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Folk high schools ( and in Germany. The concept was originally inspired by the Danish writer, poet, philosopher and pastor Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783 - 1872). The Condorcet Report during the 1789 French Revolution was also an important milestone of popular instruction. Despite similar names and remotely similar goals, the institutions are quite different in the German/Swedish and the Norwegian/Danish traditions. German/Swedish folk high schools are in fact much closer to the institutions called folkeuniversitet or folkuniversitet in Norway and Denmark, which provide Adult Education usually in connection with a local regular university. The Finnish ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto'' (called ''arbetarinstitut'' in Swedish) are also part of this educational tradition. The names in the local languages are ''højskole'' ( Danish ), ''kansanopisto'' ( Finnish ), ''folkehøyskole/folkehøgskole/folkehøgskule'' ( Norwegian ), ''folkhögskola'' ( Swedish ), and ''Volkshochschule'' ( German ). Other countries have also been inspired by Danish thoughts on people's involvement in education. In USA, Africa and India a few schools have been build upon the principles originating from Grundtvig's ideas. FEATURES Folk high schools are quite different in character but usually have the following common features:
DENMARK The first folk high school was founded in Rødding , Denmark , in 1844 , on the initiative of Kristen Kold and inspired by the educational thinking of Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig . It was sparked by a need to educate the uneducated and often poor Peasantry , who could not spend the time or the money to enroll at a University . Today there are 79 folk high schools in Denmark. The principal subjects of instruction vary among creative the (e.g., music, arts, design, writing, etc.) the intellectual (e.g., religion, philosophy, literature, psychology, etc.). A handful of schools specialize in sports. In recent history, Globalization has exercised an increasingly important influence on the Danish schools. Many courses are open to foreigners as well as Danes, and many courses include travelling or voluntary stays in other countries as part of the curriculum. NORWAY Norway's first folk high school was founded in 1864. In 2007, there are 77 folk high schools spread across the country, 30 of which are Christian. Folk high schools provide opportunities in general education, primarily for young adults. These schools are different from secondary schools, high schools and higher education. All students are eligible for normal financial aid. Most folk high schools are connected to some sort of organization. Most courses are for one year, but there are a few that are two years. SWEDEN The first folk high schools in Sweden were established in 1868. Today, there are about 150 folk high schools throughout the country, most of which are situated in the Countryside , often in remote areas. Tuition is free, and the students are eligible for normal financial aid. After graduating, the students are eligible to study at a university. Some schools, for example Södra Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola near Jönköping , cooperate with schools in other countries and have an exchange student program. GERMANY A Volkshochschule in one of the ''German-speaking countries'' usually provides non-credit continuing Adult Education in:
This type of folk high school is currently most widespread in Germany . Due to its offering of preparatory classes for school exams, the German Volkshochschule also fulfills the educational function of Adult High School s in other countries. FRANCE See Also: Popular Education Popular Education in France founds its roots in the '' (1762) was another obvious theoretical influence. The Jules Ferry Laws in the 1880s, establishing free, Laic , mandatory and public education, were one of the founding stones of the Third Republic (1871-1940), set up in the aftermaths of the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune . Furthermore, most of the teachers, who were through-out one of the main support of the Third Republic, so much that it has been called the ''République des instituteurs'' ("Republic of Teachers"), while the teachers themselves were called, because of their Republican Anti-clericalism , the ''hussards noirs de la République'', supported Alfred Dreyfus against the conservatives during the Dreyfus Affair . One of its consequences was for them to set up free educational lectures of humanist topics for adults in order to struggle against the spread of Anti-semitism , which was not limited to the far-right but also affected the workers' movement. Popular education continued to be an important field of socialist politics, reemerging in particular during the Popular Front in 1936-38, while '' Autogestion '' (self-management), a main tenet of the Anarcho-syndicalist movement, became a popular slogan following the May '68 revolt. Following the Experimental High School, opened six months before the LAP. Furthermore, the secondary school Vitruve was another source of inspiration (it opened in 1962 in the 20th Arrondissement of Paris, and is still active). Theoretical references include Célestin Freinet and his comrades from the I.C.E.M., as well as Raymond Fonvieille , Fernand Oury ,and others theoreticians of " Institutional Pedagogy ," as well as those coming from the Institutional Analysis movement, in particular René Lourau , as well as members of the Institutional Psychotherapeutic movement, which were a main component in the 1970s of the Anti-psychiatric Movement (of which Félix Guattari was an important member). Since 2005, the LAP has created contact with others self-managed firms, in the REPAS Network (''Réseau d'échanges et de pratiques alternatives et solidaires'', Network of Exchange of Solidarity and Alternative Practices"). - 1936 .]] REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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