Scandinavian Study Circles

Description

Described by Peter Fleissner at http://members.chello.at/gre/fleissner/documents/SlovenianPaper2.doc

"In education we identified an example in place for several decades in Scandinavian countries. So called “Study Circles” are a rather popular institution. Their origin comes from the protestant bible study circles of the 19th century. Contrary to the Roman-Catholic tradition where the bible was not open for private interpretation and only the officials of the Church had the right to give the correct meaning to the texts, in Protestant circles the believers were invited to add their personal opinion on the texts. The secularized version of this protestant movement was adopted by the governments. Up to now a group of people who wants to deal with a special subject of investigation can apply for some (limited) resources at any institution of the public, local, regional governments, ministries, chambers of commerce, trade unions etc. I have been informed that more than half of the citizens of Scandinavian countries have experienced a study circle at least once in their life.

The use of the Internet to assist these groups has already started in those countries . To add value to the effort put into the work with Study Circles it would be necessary that the institutions of the education system accept the results officially and give them credit. In particular in education and training, where the half life of knowledge is decreasing, new fields of expertise are acquired easier outside the official institutions than inside. The borders of schools would be blurred by these new institutions, adding more flexibility to the education system." (http://members.chello.at/gre/fleissner/documents/SlovenianPaper2.doc)