University of Gothenburg
University of Gothenburg
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Cecilia Wallerstedt

Professor

Department of Education, Communication and
Learning
Telephone
+46 31-786 32 72
+46 766-18 32 72
Mail
cecilia.wallerstedt@gu.se
Visiting address
Läroverksgatan 15
41120 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 300
40530 Göteborg

About Cecilia Wallerstedt

My research concerns teaching and learning in music, and also other aesthetic subjects. I have conducted studies in various settings, from preschool to upper-secondary school. I am interested in the interaction between teachers and children in classrooms and in preschools. I have investigated what it means to be skilled in different areas from the learner's perspective, and how the teacher can contribute to children’s learning. Recent research from me and my research group has resulted in a didaktik for preschool - play-responsive early childhood education and care - where we have applied and synthesized concepts from, among other fields, cultural historical theory and communication research. My current project concerns children's imagination, and how it can be developed in preschool. I supervise PhD students in the graduate school Education for play-responsive teaching in the preschool for social and cultural sustainability (PReCEC). In teacher education, I have mainly taught arts, aesthetics and learning, as well as sociocultural theory.

I participate in a network for Studies of Artistic Vision, a collaboration between the University of Gothenburg, researchers from Sweden, Norway and Finland, and the Nordic Watercolor Museum, funded by the Nordic Culture Fund. I am also the co-ordinator for the Network for Internship Development, Development Pedagogy and Preschool Research, which, among other things, arranges an annual conference for preschool teachers and preschool principals.

My background is as an upper-secondary school teacher in mathematics and music and I defended my dissertation in 2010 in Arts Education at the Academy of Music and Drama. My dissertation was part of a cross-facultative research project on aesthetic subjects in preschool. I examined how children could develop their ability to discern aspects of music with the help of preschool teachers, elementary school teachers and leisure educators. I have been employed at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning since 2011, during the years 2016-2022 as the Head of Department.

Completed research projects:

  • Musical Interaction Relying On Reflexion (EU Seventh Framework Program; Technology-Enhanced Learning).
  • Changing Notational Practices and the Transformation of Musical Knowing Among the Young in the Digital Age (postdoc project funded by GU).
  • Play-responsive early childhood education and care (School Institute for Educational Research).
  • The Swedish Institute for Educational Research’s systematic review of research on music education in primary school.

Current projects:

  • Implementing Play-Responsive Teaching in a municipality, taking the leaders' perspective
  • Imagination in Play-Responsive Early Childhood Education and Care: Reclaiming the child's perspective