Update on DNS Program

So I am practically ready for my departure to Denmark; at least I now have payed off the enrollment fee, booked the flight and coach tickets, and have also purchased some necessities (for which I like to thank my mother for!). All I have to do is pack everything which no doubt I shall do the day before I depart. 

For those who are still wondering what it is that I am doing, I am enrolling on a course that trains its students to become teachers. Although, not everyone necessarily wants to become a teacher; they may be enrolling just for the experience. As for me? Not sure. I guess it's mainly for the experience for now. As I elaborated in my previous blog post (which you can read here ), this isn't a conventional course where we study in classrooms and have teachers lecture us on topics. We will be doing a lot of travelling around Europe and Africa and it is up to us how we go about our studies; the teachers are more like facilitators who help manage us, challenge us and motivate us. 

I now know of the work I'll be doing during my "saving up period" (again, you can read about it on my previous blog post). I shall be working in Munster, Germany, driving a van, collecting clothes from bins and packing them in to a shipping container, with a chap who attended the same prep weekend as me called Honza. Sounds like hard work, but it'll be interesting working in a German city for some time. And we'll be working towards something worthwhile next year: driving a bus through Europe to western Africa for four months! So no doubt that'll keep us motivated. Speaking of the bus, seeing as I have a driving license, I think I'll be opting for a bus licence while I am abroad, which is a nice bonus and will also benefit me in the UK in the future.   

So, I just wanted to keep anyone who's interested about my travels updated. Suffice to say, I can't bloody wait! Not sure how long I'll be in Denmark for before we set off to Munster, but I'll certainly keep people posted when I have internet access. 

By the way, if this program sounds like something you may be interested in doing too, then be sure to give this website a thorough read for more information. I know we're starting to look for more people to join our team in 2015. Ciao for now.

DNS - A New Opportunity

For the first time since my voluntary work in India with Restless development last year, I once again have some sense of direction in my life - for the next four years at least! I have decided to take the opportunity to enroll at the DNS (Det Nodvendige Seminarium - which in English is translated as The Necessary Teacher Training College) school in Denmark. 

As the name implies, it's a college that trains its students in pedagogy although it does so in an alternative way. In conventional colleges and universities, there is a clear hierarchy; a distinction between students, teachers, presidents and so on. Of course, most of the studying is done in classrooms with lectures about specific topics, depending on what course you chose. These academic buildings have employees which take care of the cooking, cleaning, maintenance, gardening etc. I know I'm stating the obvious here, but I want to clarify the differences between these conventional schools and the alternative school I'm enrolling in.

 For starters, TVIND is not funded by the state. Rather, it is paid for by students, teachers and some certain individuals who live there with special needs. They have what they call a common economy and students, during their time on the course, have a number of months where they have a "saving up period," in which they go to work somewhere (in some city in Europe or at the school itself), earn the amount that is needed, and then the money they earn is put in to this common economy and distributed evenly amongst the team. The money covers everything in the school such as food, drink, heating and accommodation, as well as other expenses on the program itself such as transportation, rent etc. We do get our own pocket money from it too. I doubt everyone would like this system as the money they earn is not strictly theirs, but I endorse it. I like the fact that as long as you contribute something in the team, you get something out of it. There is no mentality of working harder than somebody else and deserving more for doing so. Ergo, you can not value or put a price on how hard somebody is working. As long as they are doing something, then they are entitled to eat well, drink and sleep comfortably the same as everybody else. Again, I know this economy isn't something that everybody would find agreeable, but I think it's partly due to the fact that we've come so accustomed to spending lavishly on wants rather than needs to satisfy our greed. Advertisements don't help.

Anyway,  another difference is a lack of hierarchy. Sure, there are headmasters that are in charge and there are teachers. But it really isn't noticeable. Students and teachers alike dress so casually and form friendships. Two of the evenings spent at the preparatory weekend there, we sat around a campfire singing songs, smoking shisha and talking with one another informally. And on my last evening, we debated about homophobia and other topics in the common hall. If Michal and Romas didn't clarify they are teachers, I wouldn't have been none the wiser. There really is a sense of equality there; they don't just advocate it, but they live it. And further evidence of this is the fact that everybody does their bit to maintain the place. Every morning after breakfast, everyone unanimously agrees to a task to carry out and spend roughly 45 minutes getting on it with it; it is the students who do most of the cleaning, the gardening, the painting and decorating, the cooking etc. Romas would probably hate me saying this, but in a sense, it really does feel like a commune. One whose community spends a lot of time travelling and studying though! 

Which brings me to the final notable differences: There's a lot of travelling involved. Sure, school teachers and lecturers do organise little field trips for their students, but for DNS students, it's like going on very long field trips! And what I find to be really exciting is the fact that we get to buy, refurbish and drive our own bus through Europe to African countries including the Sahara desert! So essentially, we'll be living in a bus that we stripped and built, then driving it ourselves to African communities to study, learn and live amongst. And that's just the first year! From what I learned from the prep weekend, it is us students that are in charge of our own studies  and how we go about them, and I suppose the teachers are, in a sense, more like facilitators who help, organise and challenge us, whilst keeping us motivated too.  

I'm not sure if I will become a teacher after I finish the course as I seem to never set anything in stone. For now, I can definitely say that I'm looking forward to the experience on what this course has to offer. I like to consider myself as a humanist and a humanitarian and would like to think one day, I will take up activism to try and make a positive change for the world, and this course really does seem to cater for such people (definitely not hippies, haha!).  Spending a few days at the school for the preparatory weekend was the first real step and now all I have got to do is save up for enrollment fee. Hopefully, I shall be flying back out there by August the latest and be part of the 2015 team. 

I just want to add, my dear reader, that if this program sounds like something that would interest you, then here's a link to the DNS website -  http://www.dns-tvind.dk/ You can find out much more information about the school itself and its program, and you can also apply from there (and maybe you can be part of my team!).