Research

Diversity, Multilingualism and Social Justice in Education (DIMISO)

DIMISO strives in its own work to support the possibilities of conducting educational research in Swedish and therefore has Swedish as its main working language. The research community has regular seminars where everyone is welcome to participate in the language they are most comfortable with. The research community forms an important scientific basis for general pedagogy, adult pedagogy and for the Swedish teacher education programs: primary teacher education, early childhood education, special teacher education, subject teacher education and higher education.

Research groups

DIMISO has three research groups. Our researchers are often involved in multiple research projects belonging to different research groups. You can find descriptions about each group and their projects by following the links. A list of publications and all projects (on-going and former) within DIMISO can also be found here.

Early childhood and early childhood education

Our research topics focus on early childhood and early childhood education. The projects include early parenting and parental support in different contexts, as well as supporting children’s social-emotional development within Early Childhood Education. Our different projects show a particular interest in multilingual children, language-awareness and on interventions supporting social justice, inclusion and equal opportunities for learning, participation and wellbeing for all children. We also study sustainable leadership within ECEC and factors promoting staff retention. Our research is based on the values in UN convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as UN Sustainability Development Goals.

The contact person is Professor Mirjam Kalland.

Primary, subject and special teacher education

Our research is based on topics relevant for primary education, subject didactics and special teacher education. The focus is on teaching, studying and learning in primary education, language education, social studies, humanities, aesthetics, science subjects and special teacher education from the perspective of multilingualism, diversity and social justice in a digitalised world. We are involved in collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches, and the research is mainly taking place in collaboration with schools. With our research we want to respond to current educational challenges, like the quest for sustainability, democracy, and human rights.

The contact person is Professor Erika Löfström.

General education, educational leadership and higher education

The research projects in general education, educational leadership and higher education are often based in sociological or ethical perspectives on education, with a particular interest in constraints and affordances for multilingualism, diversity and social justice in both face-to-face and digitally mediated teaching, learning and supervision practices in educational settings at different levels, ranging from the first years of schooling to higher education, in particular teacher education. The research aims at relating national, Nordic and international policy analysis with ethnographic analysis of everyday life in educational institutions, from student, teacher and supervisor perspectives.

The contact person is Professor Fritjof Sahlström.