Malmö University, Sweden
Faculty of Health and society
Department of social work
Riitta Nilsson, MSW
Social Work
Lecturer
Educational Work with Elderly
A two year long program for
pedagogically oriented social work with
elderly people.
Started by the faculty of Health and Society in 2003.
The program is the only one in Sweden so far.
Elderpedagogic work
• The most important characteristics are health promoting,
preventive and mobilizing interventions.
• The elderpedagogues work in day centres, meeting places, in
residential homes, in carer’s support centres, etc.
• The overall aim is to prolong the healthy part of old age, and to
improve the quality of life in old age
Elderpedagogy
Elderpedagogy
• a young sub-discipline
• a new profession
• still not well defined.
• My colleagues Mats Högström and Pelle Hallstedt (PhD’s in
pedagogy) and I are trying to describe and define the new
discipline, the concept and the new profession.
• My speech here today is based on a small study
Conversation as a means for bildung in later life, which is a
part of this ongoing work:
Conversation as a means for bildung in
later life
• The aim of the study: To examine the potential of conversation
in the bildung process in a broad sense.
• Method: We had conversations with (interviewed) four women,
82-94 years old, all widows, who live in the same
neighbourhood and visit the same day centre for activities for
older people.
• Themes for our interviews were their daily life, what they talk
about at the day centre, their life stories, what they think of what
happens in the world today.
• The results of this study will contribute to the education of
elderpedagogues and to defining elderpedagogy.
About the concept bildung
• Bildung is a German word and there is no self-evident translation
into English.
• The classical thought of bildung has in focus the individual and
the development of the individual personality.
• The concept is also about partaking in the community of
everyday life.
• We understand bildung as development of the individual as a
person through meeting ‘the other’ and as integration and
inclusion in the society – to be a part of the world.
Coming into being
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An individual comes into being as an I in relationships with a You, where
both are recognised by the other  wholeness, continuity and meaning in
life (Buber, Natorp).
Man is a social creature and we become what we are in relation to others.
Bildung is interpreted by Gustavsson (2010) as a tool for discussing and
understanding the world we live in.
In bildung, encounters with others are essential. We communicate with
each other, and through language we are able to give mutual response,
and also create a distance to ourselves, which means that we are able to
reflect on ourselves and thus be involved in the process of bildung; in
meeting the other we meet ourselves (Eriksson & Markström, 2000)
In the life world social integration happens through communicative
action. Solidarity, identity and meaning are created, and this is the
foundation of human life (Habermas, 1984)
On old age, risks and bildung
• Old age often means increasing risks, which obstruct the process
of bildung.
• One risk is diminishing social networks  fewer opportunities for
conversations  isolation  illnes  disintegration of identity
… losing contact with the outer world, and thus with one’s own
self.
• With the present study we wish to contribute to the understanding
of the options for a development of or for a maintained
personality.
• The study is based on the idea that conversation can be one way
to enhance the process of bildung for older people.
About conversations
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Lack of opportunities for conversations: “There are many days I don’t
talk to anybody.”
Contact at any cost: The meetings at the day centre are much appreciated,
but more for the sake of coming together, than for the actual
conversations. “She does not hear and she does not see. She never says
anything, but she comes there every week.”
The respondents described the conversations at the day centre, often led
by a professional elderpedagogue, as much shallower than the interviews.
Life stories: The interviews gave long and rich stories about their school
days, work, travels, marriages, views of life today, and also
encounters with other cultures, modern times. All the women were aware
of what was going on in the world through TV, radio, newspapers,
children and grandchildren – eg. multicultural phenomena in today’s
society and reflected on that.
The potential of conversation in the bildung
process
• Dimensions: deep – shallow
• Genuine encounters (in meeting the other we learn to know
ourselves)
• Relation – should be characterized by reciprocity, equality
• In dialogue we can find the pre-understanding that opens up for
new understanding – a link between the particular and the
universal  bildung.
• An illustration for above: One of the interviewees compared
women’s situation in old times and today – being happy about
her daughter living a freer life than she could when she was
young. She reflected on the fundamental changes in women’s
situation on many levels, above all in the field of education.
The role of elder pedagogues
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Elderpedagogues learn in their program that elderpedagogy is about leading
a pedagogic process together with the old person towards a goal.
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The pedagogic property in the bildung process: the elderpedagogues create a
will in the older person to take part in the meetings.
They also need to encourage the older persons to talk with each other.
Reflection is central for the elderpedagogue to see what happens with the
women in the conversation.
There should not be only small talk because this does not promote the
bildung process but at the same time elderpedagogues should be sensitive to
the risks of the conversations getting too personal or too revealing.
Elderpedagogues should also dare to bring to the conversation topics that
lead to exhanging of views and ideas and thus create a milieu where one
could see oneself in others in order to stimulate the bildung process.
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The importance of conversation
• The bildung process is promoted by somebody being interested
in your life and your thoughts. It makes you keep track of
yourself and creates a ground for opening your mind for new
things.
• Telling your life to somebody means that you, at the same
time, go through different events to better understand your own
life.