Engagement, Growth And General Education in Norwegian folk high schools (ENGAGE)
Illustration by Holiak on Freepik.
ENGAGE investigates the impact and meeting of Norwegian Folk High Schools (FHS) on youth engagement and participation in society. It is the largest study on this subject to date, exploring a largely overlooked aspect in education research.
The projects’ background concerns youth disengagement from education and working life (NEET), but also the growing recognition of the social dimension of NEET status, including young people’s loss of trust in the institutions surrounding them, and their lack of political engagement and social participation. Norwegian FHS are an addition to the formal education system, and are arenas for developing social skills including communication, conflict resolution and cooperation. Students live in dorms at the school with staff present on the premises 24h a day. There are no grades and exams, as schools aim to create a different learning space and different learning motivation, in addition to conduct general education and develop life skills.
ENGAGE is a 5-year project with a project period from 1.11.2024–31.10.2029. The project group consists of researchers from NORCE in collaboration with researchers from USN and NOVA. We have a close collaboration with the Norwegian Folk High School Council, and a reference group consisting of Swedish and Danish expertise as well as representatives from all 5 FHS organizations for the 83 FHS in Norway.
The project consists of three work packages.
- WP1 is a qualitative longitudinal in-depth interview study with students.
- WP2 is a large-scale survey among all students at all FHS in Norway, and all former students in the last 3 years.
- WP3 looks at register data among all this group, in addition to applicants to FHS who did not start school. We will collect data to look at the development among the entire group (around 30,000 young people) over a period of 10 years, addressing the knowledge gap about the importance of FHS for the individual, working life and society, from different perspectives.
Vigdis sveinsdottir, Tonje Fyhn and Martin Skagseth are three of the researcher address the knowledge gap about the importance of folk high schools.
Project facts
Name
Engagement, Growth And General Education in Norwegian folk high schools (ENGAGE)
Status
Active
Duration
01.11.24 - 31.10.29
Location
Bergen
Total budget
12.000.000 NOK
