»Herausgeforderte Verdienste: Die Analyse von Kompetenzen in derBerufsbildungsforschung durch die Theorie der Konventionen«. Although merithas been critiqued and problematised such that it has become an object ofpublic debate, it is still deployed as an inherent feature of particular educational forms and trajectories. In this paper, we demonstrate how sociologicaland educational research juxtapose merit versus skill in relation to differentkinds of educational pathways, where the former is seen to be a competenceresiding within vocational education, while the latter has been confined toacademic tracks and into higher education. We then embark on an empiricalcase study, paying attention to how actors negotiate and justify their actionsin situations where they embark on Swedish higher vocational education. Theambiguity around recognising rivalling values and conceptualisations ofmerit is heightened during participants’ experiences of transitioning fromtraining to work. By paying attention to these accounts facilitated through aparticular adult educational institution, a space is opened up for us to examine the worth of what is/are treated as adjacent to merit. A critique of the waysin which we examine merit and skill in social scientific research is important,if the ambition is to formulate meaningful ways for understanding what is valuable in learning and work for actors

Vem är det som studerar på folkhögskola, och varför väljer deltagare just denna utbildningsform? Dessa frågor står i fokus för detta kapitel. I kapitlets första del beskrivs folkhögskolornas rekrytering med hänsyn till hur olika sociala och demografiska faktorer präglat deltagarmönstren de senaste decennierna (1997-2003). Genomgången visar att folkhögskolans villkor påverkas av sociala strukturer, vilka varierar avsevärt beroende på kurstyp och inriktning. Med avstamp i denna statististiska kartläggning som identifierar vilka sociala grupper utbildningsformen primärt når, undersöks varför vuxna väljer att studera inom folkhögskolan. Denna analys fokuserar på vilka motiv folkhögskoledeltagarna själva lyfter fram som betydelsefulla. Sammantaget visar vi i kapitlet hur folkhögskolan å ena sidan kan ses som heterogen - med ett stort och diversifierat utbud av kurser likväl som deltagare, och å andra sidan hur den framstår som homogen - genom att dess nischade kursutbud tenderar att vara inriktat mot speciella deltagargrupper.

This article maps the landscape of Swedish educational research as it has been published over the period 2000–2020 in peer-reviewed English language journals. Topic modeling techniques were used to analyze the metadata of keywords, abstracts, and titles from 7,402 peer-reviewed articles in the Scopus database. This analysis identified 25 topics characteristic of Swedish educational research. Analysis of supplementary bibliographic information, including reference lists, authorship, and journal titles, reveals that qualitative studies on teaching and learning, particularly those using phenomenographic, pragmatic, and socio-cultural/activity theory approaches, have dominated Swedish educational research. The article concludes by examining the content of this body of knowledge along key axes of contestation. Research on skills and competences often employs a markedly different language than studies focusing on values and attitudes. Furthermore, research centered on learning and didactics as a microphenomenon contrasts with work that emphasizes educational organization and large-scale evaluation.

Trots folkhögskolans digra historik över drygt 150 år och omvittnade betydelse för nordisk folkbildning, demokrati- och samhällsbyggnad, kvarstår mycket arbete för att undersöka hur denna utbildningsform ändrat karaktär över tid och vilken plats den fått i olika länders utbildningssystem. I kontrast till barn- och ungdomsskolan är utbildningsstoffet vid folkhögskolor inte styrt av nationellt fastlagda läroplaner. Avsaknaden av en kunskapsmässig infrastruktur och den föränderliga karaktären hos folkhögskolornas läroplan gör det utmanande att få grepp om utbildningsformen oh dess många metamorfoser över tid. Samtidigt gör de flexibla institiotionella ramvillkoren skolorna särskilt intressanta eftersom man via deras utveckling potentiellt kan få syn på större strukturella förändringar i utbildningsväsende, arbetsmarknad och tidsanda. Då målgruppen är vuxna och skolformen är frivillig behöver folkhögskolorna hela tiden anpassa verksamheten för att möta skiftande intressen och behov. I denna artikel vill jag pröva användbarheten av årsberättelser som utgångspunkt för en analys av arkivmaterial från Hola folkhögskola 1896-1989. Årsberättelser från folkhögskolor är exempel på vardagstrycksmaterial med stort lokalt och kulturhistoriskt värde men som riskerar att förbli outnyttjat då det inte har katalogiserats och/eller digitaliserats. Mitt bidrag utgår från ett pågående forskningsprojekt om den svenska folkhögskolan där samtliga skolors årsberättelser och kurskataloger digitaliseras och analyseras med utgångspunkt i storskalig text- och bildanalys. Jag frågar mig vilka förändringar som kan skönjas i folkhögskolornas verksamhetsbeskrivningar över tid. Vilka ämnen och kompetenser framställs som centrala? Hur har de bärande didaktiska metoderna beskrivits och förändrats? Möjligheterna att besvara dessa frågor underlättas av konstruktionen av sammanhängande longitudinella databaser i digitalt format vars betydelse sannolikt kommer att öka i takt med nya tekniska landvinningar inom databearbetning och storskalig språkmodellering.

In this chapter, we explore what kinds of research themes on lifelong learning have been salient in a selection of peer-review journals written in the English language throughout the last half-century. We draw on large-scale text mining techniques to identify 15 latent topics that have been the most prevalent within academic journals and trace how the semantic composition has changed in character over time. Based on this topic model analysis of metadata from 4561 articles, we show how the research field of lifelong learning hinge on broad distinctions between education and work, quantitative and qualitative research paradigms, as well as encompassing more fine-grained research clusters within this broader frame. We conclude by arguing that research on lifelong learning has undergone substantial changes since the 1980s, especially with regard to adult education that has lost its former role as the center of gravity with increased attention being directed toward learning within higher education as well as in relation to workplaces.

This book shows the continuing importance of art education. Art education attracts students who see multiple meanings and justifications for the worth of that education. Their engagement in art education is not limited to the uncertain prospects for jobs or routes into employment in the arts. Fürst and Nylander approach art education through a rich array of empirical examples derived from Swedish folk high school programs in music, visual arts, and creative writing. Based on an analytical framework of pragmatic sociology, the book allows the reader to understand the competences and critical capacities held by students and teachers. The book challenges the dominant public perception of art education and broadens our understanding of what it is good for. The Value of Art Education is essential reading for those defending the status of this vital sector of education, offering a deeper understanding of why people engage, what they gain, and the social importance of the arts.

The question of what the research of lifelong education is all about needs to be revisited from time to time. Not only is this line of research approached from a multitude of academic disciplines - such as sociology, psychology or philosophy - the very concepts that are used to denote the field also undergo important changes over time, e.g. from lifelong education to lifelong learning. In this contribution, we will explore this rather elusive research territory using a large-scale text analysis of a specific scientific journal, International Journal of Lifelong Education, based on meta-data (abstracts, keywords and titles) from 1,185 articles published between 1982 to 2021. Based on topic modelling techniques, we identify the main themes that have been prevalent within the journal, and how the journals content has changed character over time. We end the paper with a more critical examination of what kind of political and scientific currents might help explain what has led research practices to be more descriptive, micro-oriented and work-related over time.