Pedagogikens charm och besvär

En forskares bekännelser

Abstract

The charms and challenges of pedagogy: Confessions of a researcher. In this inaugural professorial lecture, I reflect on my intellectual journey into pedagogy and how my understanding of the field as a scientific discipline has evolved. Although initially trained as a teacher, I was skeptical of pedagogy as an academic subject due to its perceived lack of practical relevance and the conceptual confusion I encountered during teacher education. My interest emerged during doctoral studies, when I began to see knowledge as dynamic and relational, shaped as ideas move across disciplinary boundaries. This led me to view education not only as classroom practice but as a broader societal process involving multiple actors, interests, and mechanisms of social reproduction. I define pedagogy as the study of the conditions of education. Drawing on curriculum theory, policy research, and the sociology of knowledge, I examine how visions, measurement systems, and policy frameworks shape educational practice. Pedagogy, I argue, critically analyzes the assumptions, measurements, and policies through which societies reproduce themselves through education.