Hillevi Lenz Taguchi

About me

Professor of Child and Youth Studies and Early Childhood Education

Section for Early Childhood Education

Hillevi has a background in literature and the behavioral sciences and a PhD in Education (2001). She was promoted full professor of Education in 2011, and recruited professor of Child and Youth Studies and Early Childhood education in 2013 at Stockholm University. Her research interests follow two trajectories: First, a longstanding interest in praxis-based and collaborative work with preschool teachers, children and their families in preschools to enhance preschool quality and children's development and learning. Second, a strong interest in philosophy, science theory and social science methodologies. The last 20 years, these dual and parallel interests have taken her work into theoretical developments and transgressive methodologies as part of Posthumanist, Feminist New Materialist and Post Qualitative approaches; while simultaneously being granted funding as PI for a large-scale interdisciplinary research, framed as a randomized control trial engaging 332 children, their families and educators. This pedagogical intervention project entailed both neuroscience (EEG/ERP) measures of selective auditory attention, and emergent transdisciplinary investigations with children. The project is described and discussed in an OA book coauthored with Linnea Bodén "Development and Postdevelomentalism in studies on, to, with, for, by young children" (2025), Palgrave MacMillan. Hillevi's current focus is on developments of sustainable multi-methodological praxis-based research-practices, which also feature evaluations of children's development and learning based on evidence-based knowledge. As a consequence of the above experiences, a specific research-interest has evolved in the shifting roles and positions of different forms of disciplinary knowledge in and outside of academia: especially knowledge that concern children’s development and learning, which in Sweden had had consequences for both research-practices and teacher education-reforms.