SEK 39 million to new doctoral school at Jönköping University
"Cultural enabling of education through language and literature" (CuEEd-LL) is the name of a new doctoral school that received almost SEK 39 million in grants from The Swedish Research Council until 2026. The project aims to build research capacity among teacher educators, to prepare the next generation of teachers to teach for the diversity of the Swedish school.
Ylva Lindberg, Professor and Head of Research at the School of Education and Communication (HLK) at Jönköping University (JU), is project manager for CuEEd-LL.
“We have worked a lot with the application so it feels fantastic that we have received the funds we applied for. This gives us the opportunity to run a doctoral school that can make a difference in the various parts of teacher education and also in school”, says Ylva Lindberg.
In addition to Ylva Lindberg, Sangeeta Bagga-Gupta, professor at HLK, six other researchers from Stockholm University, University of Gothenburg and Malmö University are also included in the project.
Teachers at all stages and in all subjects need skills in language and literature to develop inclusive communicative practices. Activations of linguistic and literary skills in teacher education gives students opportunities to understand complex cultural contexts and be able to participate in them. The program strengthens equivalent education with high quality and participation in a contemporary global and digitalized world.
The nine doctoral students who are admitted to the doctoral school will be surrounded by a team of supervisors who will represent both language and literature, as well as a specific subject or area where this is relevant.
“It is important to explore how teachers can pedagogically use language and literature in combination, not only in language subjects, but also as didactic tools in a variety”, says Ylva Lindberg.
The project will respond to a need for research-based approaches to create knowledge about how learning can function as a cultural enabling for heterogeneous groups, ie all school students. Language subjects are divided into language and literature disciplines within education in Sweden. In CuEEd-LL, they work integrated, which serves the holistic perspective on language and literature that practicing language teachers according to governing documents must adopt.
“Although language and literature are to be understood as subject disciplines in their own right, they constitute fundamental resources for teaching, learning and cultural understanding on an overall level. Through the doctoral projects in CuEEd-LL, didactic methods will be developed for how both language and literature can support literacy abilities and values in today's digitalized Swedish education”, says Ylva Lindberg.
Example areas for the research
- How the intersection between language and literature is presented in the teacher education's various subjects, governing documents and practices.
- How prospective teachers learn culture in their respective programs and what cultural enabling educational tools they encounter during their education.
- How digitization processes change communication, culture and diversity in the field of education.
CuEEd-LL will be led and coordinated by the research environment CCD - Communication, Culture and Diversity, since 2016 at Jönköping University (JU), in collaboration with the University of Gothenburg, Malmö University and Stockholm University.
For more information, contact Ylva Lindberg, project manager for CuEEd-LL:
ylva.lindberg@ju.se
Researcher in CuEEd-LL
- Ylva Lindberg, professor School of Education and Communication at Jönköping University
- Sangeeta Bagga-Gupta, professor School of Education and Communication at Jönköping University
- Stefan Helgesson, professor Stockholm University
- Christopher Stroud, professor, Stockholm University
- Tommaso Milani, professor University of Gothenburg
- Anna Nordenstam, professor University of Gothenburg
- Magnus Persson, professor Malmö University
- Anna Wärnsby, associate professor, Malmö University
