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Emilia Fogelklou (1878–1972) was an author and pedagogue in twentieth century Sweden. She was a teacher mainly in the field of religious education and was involved in progressive schools such as Gothenburg co-educational school (Göteborgs högre samskola), Birkagården folk high school (Birkagårdens folkhögskola) and the Female civic school (Kvinnliga medborgarskolan). In 1902, Fogelklou experienced a spiritual awakening (Verklighetsupplevelsen) which led to her conviction that it was possible to find a pedagogy that could help the individual to get in contact with an inner divinity.

The aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of Fogelklou’s pedagogical ideas between 1902–1931 by examining her collected writings in relation to contemporary ideas. In three chapters, her pedagogical presuppositions, main pedagogical principles, and ideas about religious education in practice are analysed. The two research questions are: How does Fogelklou’s view of education relate to previously formulated Bildung-ideals? How can her pedagogical ideas be characterised? 

Theoretically, the study employs two perspectives. Firstly, the study draws on Bildung-ideals (neohumanistic Bildung, self-Bildung and civic-Bildung) from the first half of the twentieth century in Sweden, and relates these to Fogelklou’s ideas. The results are related to the Bildung-ideals (neohumanistic Bildung, self-Bildung and civic-Bildung) that previous research has identified in Sweden during the first half of the 1900s. Secondly, the study applies concepts from theories of utopianism and edutopianism.

Methodologically, the study makes use of contextualisation and comparison. Three contextual levels are considered: the individual, the textual, and the broader culture context. The analysis explores the contexts in which Fogelklou was engaged and presents new perspectives on her outlook, particularly with regard to her visionary pedagogical concepts.

This thesis finds that Fogelklou’s thinking was characterised by a religiously marked edutopia. In the thesis, this distinctive pedagogical feature is labelled a “spiritual Bildung-ideal”. This ideal differs from the Bildung-ideals that have been identified in previous research, both in terms of the ideological basis as well as in ideas about teaching methods and materials.