Liv Mjelde

Liv Kitty Mjelde (born 29 August 1939) is a Norwegian sociologist and educator, specializing in vocational pedagogy. She is Professor Emeritus at Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet). Her work focuses on the sociology of education, workshop-based and classroom learning, the social division of knowledge, and gender and labour in vocational education.

Early life and education Mjelde studied political science, history, and sociology at the University of Oslo, obtaining a cand.mag. degree in 1967 and a cand.sociol. in 1975. She earned her doctoral degree (Dr. Philos.) in sociology from the University of Joensuu (now University of Eastern Finland) in 1993, with a dissertation on apprenticeship and vocational learning.

Academic career Mjelde worked for many years in vocational education and teacher training, including 18 years as a counsellor at Sogn Vocational School in Oslo. Her international work includes visiting scholar appointments at institutions such as the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (University of Toronto), University of Adelaide, and Kyambogo University. She led cooperative projects to develop a Master’s programme in Vocational Pedagogy at Kyambogo University with students from Uganda and South Sudan.

She is also a member European Association of Professors Emeriti.

Research and themes Her scholarship has explored the intersection between manual and intellectual labor, the philosophy of vocational learning, and the cultural and gendered dimensions of apprenticeship traditions. These themes are developed in her works such as The Magical Properties of Workshop Learning and Apprenticeship: From Practice to Theory and Back Again, where she blends empirical observation with theoretical reflection on the social status of practical knowledge. Her work places emphasis on forms of knowledge, didactics, mentoring, and the historical evolution of vocational pedagogy.

Beyond academic publishing, Mjelde has contributed to documentary film projects addressing historical and social themes. She collaborated with filmmaker Tamara Sushko on Frozen Fish, Warm Voices (also referred to as Secrets in a Pair of Scissors), which was presented at documentary film festivals in the late 2010s.

Drawing inspiration from educational reformers such as Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lev Vygotsky, John Dewey, Célestin Freinet, Paulo Freire and Alexander Sutherland Neill. Mjelde links her pedagogical philosophy to a humanist and democratic tradition.

Selected publications