ESC: Odsherreds Efterskole

Odsherredes Efterskole is a self-governing boarding school (efterskole) with an international profile offering formal secondary education for10th grade. It has around 165 students between 16-17 year, which stay for one year at the school. The school is situated in the western part of Zealand in a small town named Faarevejle. An "Efterskole' is a unique schooling concept found only in Denmark. It is a kind of a private boarding school with government grants that provides Secondary School education for young people, predominately between the ages of 14-17. The school is privately run, and this means that there is an annual fee for parents to send their child/children to the school, but families also apply for government funding depending on their financial status. Each 'Efterskole' chooses its own profile and an area on which it will focus its teaching in addition to the compulsory subjects. Odsherreds Efterskole profile is school exchanges, cultural exchange and partaking in projects around the world in cooperation with different NGO organizations. The aim is to develop the skill of the students both the academic and the human in order for them to be more equipped to take up their task in life as world citizens. We have a high academic level and are accredited to teach Cambridge IGCSE's and in addition to the mandatory subjects do we offer a large range of elective courses. This means that each student can combine their own timetable according to skills, interest and future dreams. Odsherreds Efterskole has an international profile with 8 different sister schools around the world. Each year our students travel to different destinations in America, Asia, Europe and Africa where they visit our sister schools, have homestays and the experience of a school day that often is very different from what they are used to. The sister schools also send their student to our school and we then give them an impression of the Danish school system, different teaching methods and the life on an Efterskole. Each year we also travel to different destination primarily to Africa, Asia and Europe in association whit different aids organisations - DanChurchAid, Mellemfolkelig Samvirke, CVI and the like. This we believe gives the student a broad perspective on the world and what it means to live in a time of globalization. About 40 people work at Odsherreds Efterskole, most of them as teachers but part of the staff also include the kitchen staff, janitors and cleaning. The staff reflects our international profile and includes teachers from the Netherland, England and Indonesia.All student and teachers take part in the cleaning and the students help in the kitchen on route, which teach them that they all have a responsibility for the school environment. A thing that is unique about an Efterskole is the teacher-student relationship . The teacher is responsible for teaching as well as supervision and activities outside of school hours. This means that teachers and students are together all day from the time the students wake up until they go to bed. This often engenders a close, personal and nonformal relationship between students and teachers. At Odsherreds Efterskole the students are divided into 20 groups with a teacher as their main contact person.