the theme of this issue of DialogWeb is The Nordic Region in the World. It is therefore rather fitting that I’m sitting in a hotel room in Katmandu as I write these words. Globalisation is a characteristic of our time. We travel more, we experience more. Perhaps we also learn more?
The May issue of DialogWeb will be distributed at the ICAE WorldAssembly taking place in Malmö, Sweden, next month. From all over the world, people working with adult education will congregate in the Nordic region. It is time to showcase what is specifically Nordic and to learn from the experience of others. – ICAE has chosen to organise its World Assembly in the Nordic Region because many people admire and are inspired by the Nordic tradition of folkbildning/folkeopplysning (liberal adult education). And that’s what we must offer to the people arriving from all over the world, says Sturla Bjerkaker in the Nordic feature interview.
So, our task at the big conference is to explain the nature of foklbildning. To this end, Nordic adult educators have put together 25 statements about what folkbildning can be. Perhaps this can make the phenomenon more accessible to people arriving from the other side of the globe? Statements: PDF
In the introductory article Bernt Gustavsson descibes folkbildning by contrasting it with other educational traditions. Perhaps it is helpful to place the phenomenon in a wider context? The articles which follow present good examples and different perspectives to what characterises the Nordic Region in a global context – both Nordic societies in general and folkbildning in particular. From the inside and out. What can we teach others and what do we have to learn from them? Read and find out!
I hope you are having a lovely May and that, on a rainy day, you will spend an enjoyable moment reading DialogWeb, gain inspiration from it and perhaps also learn something!
Hilde