Perspectives on Contemporary Literary Education

The project is a postdoctoral research project with the intention of studying contemporary literature teaching by examining how literature teaching is described both in governing national documents as well as among a group of upper secondary teachers.

Literature teaching is shaped over time and is based on traditions, views, and values. These traditions, views and values are challenged by social, cultural, and political changes. By critically examining what both creates and challenges literature teaching is an important part of understanding and developing literature teaching. The aim of the project is to contribute to the scientific and pedagogical discussion about literary education, both from a national and a Nordic perspective. An understanding of the frameworks that shape literature teaching (e.g. governing documents) and how literature teaching is planned for (e.g. via teacher interviews), contributes with knowledge to discuss and develop literary education.

The project consists of three different studies. Study 1 examines the arguments and motives for literature reading and literature teaching that are formulated in Finnish Core Curriculum for Basic Education (2014). Study 2, analyzes the cultural models of literature and literature education reflected in Nordic L1 curricula by investigating how literature is given discursive significance in the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish L1 curricula for lower secondary school, both within and across those four countries. The study is part of a research collaboration within the Nordic Research Network on Literature Education. In study 3, the interest is directed towards teachers and their reflections on literature teaching with a complex, literary text. The study explores how a group of upper secondary teachers approach the novel My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci with the intention of using the novel in the literature classroom.