ESC: Volunteering at Brenderup Folk College

All Danish folk high schools are based on the teachings of the philosopher N.F.S. Grundtvig and contemporary educators, who believed that valuable lessons about life could be learned through dialogue, teaching and social interaction. The Danish folk high schools are still seen as a vital part of the formation and development of democracy in Denmark. Brenderup Højskole, Academy for Intercultural Learning, was founded in 1986, and like the other folk high schools, we offer non-formal adult education. Most students are between 18 and 25 years old, the length of a typical stay is from 12 weeks to 10 months and we have around 45 students following different courses. They sleep, eat, study and spend their spare time at the school - a boarding school. There are no academic requirements for admittance and there are no exams. Brenderup Højskole believes that a precondition for peaceful co-existence in the world is the unbiased interaction of people from different cultural backgrounds. It is in the meeting with what is different from ourselves that people may deepen their understanding of themselves. This meeting moves our prejudices and gives us a new kind of perspective and personal skills in social life. Our main subjects and activities are based on cultural and democratic understanding/learning, sustainable construction, permaculture gardening, nordic outdoor living, redesign, art and art crafts, music and singing, and danish as a second language.