to go to a cooking school next year,” the 16-year-old student says. Expanding the world The high quality and level of courses aside, the school has an alternate goal in mind. “We are very sought-after because of our ambitious courses, and we make an effort to ensure a high standard of quality – but the main educational goal for us is to make our students greater people. We try to pull them in other directions, and to take them places they never imagined they would go. We aim to broaden their perspectives and to open their eyes to other possibilities than just their main interest and people like themselves,” he says. Sixteen-year-old student Simon Grand recognises this point. He chose the school because of the ambitious football course and with “no other aim but the fact that there are no mandatory gymnastics here,”
which he says was a big plus. He was surprised to make a lot of new friends with other interests than his own, a fact he ascribes to living so closely with a lot of different people, like you do at an efterskole. “I feel like I have a really tight relationship with all the friends I’ve made here – probably because we’re around each other all the time,” he says, convinced that he will keep a tight connection with his friends after the year is over. The aim to broaden the students’ world and mindset is something the school integrates on many levels. Be it introducing the football team to a modern dance performance, having the entire school dig deep into Bertolt Brecht for a week during their Theatre Week – or to travel abroad. From next school year onwards, the students will be going on a trip to Ghana. “To travel changes your perspective – and we want to really show them something different from their own world,” Junker says. Along these lines, the school will also introduce a brand new course next year,
The football course is coached by the professional football club Viborg FF (Andreas Lang and Katrine Breum Jørgensen).
Human Entrepreneurship, where the students will be trained in advanced problem-solving, developing the ability to come up with innovative solutions. The change of perspective doesn’t just happen abroad. In her first few months at the school, 16-year-old Spanggaard Bach has already discovered a big personal change. “I’ve learned to be more open,” she says. “I used to be very withdrawn, but I’ve become very outgoing!”
- It is recommended to sign up at year seven to ensure a place. - The school is for years nine and ten. - Hald Ege Efterskole runs Camp Hee, a chance for the 10-14-year-olds to experience the efterskole life before deciding.
For more information, please visit: www.hald-ege-efterskole.dk
Principal Erik Junker.
Issue 71 | December 2014 | 47