Folkhögskolepedagogik mellan myndighet och medborgare : en studie av ett forsknings- och utvecklingsarbete på fem folkhögskolor 1975-1978

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the thesis is to examine institutionalized nonformal education as it expressed itself in the program "Educational Models for the Folk High School". The main problem can be put: in what ways can the educational process generated be understood as the influence of society and in what ways as the influence of individuals? Previously collected and reported material on the program is here subjected to renewed analysis on a higher theoretical level.The need to transcend the action research approach, which was used during the program, is emphasized. An independently formulated model of interpretation is constructed on the basis of conflict theory, based on both Marxism and educational sociology. Established concepts such as "educational code" and "frame factor" are given a broader interpretation through the dialectical formulation of the educational process as a product of the interplay of objective and subjective forces, which emenate from the efforts of the state to guarantee the reproduction of society and as a result of individuals’ intentionality, consciousness and existential concern.The relative success of the program is interpreted as an expression of the partial realization of subjective forces. Obstacles raised by the school system and public authorities are interpreted as manifestations of objective forces. The conclusion of the thesis is that form and content, time and place, could be altered by active students and teachers. However, the evaluation system within and outside of the folk high school, could not be influenced.In sum, the results indicate that the educational process ought to be understood as more open to change than established Marxism and educational sociology usually let us believe but less so than psychological and educational analysis otherwise acknowledge.