Vår Gård was founded in 1924

“By joining together, cooperating and owning together, individual and common needs can be solved.” - This was the thinking of the members in 1899 when the Swedish Cooperative Association (KF) was formed, based on the need for cheaper and better goods.

During the early 20th century, cooperatives grew in Sweden and the Swedish Cooperative Association played a central role in supporting and promoting cooperative enterprises. One of the most well-known and prominent cooperative enterprises that grew during this time was the Swedish Cooperative Association’s own brand, Konsum. Konsum became an important player in the Swedish grocery trade and played an important role in offering consumers reasonable prices and high-quality products.

In 1917, a proposal was made within the Cooperative Federation to appoint an education committee. Harald Elldin, who was a school teacher and politician on the Värmland bench, was given responsibility for this. After a year, they had completed their work and the KF study department was started. First, you had to acquire knowledge through the KF correspondence institute, it was a kind of preliminary education which meant that you could apply for the Education Staircase which were short centrally arranged courses and these were initially held at various elementary schools around Sweden.

One of these occasions was held in a villa in Neglinge which is located very close to Vårgård. Albin Johansson who was a legendary manager of KF was present on this occasion and the very next day he took a broker out to find a suitable area for KF to build its operations on. It ended with them receiving an offer from the Thiel family to buy the land area which was then called Vårgård. This was where Villa Bikupan and Ackevillan were located and were rebuilt to be suitable for the education. Canteens, school halls, practice shops and accommodation grew. The purchase was made in 1924 and thus Vår Gård . In connection with the purchase, Harald Elldin was appointed principal and became a pioneer in adult education. The name was also changed from Vårgård to Vår Gård .

Picture below: Two course participants in their student accommodation

When Harald Elldin became principal at Vår Gård the desire was to create a basic training program for managers of one to two years, but it was considered too expensive and ineffective since only a few would complete the training. Instead, teacher-led courses of four weeks were created. Harald, who was previously a primary school teacher, realized that regular departmental teaching would not work for working participants. The solution was a kind of modular system of courses that were alternated with correspondence teaching. Short courses with exercises at home to alternate practice with theory. He let people take part in aesthetics, art and culture alongside efficiency and sales and believed that we would do a better job if we felt a meaning, a context and a connection to history.

This unique method that Elldin was the originator of proved to be very effective. Soon competitors in the retail trade followed suit, which led to individual trade recruiting large numbers of well-trained personnel. Vår Gård became a model for vocational training in Swedish business and after World War II, many vocational training programs were developed that were based on the Elldin pedagogy. Vår Gård
has a conference room called Harald in honor and memory of Harald Elldin.

Picture below: Meeting room Harald