Since I have came to Denmark I have been particularly interested in the different school systems in Demark. One which particularly captured my thought was the Efterskole, a school for children in the tenth grade and in particular the schools that allowed the children to board there. Taking this into consideration I travelled to Rejsby Europæiske Efterskole, situated about four to five mile aoutside Ribe on the West coast of Denmark.
The school caters for about one hundred and thirteen students from the age of 15 to 17. It is here where they eat, sleep, study and socialise with the option of going home to visit their parents during the weekend. However, it was not to my surprise to find out that many of them stayed for weeks on end without visiting their families when I saw the conditions they lived in. Each student either stays in a room shared with one other student or in a 'hut' or 'apartment-type' room with three other students of the same sex. They receive breakfast at the early hour of 7.30am, brunch at 10am, lunch at 1:30pm, dinner at 5:30pm and then tea and cake before they go to bed at 9 or 9:30pm. Between breakfast and dinner they attend various different lessons including English, Danish, Maths, German and French. It is usual for an efterskole to carry a certain theme, such as sport, drama or science. This one however, focuses on the European aspect of education and concentrate strongly on the subject of languages. The students at this school were very keen to meet us and seem very eager to learn about Ireland and particularly the war that has tarnished the North of Ireland over recent years. It is obvious that the students are very happy with their choice of Rejsby Europæiske Efterskole and they enjoy living with their classmates and socialising with many people that visit their unique type of school from all over the continent, myself being a perfect example of this.
I was particularly lucky in that the first week I visited the school there was also a group from Barcelona (Spain). During this week I observed the Danish students mixing with the Spanish. Here both schools exuded confidence and hospitality, and the level of their English was second to none. I am sure that this confidence and williness to socialise with other Europeans has been influenced by the fact that these teenagers attend an Efterskole such as this. Here they are open to all different types of people and so they learn to accept everyone. It is my opinion that Ireland is missing a school like this, it is a great form of encouraging maturity and extinguishing poor social behaviour. A school I am most definitely impressed in.
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