Information to change the world | |
Find Topics, Titles, Names related to your query |
Information to change the world | |
Find Topics, Titles, Names related to your query |
|
|
Folk high school
|
 |
This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (August 2009) |
Folk high schools (Danish: Folkehjskole; Finnish: kansanopisto and tyvenopisto or kansalaisopisto; German: Volkshochschule and Heimvolkshochschule; Norwegian: Folkehgskole; Swedish: Folkhgskola) 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 in Germany and Austria. The concept originally came from the Danish writer, poet, philosopher and pastor Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783–1872). Grundtvig was inspired by the Marquis de Condorcet's Report on the General Organization of Public Instruction which was written in 1792 during the French Revolution. The Revolution had a direct influence on popular education in France. In the United States, a Danish folk school called Danebod was founded in Tyler, Minnesota.
Despite similar names and somewhat similar goals, the institutions are quite different in Germany and Sweden as opposed to the traditions in Denmark and Norway. Folk high schools in Germany and Sweden are in fact much closer to the institutions known as folkeuniversitet or folkuniversitet in Norway and Denmark which provide adult education. However, unlike the folkuniversitet, folk high schools in Sweden are not connected to a regular university. The Finnish tyvenopisto or kansalaisopisto (called arbetarinstitut in Swedish) are also part of the educational Folk tradition.
Other countries have been inspired by Grundtvig's concept of popular education. In Africa, the United States and India, a few schools have been built upon Grundtvig's principles for education.
Contents |
Grundtvig is regarded as the founder of the folk high school. He got his inspiration for the concept from the English boarding schools but Grundtvig's focus was not on formal education but on popular education and enlightenment. The idea was to give the peasantry and other people from the lower layers of society a higher educational level through personal development; what Grundtvig called –the living word–. The language and history of the fatherland, its constitution and main industries (farming) along with the folk song should be the guiding principles for the education within a Christian framework[1].
The first folk high school was established in 1844 in Rdding in Denmark. However the school in Rdding was somewhat aristocratic as it were mostly sons of civil servants and rich farmers who enrolled.
Another pioneer for the folk high school was the teacher Christen Kold. His, for that time, highly unorthodox way of teaching gave the folk high schools a broader democratic basis in comparison to the initial religious focus. The teaching took place in the wintertime from November to March because of the student–s work at the farms the rest of the year. It was Kolds vision that the students should return to the school for a number of winters to continue their education. In the beginning only young men could attend the courses but in 1861 the young women too got access to the Folk High Schools with summer teaching in May to July. The men still only attended during winter.
The break-through of the idea was the Second war of Schleswig in 1864 where Denmark had to surrender a large part of its territory. This incident gave room for a new Danish consciousness and nationalism based on enlightenment of the people. Denmark's loss of territory to Prussia was a tough stroke to the national consciousness of the Danes but some young men meant to benefit from the disastrous war: it could become a catalyst for a new Danish identity. They established folk high schools all around the country and by 1867 21 folk high schools had opened. Almost everyone working at the folk high schools had been Grundtvig–s apprentices. In 1918 the number of folk high schools in Denmark had reached 68.
The modern folk high schools vary significantly. Some still have a religious focus but most of them are secular. The schools are still –Grundtvigian– folk high schools which mean that their focus is on enlightenment, ethics, moral and democracy although it–s not taught explicitly. The Grundtvigian thoughts are embedded in teaching of various subjects, e.g. arts, gymnastics, or journalism. Most of the schools have a special focus on for example sports, music, art or writing. Since no degree or diploma is awarded the teaching is more free and informal than at normal educational institutions. Most Scandinavian folk high schools are boarding schools where the students live for 2–6 months[2]. It is possible to stay for up to 1 year though, at least in Norway.
Grundtvig fought for a school with popular education as the primary focus. The folk high school movement was an act against a conservative ideal of both education and culture. An act against an ideal of literacy and book-learning, a use of language unknown to common people and a learning ideal where the primary relation was between the individual and the book alone.
The movement therefore started as a row with the old school. Grundtvig fought for a public education as an alternative to the university elite. The folk high schools should be for those wanting to learn in general and to help people form part of human relations and society.
The folk high schools have changed naturally - some also radically - through time, but many of Grundtvigs core-ideas about the folk high school are still to be found in the way they are run today. The folk high school of today is engaged in a complex modern reality and influenced both by national, international and global questions.
One of the main concepts still to be found at the folk high schools today is –lifelong learning–. The schools should educate for life. They should shed light on basic questions surrounding life of people both as individuals and as members of society.
To Grundtvig the ideal was to give the students a sense of a common best and focusing on life as it really is. Therefore Grundtvig never set down guidelines for the future schools or a detailed description of how they should be run. He declared that the folk high schools should be arranged and developed according to life as it is and the schools should not hold exams because the education and enlightenment was a sufficient reward.
The essential element was and is the life at the schools. A folk high school becomes what it is because of the individuals of which it is made. Learning happens across social positions and differences – the teacher learns from the student and vice versa in a living exchange and mutual teaching. For Grundtvig dialogue across differences was essential – the ideal was that people must learn to bear with the differences of each other before enlightenment can be realized[3][4].
The character of folk high schools differ from country to country, but usually institutions have the following common features:
Especially in non-German speaking countries, folk high schools may be boarding schools or may mainly offer courses for adults age 18–30.
The first folk high school was founded in Rdding, Denmark in 1844. It began on the initiative of Christen Kold, who was a follower of Grundtvig. The school was inspired by the need to educate those not fortunate enough to have an education and the poor, or peasantry, who could not spare the time or the money to attend a university. Among the other old folk high schools in Denmark are Askov Hjskole in Jutland and Vallekilde Hjskole in Zealand, both founded in 1865.
By the end of 2009 there were 76 folk high schools in Denmark. The principal subjects of instruction vary from the creative arts such as music, arts, design, writing, to intellectual courses such as religion, philosophy, literature and psychology. Some schools even have courses that specialize in sports.
In recent history, globalization has exercised an increasingly important influence on Danish schools. Many courses are open to foreigners as well as Danes, and many courses include travelling or voluntary stays in other countries as part of the curriculum.
The first folk high school in Norway, Sagatun, was founded in 1864. As of 2007, there were 77 folk high schools spread across the country, thirty of which were Christian schools. Folk high schools provide opportunities in general education, primarily for young adults. These schools are different from lower secondary schools, upper secondary schools, and higher education. All students are eligible for normal financial aid. Most folk high schools are connected to some sort of organization. Most courses last for one year, but certain last for two years.
The first folk high schools in Sweden were established in 1868. As of 2008, there are about 150 folk high schools throughout the country, most of which are situated in the countryside, often in remote areas. Tuition is free, and the students are eligible for normal financial aid for expenses such as accommodation and other school costs. After graduating, the students are eligible to study at a university.
Some schools, for example Sdra Vtterbygdens Folkhgskola near Jnkping, cooperate with schools in other countries and have an exchange student program.
Folk high schools in Germany and Austria are usually funded on a local level and provide non-credit courses for adults in:
This type of folk high school is currently most widespread in Germany. Because they offer preparatory classes for school exams, the German folk high schools also function as the equivalent of adult high schools in other countries. Germany also has folk high schools that are boarding schools, called Heimvolkshochschulen.
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008) |
In 1866, during the Second Empire, Jean Mac founded the Ligue de l'enseignement ("Teaching League"),which was devoted to popular instruction. Following the split between the Anarchists and the Marxists at the 1872 Hague Congress, popular education remained an important part of the workers' movement, especially in the anarcho-syndicalist movement which set up, with Fernand Pelloutier, various Bourses du travail centres, where workers gathered and discussed politics and sciences. The Jules Ferry laws that were passed in the 1880s established free, secular, mandatory public education as one of the founding principles of the Third Republic. In addition, many teachers were strong supporters of Alfred Dreyfus during the Dreyfus Affair of the 1890s. Afterward, some teachers set up free educational lectures on humanist topics in order to struggle against the spread of anti-semitism in France.
In more recent times, following the 1981 presidential election Minister of Education Alain Savary supported Jean Lvi's initiative to create a public high school that would deliver the baccalaurat but would be organized on the principles of autogestion (or "self-management"). This high school took the name Lyce autogr de Paris (LAP)[5]. The LAP was explicitly inspired by the secondary school Vitruve, which opened in 1962 in the 20th arrondissement of Paris (and is still active), Oslo Experimental High School, which opened in 1967 in Norway, and Saint-Nazaire Experimental High School, which opened six months before the LAP. Theoretical influences include the works of Clestin Freinet, Raymond Fonvieille, Fernand Oury, and other theoreticians of the institutional pedagogy, institutional analysis (Ren Lourau in particular), and institutional psychotherapeutic movements.
John C. Campbell, born in Indiana in 1867, and raised in Wisconsin, studied education and theology in New England. At the turn of the century, the Southern Appalachian region was viewed as a fertile field for educational and social missions. With his new bride, Olive Dame of Massachusetts, John undertook a fact-finding survey of social conditions in the mountains in 1908-1909. After John died in 1919, Olive and her friend Marguerite Butler traveled to Europe and studied folk schools in Denmark, Sweden and other countries. In 1925, the John C. Campbell Folk School began its work in Brasstown, North Carolina. Students learn American traditional arts and crafts, including blacksmithing, ceramics, cooking, jewelry, dance and music. Myles Horton who was a co-founder of Highlander Folk School in 1932, was also inspired by the Danish folk high school movement.
Related topics in the Connexions Subject Index
Alternatives –
Left History –
Libraries & Archives –
Social Change –
This article is based on one or more articles in Wikipedia, with modifications and additional content contributed by
Connexions editors. This article, and any information from Wikipedia, is covered by a
Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA) and the
GNU Free Documentation
License (GFDL).
We welcome your help in improving and expanding the content of Connexipedia articles, and in correcting errors. Connexipedia is not a wiki: please contact Connexions by email if you wish to contribute. We are also looking for contributors interested in writing articles on topics, persons, events and organizations related to social justice and the history of social change movements.
For more information contact Connexions
