A new course for you who are teacher, master's student or doctoral student in social studies subjects is given at Stockholm University. Photo: Unsplash

This autumn there is a new course at advanced level given by the Department of Teaching and Learning at Stockholm University: Politics, Democracy and Citizenship – Social Studies Education Research Traditions in the Nordic Context. The course is primarily aimed at you who are active teachers, master's students or doctoral students in the Nordic context, as well as internationally.

Maria Olson is coordinator of the new course. Foto: Private

Maria Olson, professor of subject didactics, explains why this course is needed:

Why was the course created?

– There is a need for a contemporary historical overview of the school subjects in social studies, history, geography, social science and religious education, and their intertwined mission to provide subject-specific knowledge and value-based ability to form critical judgments. We therefore wanted to create a course that can function as a clearly oriented subject specific educational contribution regarding the "qualifying", "socialising" and "subjectifying" (self-actualising) force and potential of these subjects at different educational levels, in the light of different subject didactic traditions in a Nordic context and elsewhere.

– By offering an interdisciplinary course where different education levels are included, the aim is to contribute to making visible the differences and similarities within and between the role of social studies subjects in a societal and student perspective. Of special interest is the relationship between subject content and different kinds of value-oriented claims, in which social studies subject teaching is 'done', formulated and 'didactised'.

What is the aim of the course?

– We want the course participants to gain both a broadened and deepened understanding of how the subject-unique and subject-common social relevance of the subjects of social studies takes shape in and through different subject didactic traditions.

– The ambition is also to offer the participants rich opportunity to deal with the perspectives, experiences and subject didactic teaching and research conditions in a Nordic context, as well as internationally. The hope is to, in this way, increase awareness of the importance of different local, national and regional contexts for how socially oriented topics are interpreted from a value-based, political, democracy- and citizenship oriented perspective. Of importance is to discuss both critical and more teaching-related perspectives.