Urban Lundin

 

What can I do for your organization?

1. Analyse needs for structural changes in the organization
2. Give advice and support in difficult staff matters
3. General adviser and dialogue partner in the work as principal/school leader.
4. Mentor/coach for new principal
5. Solidarity work with schools in third world countries, first and foremost in Tanzania

Who am I?

I have worked as principal at two different Folk High Schools in Sweden – Marieborg Folk High School in Norrköping and at present Åsa Folk High School - for almost 20 years. Before that I was both teacher and teacher trainer for about 15 years.

I have been highly appreciated by my students over the years. But I think my knowledge and my skills are even better suited for work at executive level. To be a leader means having to deal with very many different issues – at many levels – and that fits well with my personal profile. I like challenges and I like to work with tasks encompassing many different and separate fields. My creativity is best used if it is given a chance to expand over wider areas. Within the Folk High School sphere, the principal is often pictured as a decathlon athlete. And I happen to like decathlon! For the sake of accuracy, I should also mention that both the two schools I have been leading have been boarding schools, which means that I have also been in charge of hotel and restaurant management, to express it in normal business terms.

Between the two periods as principal at Marieborg and Åsa, I worked with a development project within the field of Non-Formal Adult Education in Tanzania for five years. In the Tandem Project, which aimed at developing the Folk Development Colleges (bearing resemblance with the Swedish Folk High Schools), I was initially responsible for in-service training of the principals. As time went by, I became general adviser to the Ministry of Community Development and leader of the whole project. By mentioning this, I have also made it understood that I have no problems in expressing myself in English, both orally and in writing. I also master Swahili fairly well.

The years in Tanzania have had private repercussions. I am married to Joyce. All in all, we have eight children. All of them are now grown-ups. Nowadays they return home to present us with grandchildren, up to date six new members of the world population.

Besides the experiences from the world of education, I have tried a good deal of other jobs. I have worked as a driver of tractors, buses, lorries; I have been a lumberjack, a dairy worker, an electrician apprentice. I feel I am well acquainted with conditions in the sphere of practical work.

With these experiences I feel I am fit to help developing organisations within the educational field. Being a school leader is a tough and cumbersome job. Newly employed school leaders often do not manage to bear this heavy load for longer periods than a few years. I can be the bridge over the troubled waters facing almost all school leaders today.

Link to my cv

Contact:
Urban Lundin
Bergsgatan 5
641 33 Katrineholm
Phone: +046 150 330 76, +046 708 41 11 67
urban.lundin.asa@folkbildning.net