EXTRACT FROM THE RULES GOVERNING THE KAJ-ERIK NORDSTRÖM AWARD

The Kaj-Erik Nordström Award shall be granted for supporting adult education, in recognition of activities aimed at re-engaging adults with learning and at developing education for all. The award shall be open to individuals that have made a particularly deserving and effective contribution to the development and promotion of adult education. The award shall be granted for activities conducted in keeping with the spirit of the Nordic folk high school movement set out by Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig and in the light of the principles of enlightenment through “education for all” and “opening up the learning environment to disengaged adults”. In its implementation, due account will be taken of the provisions of the UNESCO Recommendation on Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace, as well as of the policy decisions of CONFINTEA and of other regular or occasional conferences that aim at encouraging adult education.

Criteria for conferring the award
The award-winner shall be a natural person (individual), irrespective of nationality or geographical location, who in the course of their lifetime has taken one or more particularly noteworthy initiatives for the development of adult education, namely:
• by helping significantly to promote access to adult education for new sectors of the population, or by introducing them to the practice of such education;
• by fostering the setting up of establishments or centres specializing in adult education;
• by undertaking direct teaching activities that go beyond the usual and legally requested duties of a paid teacher;
• by fostering a desire to learn among the general public;
• by giving particular socio-occupational categories the opportunity to benefit from adult education courses;
• by carrying out special surveys or by launching original ventures that have led to a significant development in adult education;
• by carrying out programmes in the field of adult education at the international, national, regional or local level;
• by organizing efforts and/or facilities to contribute to the implementation of such programmes;
• by producing teaching materials or other special aids for the development of adult education programmes;
• by linking adult education and culture in a way that encourages diversity and promotes local cultural values into the international arena;
• by undertaking, co-ordinating or encouraging research in such fields or related fields (improvement of teaching methods or assessment procedures, advancement of educational theory, etc.), relevant to the specific problems of adult education.

In addition, the following criteria will be taken into consideration:
• the duration of the activity must be sufficient to permit its results to be assessed and its effectiveness proved;
• it should make a notable contribution to the basic objectives of liberal adult education (education open to all, personal development, holistic education);
• the work accomplished should serve as an example and be such as to stimulate further similar initiatives;
• it should have proved effective in mobilizing new resources, both intellectual and physical, for adult education;
• it should contribute to some extent to the understanding and development of international cooperation in education;
• it should contribute to the fight against discrimination of any type.