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Abstract - Conceptions of popular adult education. Educational ideals from an organizational and philosophical point of view. Popular adult education is in this study seen as an institution for adult learning. In particular, light is shed on organizations such as folk high schools and study associations, which in a legal sense are independent of the state. By examining the organizational and educational aspects of popular adult education, the study creates an area of knowledge relating to how education is organized. This perspective sheds light on how popular adult education is talked about in everyday settings and how the study process can be problematized. In addition, popular adult education is explored by making a number of educational philosophies the basis for a discourse analysis. These philosophies of education thus become discourses and tools for interpretation. On the basis of an interpretation of popular adult education texts, the study seeks to identify different ideals of education (Bildung) and how these relate to the educational philosophies of perennialism, essentialism, progressivism and reconstructivism. Attention is thus drawn to different views of knowledge, organizations, leadership, creation of meaning and so on. The study constitutes a search for ideal-typical differences. By relating the ideal types to one another, it creates a kind of screen – a typology in terms of the organization of education. This typology is based on educational philosophies, ideals of education, key symbolic concepts, organizational aspects and educational consequences. How popular adult education is transformed into a language depends on which discourse or discourses is or are dominant. Applying a sociology of knowledge perspective, the study also searches for a collective understanding. The various discourses shaped by different approaches to the organization of education result in different forms of meaning creation. As a consequence, the discussion about popular adult education varies between different folk high schools and study associations. |
