My research focuses on interactions and relationships between teachers and students, and how these influence students’ learning, well-being, and social-emotional development. I am particularly interested in the social climate of the classroom, teachers’ ethical approaches, and how schools can work systematically to create safe and supportive learning environments.

My doctoral dissertation, Social Climate and the Student in the Learning Environment: Advances in Assessment, Observation, and Coaching (2023), comprises three studies. The first study examined an instrument used to assess students’ prosocial behavior. The second study explored associations between students’ self-concept, prosocial behavior, well-being, and academic achievement, including potential gender differences. The third study evaluated an intervention in which teachers engaged in self-assessment (MAVIS), observation (CLASS), and coaching in order to improve the social climate in the classroom.

In my postdoctoral project, I have examined the concurrent validity of EduCAT (formerly the MAVIS protocol) by analyzing the correlations between EduCAT scores and those from the established observation tool CLASS. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of how these tools can be used in combination to assess and enhance classroom climate.

I have also participated in an evaluation of the educational initiative Berättarministeriet, focusing on how two of its school-based programs impact teaching practices and student development.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Classroom observations in elementary schools with Educational Climate Assessment Tool (EduCAT): the concurrent validity with Classroom Assessment Scoring System

  2024. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Noam Ringer. Frontiers in Education 9

  Article

  The classroom social–emotional climate is critical to students’ wellbeing and learning ability. In practice and research, an assessment instrument with strong validity is invaluable, providing crucial information about the classroom’s social–emotional and learning climate. This allows for a more accurate appreciation of the quality of the learning environment. A valid instrument is helpful and essential in improving the classroom climate in practice and demonstrating intervention outcomes in research. The primary aim was to evaluate the concurrent validity of the Educational Climate Assessment Tool (EduCAT)—a newly developed classroom observation instrument based on a solid theoretical framework and previous empirical research. The concurrent validity testing involved examining pairwise and multivariate canonical correlations between scores from the EduCAT scales (stimulation, improvement, structure, relationship, and influence) and scores from the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) administered concurrently in 30 kindergarten to third grade (K-3) classrooms in four schools in Sweden. The pairwise correlation results show that the scores of the two observation instruments have strong and moderate positive correlations, as hypothesized. The canonical correlation identifies which scales in EduCAT correlate more strongly to scales in CLASS®. The results indicate that the observations measured with EduCAT tap similar aspects of classroom climate quality to those measured with CLASS®, thereby confirming the new protocol’s concurrent validity and instilling confidence in its use.

  Read more about Classroom observations in elementary schools with Educational Climate Assessment Tool (EduCAT)

• A cluster-randomized controlled trial of a teacher-coaching intervention: a pilot study aimed at supporting classroom climate and student development

  2023. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Laura Ferrer-Wreder. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 1-17

  Article

  This pilot study examined the utility of a practice-based coaching (PBC) intervention in Swedish elementary schools designed to support the classroom climate and benefit students. The intervention involved activities, self-assessment, observation, and coaching to the teachers, with the aim of improving the classroom climate and students’ self-concept, prosocial behavior, well-being, and academic achievement. The design was a cluster randomized trial with the school as the assignment unit. Participants in the intervention were 66 students in four classes, and in the control, four classes with 77 students. The duration of the intervention was five months. An autoregressive structural equation model was estimated. The correlations between the latent variables at pre-test ranged from low to high. There were significant standardized path coefficients concerning all the latent variables pre- and post-test. The estimates of the intervention at the post-test were non-significant. The results suggested a longer duration of the intervention with more frequent coaching sessions, which may enhance its effect.

  Read more about A cluster-randomized controlled trial of a teacher-coaching intervention: a pilot study aimed at supporting classroom climate and student development

• Self-Concept, Prosocial School Behaviors, Well-Being, and Academic Skills in Elementary School Students: A Whole-Child Perspective

  2022. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Laura Anne Ferrer-Wreder. Education Sciences 12 (5)

  Article

  Whole-child development focuses on supporting not only academic but also social emotional skills. This cross-sectional study's aim was to examine the associations between the child-rated self-concept and well-being, teacher-rated prosocial school behaviors, and academic skills (as measured by child performance tasks) and to examine if there were group differences by gender for these constructs. The sample was 143 s grade students (M age = 8 years old). The results indicate that self-concept correlated highly with well-being and moderately with prosocial behaviors, while academic skills correlated moderately with prosocial behaviors. The results also show that the boys had lower average prosocial behavior (teacher-rated) and self-concept (child-rated) ratings relative to the girls. The findings indicate that prosocial behavior, well-being, and self-concept can be measured in psychometrically sound and practically meaningful ways in Swedish elementary schools. Because many of the socioemotional and behavioral constructs were correlated with academic skills, these constructs could be important targets for early academic support interventions inspired by a whole-child approach.

  Read more about Self-Concept, Prosocial School Behaviors, Well-Being, and Academic Skills in Elementary School Students

• How I Feel about My School—Adaptation and Validation of an Educational Well-Being Measure among Young Children in Sweden

  2021. Rasmus Riad (et al.). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (10)

  Article

  The well-being of children has received increasing attention in recent years. Nevertheless, we lack adequate brief self-report tools that enable us to consider young children’s well-being in policy evaluations and educational research. This study describes the adaptation and first validation of theSwedish version of How I Feel About My School (HIFAMS), a subjective well-being questionnaire suitable for children aged 4 to 12 years, which was originally developed in the United Kingdom (UK). Descriptive statistics with analysis of psychometric properties and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) are based on the perceived well-being of 228 children in preschool and school aged 5 to 8 years old. The CFA endorsed a good fit to a one-factor model, and the scale showed moderate internal consistency (rα = 0.63). The results are largely in line with the findings of the original HIFAMS. We conclude that the Swedish version can be applied in early preschool/school settings and could provide first-hand information about children’s well-being from the first years of education until elementary school grades. Practitioners in early education settings might benefit from HIFAMS assessments when seeking to understand children’s current well-being to provide support to children with special educational needs or children at risk for mental health issues. Researchers could use the HIFAMS to standardize child well-being evaluations in policy evaluations and interventional studies.

  Read more about How I Feel about My School—Adaptation and Validation of an Educational Well-Being Measure among Young Children in Sweden

• Psychometric Properties of the Elementary Social Behavior Assessment in Swedish Primary School: A Teacher Rated Index of Students' Prosocial School Behaviors

  2021. Carina Wikman, Mara Westling Allodi, Laura Ferrer-Wreder. Frontiers in Education 6

  Article

  This study examined the psychometric properties of a Swedish language adaption of the teacher-rated Elementary Social Behavior Assessment (ESBA), which provides an index of students’ prosocial school behaviors. Participants were eight teachers (two teachers per school in four schools) who rated their students (N = 143 children, M age = 8 years old). The ESBA factor structure was tested with Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a series of models. The two- and three-factor models showed better fit. ESBA showed high internal consistency at the observed level. ESBA’s psychometric properties show initial promise as a tool to help Swedish teachers to support students’ prosocial skills development. 

  Read more about Psychometric Properties of the Elementary Social Behavior Assessment in Swedish Primary School

• Lärares etiska förhållningssätt: En pedagogisk omsorg om och ett ansvar för människans unika och särskilda karaktär i förhållande till skolans värdegrund

  2011. Carina Wikman.

  Den här uppsatsen bygger på litteraturstudier. Eftersom pluralism och skillnad är demokratins förutsättningar använder jag pluralism som en utgångspunkt för att tolka skolans värdegrund. Detta gör jag genom att lägga Fjellströms ansvarsdiskurs som ett raster över först ansvar, sedan omsorg och till sist pluralism i värdegrunden. Uppsatsen är upplagd så att ansvar, omsorg och pluralism presenteras enligt omsorgsetikens syn och därefter ges Levinas perspektiv på det samma. Genom att omdefiniera Noddings omsorgsaspekt och Levinas ansvarsaspekt försöker jag utveckla en förståelse för ett etiskt förhållningssätt. Därefter följer ett avsnitt med en jämförelse mellan omsorgsetiken och Levinas etik, där motsättningar och överensstämmelser diskuteras. I slutkapitlet diskuteras vad det etiska förhållningssättet innefattar och vilken betydelse det har för lärare och för värdegrunden.

  Omsorgsetiken bidrar till ett etiskt förhållningssätt genom att sätta fokus på relationer och omsorg som indirekt leder till en kommunikativ öppenhet inför den Andre vilket är positivt för pluralism och skillnad. Omsorgsetiken belyser även den etiska aspekten på läroplansfrågor. Levinas etik fokuserar på relationen och det oändliga ansvaret inför den Andres alteritet vilket är positivt för pluralism och skillnad.

  Istället för att producera den demokratiska personen kan den demokratiska subjektiviteten genom etiskt förhållningssätt framträda uppfattad som ”handlande – i pluralitet”. Fokus finns då på skillnad istället för på likhet och enighet.

  Read more about Lärares etiska förhållningssätt

Show all publications by Carina Wikman at Stockholm University