Folk high schools - defending a sustainable Nordic democracy

The theme for “Forskningstimen” (The Research hour)on June 6th is the Nordic folk high schools and their importance for the countries’ social preparedness.

06 Jun

Practical information

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Associate Professor Johan Lövgren from USN and Steinar Bryn from the Nansen Academy will present an international development and research project focusing on the establishment of folk high schools in Ukraine.

The project builds on an initiative from the Ukrainian Bildung Network and involves the countries first folk high school in Vovchok. Established right before the Russian invasion, Vovchok’s aim is to promote democratic education and civic engagement. As the war began the headmaster Sergey Chumanchenko readily changed the school’s courses towards strategic medicine and programmes that support mental health in a warzone.

Lövgren and Bryn will talk about the potential of folk high schools to contribute to Ukraine’s total defence and to the development of a functioning civil society. They will also relate the experiences from Ukraine to research on the role of folk high schools in Nordic society.

In 2023 the University of South-Eastern Norway defined folk high school research as a strategic focus area. Nationally USN is the most publishing university in the field folk high school research with several international research networks and Norways’ only folk high school teachers education.

If you join us at campus Porsgrunn, you may meet the researchers and join us for a free lunch. After lunch, Steinar Bryn will give another lection.

Sign up for lunch here.

We are streaming the event here: