Grundtvigian Folk High Schools and Their “grassroots work” of Civil Society Participation

We will discuss about the role of Grundtvigian folk high schools and their contemporary meanings in two contexts. The first one will be the revision of its sources in the Scandinavian countries (especially in Denmark) and in Poland. The second one will be an attempt to find a connection between building a civil society based on the strong foundation of Grundtvigian schools in the Scandinavian countries and its constant “corruption” is Poland. We would like to get that institution (undervalued in Poland though still functioning in Scandinavia and in many other countries) out of the past and to show its timeless “grassroots work” role in building civic attitudes.

100 Years of Volkshochschule – 50 Years of DVV International. Local and global perspectives on adult education and lifelong learning

Adult education has multiple histories in countries around the globe. In the case of Germany, the year 1919 is of high importance, as the Volkshochschulen (vhs)—literally translated as folk high schools, more broadly as adult education centres—became a constitutional matter. Today, they are the largest institutionalized form of adult education in Germany with millions of participants every year. In 1969, the ongoing international activities of the vhs were insti-tutionalized into what is known today as DVV International. This year’s celebrations are used for contextualizing the development of adult education and thus for remembering the past with a view to the future of our profession.

Reflexiv internationalisering: Utvecklingsfrågor som ett bildningsområde för en folkhögskola i takt med tiden

Reflective Internationalisation: Development Issues as an Educational Area for Folk High Schools in Step with the Times. This article explores discourses on internationalisation in Tidskrift för svenska folkhögskolan (Journal of Swedish Folk High Schools) between 1970 and 1989, an era when engagement for global development had become established within the Swedish popular educational system of folk high schools (FHS). The purpose is to examine what meanings are given to “internationalisation” and “the international” over time, whom and how it would affect, as well as how the FHS would engage with the issues. The study uncovers a retrospective understanding of “the international” through former nationalistic discourses as well as new postcolonial and anti-imperialist criticism. It also shows how the responsibility for development issues individualises over time. In parallel, the FHS start to work with advocacy addressing Swedish society and make the transition from seeing themselves as educators of the Global South, to expecting to become educated by the Global South. The study depict how developmental issues as an educational area continues shape the institutional identity of the FHS over time. It problematises the role of the FHS in both mobilising solidarity engagement and at the same time establishing development issues as an important area of education for the middle classes of the Global North in a society under advanced liberalism.