Liv Mjelde
Liv Kitty Mjelde is a Norwegian sociologist and educator, specializing in vocational pedagogy. She is Professor Emeritus at Oslo Metropolitan University. 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 in sociology from the University of Joensuu 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. She later held academic and research positions at Akershus University College. Her international work includes visiting scholar appointments at institutions such as the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 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.
In 2022, she received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who.
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, 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. Her writings engage with contemporary debates on post-Fordism, a socio-economic framework that demands an adaptable, skilled, and holistically developed workforce.