Children and upbringing: Isabel Wenzel and her son Niklas-Emil from Kristiansand is looking forward to going to the same school. (Photo: Elise Rønneberg Andersen / NRK)
Norway’s only study program designed for young single parents established at Kristiansand folk high school.
– I thought I lost the opportunity to study when I became a mother, says Isabel Wenzel, who is starting Norway’s first folk high school program designed for single parents, to NRK.no.
Here, single mothers and fathers are able go to school as normal students, and the small families have accommodation and kindergarten on campus.
Isabel Wenzel from Kristiansand and her son Niklas-Emil (3) are among the first to attend the new course named “Children and Upbringing”.
– We will learn about children’s development and needs, and in addition, the school has hired a chef who will teach us to make good and healthy food, says Wenzel.
She is looking forward to meet like-minded, and to create a network of friends with children.
Gudrun Hårtveit Thomassen, program manager for “Children and Upbringing”, is optimistic.
– Single parents are offered a varied range of courses, while the children live with their mother or father at school. The kids will be in kindergarten during the day while mom or dad attends class, she says.
The course is unique in its kind.
Today, there are 79 folk high schools in Norway, and about 7,000 students.
Folk high schools are one-year boarding schools offering a variety of exciting non-traditional and non-academic subjects, as well as academic subjects. The idea of folk high schools is learning for life, an opportunity to grow both individually, socially, and academically in small learning communities. All students live on campus in close contact with staff and their fellow students. One important part of the folk high school experience is to form a community, in and out of class.
Text modified by: Anette Broteng Christiansen, ThorNews
Source: Folkehøgskolene
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