For the past six years we have lived in Ebeltoft, a picturesque small town on the east coast of Jutland. We knew next to nothing about Denmark before we came here, spoke not a word of the language, and-living on the campus of an international film college whose lingua franca is English-might never have progressed beyond the words for bread, beer and herring were it not for our daughter, who attends the local school.
To the extent that we have been integrated into the community, it is thanks to Skelhojeskole, one of the town’s two folkeskoler. The Danes set great store by the folk school, which sees children through from the age of six all the way to 16 or 17, when they leave for good or go on to university. Thus many children will have the same classmates, and the same class teacher, for ten years. The class, rather than the school, is the locus of belonging. My daughter, aged nine, speaks of The Class with something approaching reverence. It is here that the child is socialised and integrated-and not just the child, the parents too.
Four times a year our daughter’s teacher invites us to attend a class function: sometimes an outing or a dinner involving all the parents and children; sometimes a parents-only evening at which the curriculum and the children’s progress are discussed. Great effort is made to ensure that these occasions are hyggelige-convivial and cosy. Tables are laid in the staff room with coffee and pastries. The teacher-a wise and humorous woman who is married to the mayor-tries to get everyone involved.
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