Healthy students in every way “There is nothing better than to see the looks on the parents’ faces when picking up their teenagers on the last day of school: some kids mature three to four years in the one year they’re with us,” says Andreas Ingerslev Larsen, head of Nordjyllands Idrætsefterskole Stidsholt. “Our students form lifelong friendships, develop skills based on their interests, and get to know themselves in a whole new way.” By Louise Older Steffensen | Photos: Nordjyllands Idrætsefterskole Stidsholt
Like other Danish ‘efterskoler’ (independent residential schools for people between 14 and 18 years of age), Nordjyllands Idrætsefterskole Stidsholt emphasises the development of a broader range of skills than traditional schools. Students at efterskoler study academic subjects like maths, Danish and English, but other non-traditional ‘lineal’ subjects are weighed equally. The most important skills efterskole students learn are those that will help them throughout their lives, such as personal responsibility, interpersonal relationships and how to pursue one’s passions. “Our students come to see that school can be fun. Learning is much easier when students 74 | Issue 133 | February 2020
enjoy themselves and are encouraged to pursue their passions.” Nordjyllands Idrætsefterskole Stidsholt is an ‘idrætsefterskole’ (a sports efterskole), which focuses on health. Its six lineal subjects are: football, handball, e-sports, fitness, swimming and badminton. It is possible to combine two to three of these, and everyone takes several additional smaller electives, choosing from, for instance, media, golf and nutrition. “The electives that we offer change a little every year according to what the students’ interests are,” Larsen explains. “Our aim is to allow our students to specialise in their main in-
terest, enabling them to pursue a professional career in, say, football, but to make sure they come out as well-rounded individuals at the same time.”
A home away from home – and not just for Danes While efterskoler are a uniquely Danish concept, dating back to N.F.S. Grundtvig’s 19th-century ideas of self-realisation and enlightenment, Nordjyllands Idrætsefterskole Stidsholt welcomes non-Danish students, too. Students come from Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland, but also from Norway, Sweden and Iceland. “It’s a bit of an adventure, and there’s no better and more natural way to make lifelong Danish friends or to gain a network in Denmark for later careers,” Larsen explains. “Norwegians and Swedes have the option to submit written texts in their own language. Overall, however, we’ve found that students pick up Danish and Danish culture very quickly.”