The purpose of the paper is to draw attention to the concept of bildung according to a hermeneutic approach. This could be done in a broader sense, in pedagogical subjects and in education in generally, but in this paper I will focus on the education for adults in health and social care in upper secondary school. The discussion will embrace both theoretical and empirical conceptual issues. The point of departure is that bildung presupposes participation, and I will in this paper focus on how the students narrate about their possibility of participation during their education.

The hermeneutic approach in the paper is influenced by a theoretical philosophy both of a theoretical and methodological approach primarily inspired by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. The concept of bildung according to the hermeneutic approach will relate to meaning- making, participation and identity (Ricoeur, 1990; Gadamer, 2004; Kristensson, Uggla, 2012). This means that bildung is based on interpretation, understanding and associated with ontological and existential condition (Gustavsson, 1996/2003; Gallagher, 1992; Mackler, 2004).

The interviewed group of students in focus in this study are those who will work as nursing assistants, undergraduate nurses, mainly in the elderly care. Due to the demands on the students in internship during the education and in their future work, where encounters with recipients are central, it seems important that the education in health and social care give the opportunity to develop abilities to communicate, and knowledge of relational aspects. The encounters with recipients in different situations require an ability to open up for the alien and different, the ability to interpret, and develop these interpretations (Gadamer, 2004; Gustavsson, 2007). How to behave and relate to the recipients is connected to questions about society and humanity and demands skills, knowledge and understanding that may include more than theoretical knowledge (Kemp, 2005). Closely related to bildung is phronesis, when to do what and how to behave, the capacity of what is right and of common good. Phronesis something “acquired through living in the community and is determined by its structure and aims” (Gadamer, 2004, p20).  Phronesis is a concept that is central in all educations in which it’s important to know how to act in practical situations. In all fields where humans are treated as a subject fronesis is an essential capacity (Gustavsson, 2000). My question concerning the students conceptions of their education related to bildung sprung out of what I see as a risk regarding education, that education  has developed a goal and result oriented view on knowledge and learning instead of a view that takes into account meaning- making, understanding and interpretation.

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