EFTERSKOLER

Efterskoler (literally "after schools") are a curious Danish phenomenon. The school leaving exams (roughly equivalent to the U.K.'s GCSE tests, O levels in my day) take place at the end of the ninth grade. Yet most pupils, though not all, stay on for a tenth grade before moving on to the next stage of the educational system, the 3-year gymnasium (sixth form) or equivalent. Some politicians are anxious to scrap the tenth grade, since they see it as marking time at best, a colossal waste of money at worst. Yet it remains, for now.

Into that gap has stepped the efterskole. They are schools that cater mainly for tenth grade students, though some also have ninth graders. What marks them out as different is two things. First, that they are boarding schools (otherwise a rarity in the Danish landscape). Secondly, because they don't have to prepare the tenth graders for any particular exam, they can follow a minimalist obligatory academic curriculum and use the freed-up time to specialise in something else. That something can itself be academic - the school where I teach is avowedly internationalist, focussing on teaching in English and foreign exchange trips to far-away places such as India and China - but it can also be sport (the school where my sons went), music and drama (the school where my daughter went), practical (woodwork and ceramics) or outdoor (horses and adventure, for instance). In that way, they can cater to all tastes.

The first efterskole was founded in 1879, and the next century saw the founding of perhaps 100 more. Then, as more and more parents became dissatisfied with the state system, there was a boom. The number of efterskoler shot up to 260, and there were waiting lists to get in. However, there was also a snag. Although heavily subsidised by the state, the schools are fee-paying; and when the financial crisis struck, a number of parents decided that the expense was not worth it. 19 schools have gone bust since 2009; and for those that remain, waiting lists have disappeared and not all places are filled.

I think efterskoler are a great idea. 15 and 16-year olds are (let's face it) a pain in the arse for their parents, full of raging hormones and complete disrespect for authority. Sending them away from home for a year, to a place where they have to clean their own room, help in the kitchen and be subject to discipline is great for both parties. And in consensus-seeking Denmark, where many children have grown up with a fixed group all the way through school, the chance to meet new people, and (if they so choose) reinvent themselves, it is good for the young as well.

However, like anything else in the modern age, efterskoler will have to adapt. In particular, it is only the ones that have very clear profiles and can market themselves as such that will survive. Saying that they provide a time-out for unruly teenagers will no longer be enough.

Walter Blotscher