Workshop D - Session 1

Title: Securing a Policy Framework that Promotes Lifelong Learning Chair: Talvi Marja, The State Assembly, Estonia Britton Morsonvalen, National Council of Adult Education, Sweden

Britton Morsonvalen has been a member of the Swedish National Council of Adult Education since 1994. Her background is in teaching and she was also a voluntary trainer in sport where she got her experience in teaching adults.

I will try to give you some overview of the Swedish system, a popular based education system. My office is the National Council of Adult Education in Sweden. It distributes government funds to educational associations and to folk high schools.

I do not know if you really know what a folk high school is, or a study circle association. We have it in the Nordic countries and there are no activities that really look like this one in most of the other countries, so I will explain what we are doing in this kind of association, the educational system and particularly the conditions that govern education for adults in Sweden.

All the young people in Sweden go to school until they are 18 or 19 years old. In the last 3 years of upper secondary school the students can choose to study either professionally oriented course programmes or more theoretically oriented course programmes. After completing the courses, many of them go on to study at colleges and universities, but if the student for some reason has not completed his or her upper secondary training, he or she has the possibility to do so at adult education centres run by the local council or at one of the 147 folk high schools in Sweden. Folk high schools are independent schools for adults. They arrange courses at primary school level, upper secondary school level and at college level.

Most folk high schools are owned and run by charities and bear the stamp of the ideas that their organisations advocate. At folk high schools the students are not given any grade but each folk high school can give certificates to the students for the further studies at colleges and universities, provided that a student has fulfilled the requirements and reached the level of knowledge which can be compared to other corresponding types of education. The folk high schools are better than other educational establishments at reaching society's high priority groups, like physically and mentally challenged students, immigrants and those with short term education.

This is best explained by the fact that the courses and the activities are particularly well suited for the target groups. There are more teachers per students than in other educational establishments. There are smaller groups and much consideration is given to the individual student's experience and knowledge in the classroom.

Unemployed

In recent years we have had many unemployed in Sweden. The government has allotted extensive resources to the educational system in order to offer all those without a job the possibility of studying as an alternative to unemployment. Currently we run a 5 year adult education programme, mainly geared towards the unemployed, but also towards other adults who lack the qualifications for university or college studies.

The ambition and goals are that everyone who wants to should be able to supplement their earlier short formal education. A basic condition for success with any adult learning programme is the financing of studies. The study grants from society must be on the level of the unemployment benefit otherwise they will not choose studies.

Another important condition is the free choice of a student to select the direction and the type of the schooling. In Sweden the adults can choose between starting at a folk high school, at an educational association, at the council's adult education programmes, advanced professional training and special labour market training, or all the courses arranged by private companies. There is a large variety of possibilities.

Study Circles

The theme for our group work is how to promote lifelong learning. According to my understanding it is not enough to offer special education for adults even if the choice of courses is large and varied. Something more is required. In Sweden this 'more' that will give constant stimulus and lust for learning and understanding is called study circles and culture groups. Three out of four Swedes take part in these voluntary study circles and pay for them out of their own pockets at least once in their adult lives. About 20% of all Swedes participate in a study circle or a culture group every year.

The study circle gives no formal competence, but the aim of participants is to increase the knowledge about the chosen subject or study area, to get to know other adults, to improve their participation in associations, to strengthen idealistic commitment or to start a local project. There are as many potential subjects and motives for participating in a study circle as there are participants. There are 11 different education associations in Sweden and each of the study organisations has its own ideological outlook for all the study circles and cultural activities.

The functions carried out by educational associations from folk high schools are subsidised by the government but are not controlled by it. The participants take part in the activities of their own free will. No one can force the lust for studies but at best it can grow at a natural age or from childhood. Free and voluntary adult educational activities which everyone can take part in and which are based on the participant's own interest and needs - that is the most important thing we think in Sweden.

Looking at the OECD report about literacy studies, people asked us about Sweden. 'You don't have better schools in Sweden than we have,' the other countries said. 'We now have what you have. So why are the results for adults better in Sweden than in our country?' The only thing we can find that was different in Sweden than in the other participating countries was this popular-based system for continuous studying, free will popular-based.

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