Johan Lövgren

• Ph.D.
• Associate professor at University of South-Eastern Norway

This thesis presents a study of learning processes in Norwegian folk high schools. The folk high schools play a decisive role in Nordic educational system as alternative pedagogical institutions. The Danish 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 whol...

Although some shared characteristics may be found among folk high schools in the Nordic countries - such as the role as a pedagogical alternative to the public-school system, the frequency of boarding schools and the informal relations between teacher and student - they have originated and developed differently. Based on previous research, this int...

The title of this anthology mirrors the theme from the 9th Nordic Conference on Adult Education and Learning (NAEL), arranged by the University of South-Eastern Norway in May 2022. The NAEL conferences constitute biannual meeting places where researchers, policy makers, organisational leaders and practitioners converge to discuss how adult educatio...

This anthology presents the Nordic folk high school teacher through thirteen research articles combined under three themes: identity, work, and education, each part capped by overarching summary chapters. The folk high schools are given a central role in the democratic development of the Nordic region and are described as a significant influence on...

This anthology features thirteen research articles combined under three central themes: the identity, the work, and the education of the Nordic folk high school teacher. The chapters are written by a team of 21 authors presenting research from each of the five countries in the Nordic region. Although the folk high schools are described as playing a...

Professor Asoke Bhattacharya and Johan Lövgren have both been central in the establishment of Global Network for Folk High School Research (GNFR), which, among other things, has organized online seminars with over 100 participants from around the world. In the fall of 2023, one of the seminar themes was "Rabindranath Tagore and N.F.S. Grundtvig – a...

Johan and Michael are colleagues at USN. They frequently work together on both studies and research on folk high school, and the following dialogue represents just one of their collaborations. The question of how students can learn to deal with difficult feelings like grief and sorrow is examined closer in this dialogue where a respective course i...

In this chapter I analyse my first lecture as a full-time academic, an introduction to pedagogy for primary school teacher’s training. Finding no time in a full schedule to prepare, I fell back on my experience from twenty years as a folk high school teacher. The focus of the lecture became the student’s negotiation of identity and internalisation...

The theme of the following chapter was introduced by Walter Omar Kohan as he held the opening lecture of NAEL 2022 As he initiated (or began) the conference, Kohan not only talked about the theme of beginnings. His opening lecture was actually not a lecture in the classical academical sense, rather it should be seen as a reflective dialogue. To me...

The article has passed 500 reads at: https://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/human/article/view/4470 Citizenship education played a crucial role in the 19th century transition from royal sovereignty to democracy in the Nordic region, with folk high schools (FHS) playing an important role. While established to empower the people (folk) for active part...

The Global Network for Folk high school Research (GNFR) together with the Association of Folk high schools in Denmark presents an online seminar on the 15th of March 15.00-17.00 (CET). The seminar will develop the theme: Connections between the educational philosophy of Brazil’s Paulo Freire (1921-1997) and Denmark’s N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872).

Learn Together is a part of the book series 10 Lessons from the Folk High School published by The Association of Folk High Schools in Denmark . Each book in the series introduces a main text followed by four shorter narratives describing practises from the global folk high schools. The text published here is the main text in "Learn together" that i...

Detta är en forskningsöversikt om folkhögskolan i Norden. Mer precist omfattas doktorsavhandlingar och vetenskapliga artiklar om folkhögskolor i de nordiska länderna som publicerats på svenska, norska, danska, finska och engelska från 1998 till och med 2018. Skriften är tänkt som ett verktyg för alla som har ett intresse av att fördjupa sig i forsk...

Hvordan være verdibasert folkehøgskole i praksis? Hva betyr verdier for hvordan ansatte i folkehøgskolen møter sine elever? Disse spørsmålene har fulgt oss helt fra starten av prosjektet Ungdom, Kultur og Tro (UKT), og gjennom de tre årene prosjektet varte. Denne boka er vår fortelling om hvordan en gruppe på nesten 30 forskere og medforskere jobbe...

The full article can be found in Lövgren's thesis with the same name (see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324567988 ) 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 trace...

Although large international studies have defined Norway as one of the most secular countries in the world, Christian folk high schools in Norway have experienced record high attendance. This paper presents case studies of the religious education (RE) and practices of two Christian folk high schools in Norway. A survey shows that students at these...

Frihet til å lære. Frilynt folkehøgskole gjennom 150 år. Bokanmeldelse publisert i "Grundtvig på norsk", juni 2015.

This article addresses the question of the pedagogical role of the folk high schools in contemporary education of young adults. Building on an empirical material where 60 students describe their learning experience it intends to theorize learning in the folk high school movement. By connecting Etienne Wenger's redesign of learning in communities of...

The Norwegian folk high schools are value-based institutions with a 150-year history. As such, these schools have a continual need to reinterpret and redefine the values on which they were founded. This article examines how the Norwegian folk high schools redefine the religious values that are part of their movement’s heritage. Initially, the conte...

In this book Lövgren applies the basic structure of Etienne Wenger's social learning theory on the Nordic folk high school movement. Based on an empirical study at three Norwegian folk high schools the book describes these institutions as two communities of practice (CoP). The first and most continuous of the CoPs at a folk high school is the schoo...

De enkelte folkehøgskolenes verdigrunnlag er en sentral og bærende del av skolenes identitet. En folkehøgskole er ut fra folkehøgskoleloven per definisjon en verdiformidler. Artikkelen presentere tre aktuelle prosjekt med fokus på de kristne folkehøgskolenes identitet og reflekterer over betydningen av slik forskning.