Community,Self and the Other: Learning Processes in Norwegian Folk High Schools

The Norwegian folk high schools have a legally defined role in the national educational system as a value-based pedagogical alternative without grades, exams or pre-defined curriculums. The roots of the schools can be traced to the theologian N.F.S. Grundtvig and his ideals of a learning that develops not just the mind but the whole student. The empirical study of this article seeks to explore the learning processes of contemporary Norwegian folk high schools. A theoretical development of Etienne Wenger’s social learning theory is applied to analyze 60 student texts. The article describes 3 overarching themes of learning: community as a context where self is developed through identity work and the other is the focus.