At a rate of 30,000 a year in after-school care, about one million Danes have participated in one – enough to put the indelible mark on the Danish psyche, as their co-founders Christen Kold and NFS Gruntvig imagined in 1879.
Less than a decade earlier, the country had endured its annus horribilis – a humiliating, deadly defeat to Germany that brought the country to its knees. It was time to redefine Danishness for the modern age.
And Kold and Gruntvig’s answer was partly after school.
Instead of German
Originally, after – school bastions were of nationalism – especially for Danish residents in the border country Schleswig-Holstein, which had been ceded to Germany after the defeat in 1864.
In 1888, a law was passed that made German the language of instruction in schools, so to get Danish and cultural education for their children, the minority of the Danish population had to send them to after-school in Denmark.
Attendance rose dramatically after the parliament to return to North Schleswig to Denmark – especially among the Danish minority in southern Schleswig. And after World War II, when nationalism peaked again, the number of attendees from the region increased again.
In 1951, an after-school center for the German minority was even established in the region of Tinglev!
Out of fashion
Continuing education experienced something of a decline in the late 1950s and 1960s, when new pedagogical ideas began to emerge.
The debate also concerned the nature of post-secondary education itself, and whether they should change it by replacing their non-formal folk high school style with a system of fixed curricula and exams.
In 1967, it had been decided that after-school could prepare students for some of the public school exams, and from that time after-school ceased to be linked to the folk high school tradition.
Reborn as specialists
But then in the 1980s, there was a renewed period of growth, and it was during this period that after-school began to establish specialized streams for music or sports.
Until that time, they had all delivered a fairly normal, ordinary education, but today many profile themselves as special subjects: from producing elite athletes to the next big names in Danish theater.
Meanwhile, a number of post-secondary schools emerged for students with specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia.
International too
Finally, in 2016, the International made sure that the international after-school center joined the party at its location on Jutland’s west coast, where it shares the grounds for Vedersรธ Idrรฆtsefterskole.
As Denmark’s only 100 percent English – speaking continuation school, it aims to prepare students for employment in an international workplace together with a focus on intercultural competence, academic expertise, personal development and friends for life.
It is perhaps a bit ironic that most of the first year, Danes were interested in improving their language skills and their international career opportunities.
Source: The Nordic Page