Building Tvind

Building Tvind and the School cooperation Tvind – 40 years history and more

Tvind was the name of a farm with sandy soil way out on the countryside near Ulfborg in Western Jutland, Denmark, 12 km from the North Sea. It was situated where a little creek “twine”, in Danish “tvinder”, through the landscape, the reasoning behind the name.
Today the farm buildings are not there any longer. Instead there is a school center with a modern complex of buildings and institutions, home for hundreds of people having their living and education, a vibrant environment of life and energy, humanistic perspective and always on the move for something even better. A never ending story started almost 40 years ago, in 1970.
Below are mentioned some of the more important events and experiences during this period in the attempt to briefly describe the developments in this story. The description takes its basis in the years where the development took a new step.

1970 The start of the Traveling Folk High School - DRH.
A group of 5 teachers had in the 1960´s travelled around the world in an old bus for a year and had realized how much you can learn from this – about the world, about other people and about yourself. It was an experience of a value worth sharing with many more people
Denmark has a long tradition for having Folk High Schools with many different programs for adults who want to educate themselves – not for a degree, but for inspiration in their life.
Following this tradition the group of teachers consequently started the Travelling Folk High School with the program: 2 months preparation for a 4 months study tour by bus through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and India followed by 3 months conclusion and spreading information about the world they had seen.
The program at the High School was practical and theoretical, meaning that using your brain and your hands had equal importance, and that the teachers and students together took care of all the practicalities like maintaining buildings, building the buses, cooking, garden work etc.
The school started in a rented hotel in a little island in western Denmark.
The school was a success, grew rapidly and started many courses where also social work in Denmark became a part.
Soon the number of teachers grew, and the teacher group decided also to start a Teacher Training College based on the same pedagogical principles. The rented hotel became too small. They needed more space and more buildings.
Two persons travelled up through Jutland having meetings with the municipalities, asking if they would be interested in hosting a school centre consisting of a travelling high school and a teacher training college and maybe more schools in the future.
Ulfborg-Vemb Municipality, a small municipality in Western Jutland agreed in this, and the teachers started looking for land for the school buildings. They found 2 small farms close to each other, one of them was Tvind, and bought them for their commonly saved money.

1972 The beginning of the schools in Tvind
In the summer 1972, the area was prepared by students and teachers together. The fundament for the buildings were made, sewage systems dug etc and in the end of august the buildings came – premade sections from a company, just to assemble.

Sept 1 1972 the first team at DNS, the Necessary Teacher Training College, started. They were 100 people in all: 90 students and 10 teachers.
The team started with building up the college, assemble the furniture, require the necessary equipment and repair and outfit 10 buses to be used for their study travel.
It was a lot of work for un-professionals, and the practical theoretical approach stood its test.
Though the buildings were simple, they were built with the purpose of supporting the school life and program of DNS and DRH with common hall, kitchen facilities etc. in the middle of the complex of the buildings with the individual rooms.
There have been reparations and renewals during the years, but all later teams in DNS have enjoyed from the use of these first wooden buildings, which since then has been improved and maintained.

1974 The Continuation School
The pedagogical fundament and principles developed and implemented in DRH and DNS had a validity and vitality that was obvious to use in other contexts, both in education for adults and in the education of youngsters. In 1974 the continuation school for teenagers from 14-16 years old in Tvind was established with many of the teachers from the DRH schools.
The school had a program quite different from normal schools at that time.
One of the central elements in the program was that it was half time studies, half time practical tasks – in real. The students were a vital part of running the school. Everyone was organized in groups around different jobs: farmers, office people and guest group, auto mechanics, food producers etc, and everyone studied and passed the 9th or 10th grade exam.
It was vital parts of the program that the students had this many practical and organizational tasks besides doing the different theoretical studies.
It was also unusual that the teachers and the students lived at the same place, sharing the same conditions, and to put so much responsibility for the program to the students. The teachers and the students had different levels of experiences, but were working towards the same goals.
The school had its base in buildings constructed for this purpose. They were planned by teachers from DNS and DRH. The construction and design of the buildings were designed to the program and organization of the life and training at the continuation school.
Together with this school a sports hall was built, which is still used every day, besides it is the place for the many big sports and cultural events on Tvind.

1974 Ecology and economy, the sewer system – “gyllen”
With the establishing of the continuation school, Tvind was becoming more populated, and as the schools were built in an area far away from any established sewer system, a special solution had to be thought out and carried out. The special system developed and established was a sewer system, in Danish – “gyllen”, where the waste, driven by a pump creating vacuum, made the waste flow from all buildings at the site to a central system of tanks. There the waste is treated in different ways and can eventually be used as fertilizer. The consuming of water just to run this waste system is minimized and makes it cheaper than a conventional system in water consumption. In a relatively cheap way waste is made to an ecological asset instead of a pollution problem. 

1975 The big wind mill - Tvindkraft
During the sixties and beginning of the seventies there was a discussion going on in Denmark whether we should have nuclear power, or not.
The teachers group at Tvind decided on that background to make a manifest that could be understood and used by the many and become forceful no-nukes, argument. They decided to build the biggest wind mill in the world at that time, 54 m tall and with wings of 27 m.
The building of the windmill became an action for and with the public in many ways. Volunteers could join and contribute to the team of windmill-builders, and many did. It was a challenging, making-the-way task, because a windmill with these dimensions had not been built before. Everything had to be done from scratch. During the building period, and still today, there was all the time many guests passing to see this manifestation, as a public attraction, and also as a target for delegations of professionals who would study the wind mill and the building of it. The wind mill was finished in 1978. The teacher group decided not to take patent on all the inventions made via the building, but instead to put everything at disposal for who ever wanted to work with wind mills.
Together with many other initiatives in experimenting with wind power in this area of Denmark, the wind mill in Tvind has contributed to a new agenda for energy production in Denmark as well as the attitudes towards this question and renewable energy in general.  Furthermore the wind mill has won international recognition. Denmark never got atom power, and became instead one of the leading wind mill producers in the world.

From 1977 A growing number of different Tvind schools in Denmark
In 1977 it was obvious that there was a general need or/and wish for the pedagogical ideas and practices of the Tvind schools, and the teacher Group in Tvind decided to start more schools both in Tvind and in other places. In the period 1977 – 1996 many new schools started all over Denmark. The schools were based on the same pedagogical ideas and co-operated to further implement and develop these in the Danish school reality. It meant e.g. the creation of many common highlights for students, teachers and guests during the school year like Summer Theatre in Juelsminde where all schools performed theatre plays and the best ones were shown in a common weekend in Juelsminde, Christmas and New Year Concerts with classical music, Spring concerts with music, songs and poetry written by students and teachers, and OL, a big sports event in Tvind for everyone and more. These pedagogical manifestations can still be experienced.
The pedagogical ideas and the human outlook of the schools are, in short, an attempt to: realize that living, experiencing and learning basically is a social process, regard the students as social and political individuals each being active in the society, emphasize practical teaching and tasks besides the theoretical teaching, include students with different social and personal problems, integrate students with backgrounds of being emigrants or former refugees, further a positive attitude to the non-fortunate of any kind and emphasize the importance to know about and see the world.
There have been many different Tvind schools, also different kind of schools, from the beginning until now. Some still exist today, and some have changed e.g. their structure and their pedagogical profile, though they are still based upon the original pedagogical ideas. The schools adapt to the changing circumstances in the society, but the main development has been that the Tvind schools, to a big extent, work with and work for students, and adults, who need a special attention of some kind because of a troubled background.

1999 Tvind - a School Center with several Heart Chambers:
The schools in Tvind have likewise had different administrative and economic structures throughout the years, due to changes in the educational, administrative environment. In 1999 Tvind started the development towards a school center consisting of several independent and different units, in Tvind as well as outside Tvind itself.
The schools and their teachers have through the years achieved quite an experience in working with the children, youngsters and adults with a variety of problems giving them difficulties with schools, teaching and other representations of the adult world, and dealing with their difficulties, anger and hope, in a way, that are both productive, humanistic and with dignity. Also with the convinced approach to people that our diversity in our living, our resources and our aspirations can be to the good for everybody. The central “chamber” in this cluster of Heart Chambers is DNS with its teachers and resourceful students living and working in Tvind.

1999 PTG – Practical and theoretical basic education
PTG started in 1999 and became another significant member of the Heart Chambers of Tvind. It has always been a part of the general school concept that both practical and theoretical education was important and should complement each other. It has also been an important principle in the school life to integrate students of different backgrounds and preconditions, also the troubled ones. This pedagogical fundament made the school center to develop a school concept, within the frames of the social ministry, with practical and theoretical basic education, PTG in short in Danish. Another important aspect was the integration of students, where the half of the students would have different sorts of problems, lacking support, and the other half would be students with resources. The two halves could benefit from and enrich each other through the program and way of living at the school. This has, through time, shown to be, in human value, a prosperous and a sustainable concept for a school and its students.

From 1999 Small schools and care homes as chambers in the heart
PTG was the first element in what we call the Heart Chambers of Tvind and was the basic element in the new school for youngsters in Tvind. At Tvind the students could graduate a 9th and a 10th grade. Education beyond that could be acquired through co-operation with schools in the nearby town, Holstebro.
Besides this, a school concept was developed for children living outside Tvind, but attending the school in Tvind every day, the small schools, officially so called care homes.
There are two small schools for young people with a difficult background, outside the very place, Tvind. The two small schools, named Apollo and Casablanca, are working closely together with the school center in Tvind, and their students have their practical and theoretical training in Tvind.
In Tvind there is also a care home for adults who of different reasons need some support before they can establish a life of their own.
DNS and the Heart Chambers make a humanistic environment that is quite extraordinary. The different units have their independent life and program, but they share the place and the daily life there, enjoy from it and have each their responsibility for the common areas, as well as the many activities, arrangements and events at the place. The general development of the place is also a common responsibility. 

2009 Ecological awareness and garden farming
Food crisis, financial crisis, climate changes ... crisis have been around always, but nowadays they tend to be global and thus have a bigger impact.
For the poor countries these different crisis have devastating consequences, and even the developed industrial countries, though basically well organized, have shown a great vulnerability in this respect. Obviously we have to get used to crisis and, consequently, be better and smarter to deal with their consequences.
This on a global scale, because poor regions will suffer far the most, and on a local scale because every action matters in the global context, when we all, wherever and whoever, respond to this challenge very concrete and contribute with what we can.
All this have led to, in 2009, a decision of doing garden farming on a big scale in Tvind. The goal is to become self-sufficient with the most common vegetables. It can save the money used to buy the food. It can also supply with healthy and fresh vegetables and fruits instead of those in plastic, processed and packed …when and how?  It can give more knowledge to the students in how the food, we eat, is produced and treated - or what food actually is. It can give meaningful work to people. Farming is again important at the former farm Tvind.

Tvind as a place for events and guests
Tvind has throughout the years been the place for numerous big events and common arrangements for all the Tvind schools and for others. There have been arrangements for people in the surroundings, the neighbors, schools and other institutions etc. in an increasingly number.
There have been sport events like the Olympics for the students on all the Tvind schools and others. In the same big scale there have been big theatre events like the Summer theatre, concerts, e.g. like the New Year classical concerts over 2 days, other music and cultural events for all the students as well as other events with many people; e.g. the graduation in DNS with guests from big parts of Europe.
Throughout the years there have been many thousands visiting Tvind, mainly due to the windmill which still is an attraction to many people, but also because many people would like to see what is the physical and human reality behind what they have heard and experienced otherwise.

Tvind in the future
Many changes have been made from the start until now. Some of the most important related to education are already mentioned. There have been big changes also in how Tvind now appears. The flat-roofed buildings from the seventies have now a normal high roof, better insulation, better installations, sun catchers on some; the area is being developed to a park, the old workshop for busses has gone to give space for a part of the park, the windmill has been painted in a red-and-white pattern, the sports hall is renewed, there is a sculpture park with sculptures from Zimbabwe, a curved alley of red-painted pillars between the buildings as some of the examples. The well-known architect Jan Utzon has had a great impact in the renewing of Tvind.
Probably the description of Tvind, the different school units, and how they structure in a school complex, the buildings and surroundings etc. will continue to change through time. The world is changing all the time, sometimes rapidly. And so will the schools have to do to be able to carry out the same ideas and concepts.   
It is a main part of the concept for the schools in Tvind to give its students, teachers, everyone involved, the best possible fundament for becoming active, politically and culturally, and creating individuals in their life and make this possible through a common organization and effort; because then it matters.