CRITPEN
Short description
Critical perspectives on education in the Nordic countries – CRITPEN – is a Nordic research network with a critical knowledge interest that targets issues of social justice in education. The core aim of the network is to create new collaborations and jointly develop novel research ideas and innovative methodology in order to better understand the current development of educational phenomena in the Nordic countries important in a social justice context.
The Nordic countries provide an important context for a social justice educational research field with relevance beyond the Nordic countries themselves. As countries with a strong tradition as welfare states, they share some key similarities, and face today many problems of a similar kind, but there are also marked differences between the countries (e.g. with regards to migration, marketization and organization of upper secondary education). This makes the Nordic countries an interesting body for comparative work; they present a case which enables a deeper understanding of the nature of the challenges to social justice in education and how they can be tackled.
The CRITPEN network
The CRITPEN research network consists of a diverse group of scholars with some overarching characteristics:
- a focus on issues of social justice in education
- a strong tradition of sociology of education, cultural studies and ethnography
- an interest in intersecting power relations such as class, gender, racialisation, sexuality or disability
- an interest in consequences of societal changes (political climate, economy, global crises, etc.) on education politics, policies and practices.
Research groups associated to CRITPEN
Social Studies in Urban Education, University of Helsinki
Research Unit focusing on the Sociology and Politics of Education, University of Helsinki
Utbildningspolicy och ungas övergångar UPU, Umeå university
Learning In Digitalized Society (DIGS), University of Eastern Finland
Crossroad collective: Social and cultural research on education and (working) life, University of Eastern Finland
Kritiska teorier (KRIT), University of Gothenburg
CRITPEN Committee
Mattias Nylund (Convenor)
Associate Professor, Department of Education and Special education, University of Gothenburg
Sirpa Lappalainen
Professor, Department of Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland
Anna-Maija Niemi
University researcher, Department of Education, University of Turku
Per-Åke Rosvall
Professor, Department of Creative Studies, Umeå university
Events
Upcoming workshop
From Field Notes to Narratives: Challenges in Ethnographic Writing
An invitation to researchers in Nordic countries to participate in a workshop on 4th March 2025, at Rikhardinkatu library, Helsinki.
On the 5th to 7th of March, NERA will take place at the University of Helsinki. On the day before, the 4th of March 13.00-17.00 (CET), CRITPEN will arrange a workshop on the theme: From Field Notes to Narratives: Challenges in Ethnographic Writing. The idea is for researchers with a critical knowledge interest working with ethnographic data to meet and share experiences on producing text upon their fieldnotes, what kinds of experiences they have had on writing based on their fieldwork and how to write about tensions and challenges experienced in the field. We believe this will be particularly useful for junior researchers, but also senior researchers are welcome to participate in the seminar/workshop.
For further details, see the workshop flyer.
Zoom room
CRITPEN Zoom room
When there is a digital meeting planned in our zoom room it will be open for guests and invited participants. To join a digital meeting, contact Mattias Nylund to get the meeting passcode.
