University of Gothenburg
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  4. Girma Berhanu

Girma Berhanu

Professor

Department of Education and Special Education
Telephone
+46 31-786 23 25
+46 766-18 23 25
Mail
girma.berhanu@ped.gu.se
Visiting address
Västra Hamngatan 25
41117 Göteborg
Room number
A2 168
Postal address
Box 300
40530 Göteborg

About Girma Berhanu

Research interests The issues I work with are related primarily to socio-cultural factors, including historical aspects and institutional frameworks, that are relevant to education in general and to special education approaches and perspectives in particular. I am engaged in discussions of equity issues in the field of special education. My general areas of research interest are race, ethnicity, and special education. Of particular interest to me is "group-based inequalities” in scholastic achievement and minority students‘ learning and development in a globalized and post-colonial world. How people view phenomena such as inclusion-exclusion and normality-deviation in the research field of special education is an area that is of great interest to me and can easily be tied into my own field of research. I am a member of an international consortium of equity in special education. The consortium focuses mainly on understanding the “Complexities of Inclusive Education From a Comparative Perspective: How Cultural Histories Shape the Ways That Schools Respond to Multiple Forms of Diversity.

Teaching interests I teach research methods and special education/inclusive education courses. At the moment I am course director for two method courses at the advanced level, PDAX51 and PDA 086, the former in Swedish and the latter in English. I also teach two courses, one a master’s course Inclusive Education: Visions and Realities and a PhD course Race, Ethnicity and Education.

Keywords Ethnicity, special education, minority students, inclusion, exclusion, marginalization, comparative education, inter cultural education/ communication