The Folk High School and Housekeeping School

We’re now approaching the turnoff near the E39 at Sjøholt, where we continue toward Ålesund. If you were to drive the other way, you would reach Molde or Åndalsnes, both about an hour away. Ahead of us is also Sjøholt Folk High School, a school that carries forward a long Norwegian tradition in which learning, community, and personal growth are central. Folk high schools in Norway emerged in the 19th century, inspired by the Danish thinker N.F.S. Grundtvig, who believed that education should not only be about subjects and exams, but about becoming a whole human being. These buildings once housed the Sunnmøre Housekeeping School, where young women were taught cooking, sewing, and homemaking. At that time, the housewife was seen as a central pillar of both family and local society. Today, the site is used for new forms of learning, but its history still lingers in the walls — a meeting point between old ideals and new ideas.