Kofoeds School

Kofoeds School (Danish: Kofoeds Skole) in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an organization carrying out social work for adults according to the "social pedagogical" principle of personal and vocational empowerment.

The school, founded in 1928, bases its work on Christian and humanitarian principles and among other things, the Danish folk high school movement. It offers education, workshop activities, counseling, accommodation, emergency assistance and relief measures. The aim of the school is to assist people with social problems in improving their social life and relieve them from their underprivileged social situation. The efforts are holistic and the targets tuned to people’s own abilities and qualifications.

Kofoeds School is based on the concept that if people are to be assisted socially, they have to be helped educationally, but the terms education and school are understood in the widest sense, not associated exclusively with narrow vocational qualifications. The concept of education is a cornerstone in the work of the school as a principle of development of human resources.

People using the service at Kofoed's School are called students to emphasize the pedagogical approach to dealing with social problems. The school helps the students to develop their own strength, self-esteem and abilities, and focus is on possibilities and the students’ own interests and wishes. Basically, the school approaches the students as ordinary human beings who experience social difficulties in their life.

Since its foundation Kofoeds School has been involved in a range of social issues such as homelessness, unemployment, urban immigration, integration problems for ethnic groups, alcoholism, substance abuse, and psychiatric problems.

The working method of the school emphasizes the importance of the students themselves being active. The aim is not just to help the students but also to help make them take responsibility for their own efforts. The school works on the belief, that help is an ambiguous blessing. Provided without expecting active interplay by the person seeking assistance, it may pacify people and make them dependent. Given the right way, however, it can activate them, make them feel more optimistic and increase their ability to act themselves.

The concept aims at rebuilding and strengthening the students’ self-esteem while at the same time easing their social problems. On working with the students, the primary focus is on their personal strength and abilities, and the method seeks to move people forward, not just to solve immediate problems.

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