Skandalenes forandrende kraft

Abstract

In 1960, psychologist Gori Gunvald exposed the deplorable conditions at Bjerketun Verneskole (protective school) for girls. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that the conditions at Foldin Verneskole for boys were also beyond the pale.

In the postwar period, there had been a differentiation and delineation of the various parts of what we can broadly call child welfare service. New understandings and categorizations of children and youth with various forms of behavioral problems lead to constant changes in institutions. “Verneskolene” (protective schools) emerged from the ruins of former institutions and were meant to care for youth with specific behavioral problems. However, disclosure of the situations at Bjerketun and Foldin led to termination of protective schools as an institution. One of the criticisms was the lack of training and competence among those responsible for the daily care of the youth. This prompted the establishment of new education programs and development within existing ones.

The chapter discusses the new ideas about categorization and treatment of “problematic youth” that underpinned these new educational initiatives. Statens Miljøterapeutskole, established in 1962 as a direct result of the Bjerketun scandal and led by Gori Gunvald, is central to the discussion, although the ideas behind other environmental therapy education programs, both realized and planned, are also considered. One question concerns how the perception of “problematic youth” was shaped in the encounter between new ideas about therapeutic communities and social pedagogy on one side, and a more medical/somatic perspective on the other. This interacted with the government’s search for solutions within institutional and economic constraints. Different directions, disciplines, and professions were at play, sometimes in conflict but also in collaboration.