Esbjerg Sløjdhøjskole, previously known as Askov Sløjdlærerskole, is a

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport city and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban area, urban population of 71,554 (1 January ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

which teaches

handicrafts A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

under the principles of

sloyd Sloyd (Swedish ), also known as educational sloyd, is a system of handicraft-based education started by Uno Cygnaeus in Finland in 1865. The system was further refined and promoted worldwide, and was taught in the United States until the early 2 ...

. The school has been integrated into University College South Denmark.

Askov Sløjdlærerskole

Askov Sløjdlærerskole, also known as Askov Sløjdskole, was founded by Søren Larsen Meldgaard in 1886 with the encouragement of the principal of

Askov Højskole Askov Højskole is a Danish folk high school, that is located in the village of Askov, Denmark, Askov in southern Jutland between Kolding and Esbjerg. It was founded in 1865 as an extension of Denmark's first folk high school, which had been est ...

, Ludvig Schrøder. Meldgaard bought a plot of land and erected the first two buildings with his own resources. The school was originally named ''Husflids- og Sløjdskolen i Askov.''

Handicrafts A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

and sloyd were both taught in the summer, and in the winter the school functioned as a boys

efterskole An efterskole (literally ''"afterschool"'', plural efterskoler) is a unique type of Danish voluntary independent residential school for young people between the age of 14 to 18. At an efterskole, students can choose to spend one, two or three yea ...

. The handicraft and sloyd schools later separated, forming ''Askov Sløjdlærerskole'' and ''Askov Husflidsskole.'' While studying at Nääs in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the 1880s, Meldgaard had learned a system for handicraft education called ''Nääs-sloyd'' from the craftsman

Otto Salomon Otto Aron Salomon (1849–1907) was a Swedish educator and both a noted writer and proponent of educational sloyd. Born in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1849, Salomon studied at the Institute of Technology in Stockholm but left after a year to accept a po ...

. The school in Askov borrowed from this system's method of "exercise sequences", where a student produced models in increasing difficulty and were not allowed to move on until they had perfected the technique. For a number of years, the system of sloyd used at Askov was referred to as the ''Askov-Nääs System'', because of the similarities it bore to the original Swedish system. In time, the school's unique system was referred to simply as ''Askov-sloyd.'' During the first few decades, the school held many courses for young people who did not complete their sloyd exams (sløjdlærereksamen). In 1953 Askov Sløjdlærerskole became an independent institution with Aksel Sørensen as its first chairman. In 1974 the school moved to

, and in 1975 reopened as the ''Sløjdhøjskolen Esbjerg''. The original school's old gymnasium in Askov has been used as an

amateur theatre Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

since 1991 and is named Sløjdscenen after the school.

Directors

* 1886-1894 Søren Larsen Meldgaard (1850-1894) * 1895-1908 Jørgen Rasmussen Kirkebjerg (1859–1929) * 1908-1938 Anders Nielsen (1864-1950) * 1938-1964 Poul Vynne (1906-1971) * 1964-1972 Kurt Bay-Petersen (1935- ) * 1972-1993 Johannes Sole Pedersen (1930-2018) *1993-2009 Gert Broge (1949- )

References

{{coord, 55.4883, 8.4890, type:edu_region:DK, display=title 1886 establishments in Denmark Sloyd Folk high schools in Denmark Buildings and structures in Esbjerg Educational institutions established in 1886