Special issue in Acta Didactica Norden Spring 2023: The student as the subject in social studies and the potential of social studies in students’ lives

2021-03-01

Social studies in school in the Nordic countries consist of several subjects (social science, history, geography, and religious education), which together and apart are aimed at helping children and young people to participate in society in various arenas and ways, for example through work, culture and politics. But the school subjects also address students’ own lives and their Bildung. In sum, these processes concern the potential of social studies in terms of facilitating students’ opportunities to ‘be’ and to ‘act’ in the world. This special issue focuses on this being and acting, in and outside of school, related to social studies and takes inspiration from the political philosopher Hannah Arendt (2004, 2013). Arendt was concerned with the significance of the situated and experiential for a rich and qualified understanding of the world and society, which highlights the importance of the very process through which the students as unique beings give rise to their own unique understanding and formation of the world and society through social studies teaching and learning (Persson & Olson, n.d.).

Our goal with this special issue is to help gather and systematize ongoing social studies research in the Nordic countries based on various theoretical, empirical and methodological frameworks with a focus on the student as a subject. In this way, we want to contribute to advancing the social studies didactic field of knowledge in a way that facilitates continued Nordic knowledge accumulation and dialogue in the field.

Research in the Nordic context has pointed to the need for more insight into how students’ role as citizens comes through in the social studies classroom, how teachers relate the subject matter to student perspectives, and how various activities in social studies can contribute to student engagement, responsibility, historical and value-based understanding and the different ways in which these processes can matter in students’ lives in and outside of school (Björklund & Sandahl, 2020; Blanck & Lödén, 2017; Blennow, 2019; Børhaug, 2017; Christensen, 2011; Deldén & Törnegren, 2020; Dessen Jankell & Örbring, 2020; Edling, Sharp, Löfström, & Ammert, 2020; Ledman, 2019; Mathé, 2018; Olson 2020; Persson & Thorp, 2017; Sandahl, 2015; Sandahl & Olson, n.d.; Solhaug, 2021; Tväråna, 2019).

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Focus on students’ lifeworld in the subject teaching
  • Teacher and student perspectives on the significance of the social studies for the students’ role as citizens
  • Links between the social studies and students’ leisure time
  • Students’ opportunities to challenge/influence teaching and the subjects
  • Subject didactic theory and method development related to the students as subjects in the social studies
  • Teacher, student and disciplinary perspectives on the role and function of social studies

This special issue focuses on the importance of opening up to and strengthening students’ expanded opportunities to take a place in the world and society as independent, unique beings through the social studies subjects in school. Of clear relevance here is also the question of how the students bring with them academic and value-based perspectives, knowledge and skills into their lives in and outside of school.

We hereby invite contributions that focus on the relationship and potential tensions between social studies and the students’ lifeworld. By drawing attention to this, our hope is to contribute with knowledge about the potential of social studies in students’ expansion of opportunities to ‘be’ and ‘act’ in the world.

We invite contributions in Scandinavian languages or in English. If their abstract is accepted, authors should be prepared to act as peer reviewers together with external peer reviewers for another article submitted to the special issue.

About the editors

The editors of the special issue are Professor Maria Olson (Stockholm University and Dalarna University) and Associate Professor Nora E. H. Mathé (University of Oslo and member of the Acta Didactica Norden's editorial team).

Tentative schedule (adjustments may occur)

  • 15 May 2021: Deadline for submitting abstracts by email to the guest editors olson@hsd.su.se and n.e.h.mathe@ils.uio.no. These abstracts should have approximately 500 words and contain background and problem, theoretical basis, data sources and method, tentative findings and implications.
  • June 2021: Feedback on abstract from the guest editors.
  • 15 November 2021: Deadline for submission of articles for peer review. Use the Acta Didactica Norden’s online portal, and mark the submission «Special issue social studies».
  • September 2022: Deadline for submission of complete article after peer review.
  • Spring 2023: Publication of the special issue.

 

References

Arendt, H. (2004). Kris i uppfostran. Mellan det förflutna och framtiden. Göteborg: Daidalos förlag AB.

Arendt, H. (1958/2013). Människans villkor. Göteborg: Daidalos förlag AB.

Björklund, M., & Sandahl, J. (2020). Financial Literacy as Citizenship Education – a viable prospect? Journal of Social Science Education, 19(3), 4–20. https://doi.org/10.4119/jsse-3230

Blanck, S., & Lödén, H. (2017). Med samhället i centrum – Medborgarskapsutbildningen och samhällskunskapsämnets relevans. Nordidactica – Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education, 4, 28–47.

Blennow, K. (2019). The emotional community of social science teaching. PhD thesis, Lund University.

Børhaug, K. (2017). Ei endra medborgaroppseding? Acta Didactica Norge, 11(3), Art. 6. https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.4709

Christensen, T. S. (2011). Educating Citizens in Late Modern Societies. In B. Schüllerquist (Ed.), Patterns of research in Civics, History, Geography and Religious Education: Key presentations and responses from an international conference at Karlstad University, Sweden 2010 (pp. 37–51). Karlstad: Karlstad University Press.

Deldén, M., & Törnegren, G. (2020). Identitet, etik och historiemedvetande: En analys av filmen Sameblod som potentiellt undervisningsmaterial i ämnena religionskunskap och historia. Utbildning & Lärande / Education & Learning, 14(1), 65–85.

Dessen Jankell, L., & Örbring, D. (Eds.) (2020). Geografididaktik för lärare 4-9. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Edling, S., Sharp, H., Löfström, J., & Ammert, N. (2020). The good citizen: Revisiting moral motivations for introducing historical consciousness in history education drawing on the writings of Gadamer. Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, 19(2), 133–150. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2047173420936622

Ledman, K. (2019). Discourses of criticality in Nordic countries’ school subject Civics. Nordidactica – Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education, 3, 149–167.

Mathé, N. E. H. (2018). Engagement, Passivity and Detachment: 16-year-old Students’ Conceptions of Politics and the Relationship between People and Politics. British Educational Research Journal, 44(1), 5–24. https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/berj.3313

Olson, M. (2020). Från skolans medborgarbildande möjlighet till samhällskunskapsämnets – en väg framåt? Utbildning & Demokrati, 29(2), 29–61.

Persson, A., & Olson, M. (n.d.). En ämnesdidaktik som utmanar och stör. Arendt, elevers framträdelserum och den professionelle läraren. Article manuscript.

Persson, A., & Thorp, R. (2017). Historieundervisningens existentialiserande potential. Nordidactica – Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education, 2, 59–74.

Sandahl, J. (2015). Medborgarbildning i gymnasiet: ämneskunnande och medborgarbildning i gymnasieskolans samhälls- och historieundervisning. PhD thesis, Stockholms universitet.

Sandahl, J., & Olson, M. (n.d.). Samhällskunskapsundervisningens medborgarbildande potential. Article manuscript.

Solhaug, T. (2021). Skolen i demokratiet – demokratiet i skolen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Tväråna, M. (2019). Kritiskt omdöme i samhällskunskap: undervisningsutvecklande studier av samhällsanalytiskt resonerande i rättvisefrågor. PhD thesis, Stockholms universitet.