Marknadsorientering inom folkbildningen : fritt och frivilligt i ett nytt ljus

Sammanfattning: This study is about how the study associations belonging to the liberal adulteducation deal with their role under New Public Management (NPM). Since thebeginning of the ’90’s the study associations have been engaged in the stateprogram for education of the unemployed. State financed education of theunemployed was in the beginning managed by objectives with direct grants. Afterabout five years the direct grants were discontinued, and the responsibility for thiseducation was transferred to the local authority. With different kinds ofcompetitive purchase systems the study organizations became actors on theeducational market. Key issues of voluntary organizations are the ideas or theparticular nature for which they were created, and which forms the basis for theiractivities. When introducing competitive markets these ideas risk being bent inorder to meet the demands of the market.The question of this dissertation is how the study associations describe theiridentity when they move from being the receiver of grants under management byobjectives into being self-financed actors on the educational market. By usingrhetoric analyses this thesis shows how a discourse of the liberal adult educationcan be transferred and used in a new context of an education for the labor market.In this context the argumentation is characterized by the rhetoric of aprofessional. At the same time the language of pathos remains. In the new way oftalking about their activities, pathos and logos have been combined so that bothdirections are important for the commissioned education. Some examples ofexpressions of pathos are free and voluntary (fritt och frivilligt) which historicallyhas been an objective of the liberal adult education. In the new context this notionstands out as a pedagogical way of working for participants with needs forparticular support.