Swedish Folk High Schools and Inclusive Education

This article focuses on Swedish folk high schools’ participants with disabilities, and their learning environment within adult education. Facilitating factors are presented and discussed, as well as developmental factors regarding the adjustment of the learning environment. The basis for this empirical study is data from Statistics Sweden and a self-designed online questionnaire with respondents representing the folk high schools (N=212). Theoretical reference is given to concepts such as adult education and inclusive education. The results show there are an increased number of participants with disabilities in Swedish folk high schools. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the meaning of pedagogics with a personalized, individualized approach, and highlights a need for further education of adult educators about disability. The conclusion is that a stronger inclusive-education perspective with focus on learners’ diversity reflects only one side of practice, as this practice is also challenged by welfare system-steered processes that may conflict with an ideal of adult education as empowerment