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Ann Quennerstedt

Ann Quennerstedt Position: Professor School/office: School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences

Email: YW5uLnF1ZW5uZXJzdGVkdDtvcnUuc2U=

Phone: +46 19 303656

Room: F3208

Ann Quennerstedt
Research subject Research environments

About Ann Quennerstedt

Last updated 2024-11-18

Ann Quennerstedt is a Professor of Education at Örebro University in Sweden. She worked as a primary school teacher in Swedish compulsory school between 1993 and 1998. In 1999 she started her doctoral studies in Education, and finished her dissertation (PhD) in 2006 with a thesis titled ‘The municipality – a participant in educational policy?’ 

In 2007 Ann was appointed Senior Lecturer in Education at Örebro University, and shared her time between teaching and researching. In 2009, and continuing until 2013, Ann took up a full time position as Researcher in Education at the university. In 2010 she was appointed Associate Professor, and in 2015 Professor.

Research interests

Ann’s main area of research is children’s rights in education. Issues of particular interest are perspectives of the child as a holder of human rights, and the role and responsibility of early childhood education and school for children’s and young people’s human rights. Drawing on own and others work, research interest has lately been particularly directed towards Children's Human Rights Education. 

Current research

Currently, Ann works with studies of rights education for children and young people in early childhood education and school. Ann leads the international research network Children's Human Rights Education, which is funded by the Swedish Research Council 2022-2025. The network consists of 22 researchers from 11 countries. Several collaboration projects are ongoing, in which rights education is examined and compared. 

Ann is also working with scientific publication of the main findings of the evaluation study Rights-based school.

Concluded research

Ann has participated in and lead the following larger research projects: 

What about equivalence? 2003-2005.

In the project, the use and role of the concept equivalence (Swedish: likvärdighet) in Swedish education policy was analysed from different perspectives and angles. The project is reported in a number of publications, including Ann’s thesis The municipality – a participant in education policy? The project was funded by the Swedish Research Council and led by Prof. Tomas Englund at Örebro University.

Education as a citizenship right – parents’ right, children’s right, or...? 2006-2008

The project aimed to analyse the increasing tendency to discuss education in terms of rights, and to study the issue of possible tensions between parents’ and children’s rights concerning education. The results are reported in international journals and in a summary project report 2011 (in Swedish). The project was funded by the Swedish Research Council and led by Prof. Tomas Englund at Örebro University.

Children’s rights in education

Through a four-year full-time research position financed by the Swedish Research Council, Ann undertook 2009-2014 the post-doc project Children’s rights in education. The overall aim of the project was to expand knowledge about what the rights of the child mean in education. The project raised questions about the human right to education, as well as questions concerning the rights of the child in and through education. By analysing how our society perceives the “preschool child” and the “pupil” as holders of rights, and what perceptions there are concerning how early childhood centres and schools should act and organise their activities from a perspective of children’s rights, the project has contributed to the body of knowledge on children’s rights in education.

Education as a greenhouse for children’s and young people’s rights

During 2014-2018 Ann led the research project Education as a greenhouse for children’s and young people’s rights. The project was funded by the Swedish Research Council with 6,6 million SEK. With a team of 6 researchers, the project investigated what it means to educate children and young people in relation to human rights. The research interest was in content and pedagogy, directing the attention to how the content and processes of teaching and learning give possibilities or constrain children’s and young people’s growth as holders and practitioners of human rights. The research was conducted through fieldwork in educational practice from pre-school to secondary school. 

Rights-based school

Between 2020-2024 Ann led the project Rights-based school, commissioned by Unicef Sweden. Participant was also Lisa Isenström, Örebro universiry. The evaluation examined how schools are affected by introducing Unicef’s working model Rights-based school (the model is known as RRSA in the UK) and what effects that can be seen in teachers’ and students’ knowledge, understandings and attitudes. Comparisons with schools that do not use any working model was done. The study was finalised in February 2024 and findings reported in the report Utvärdering av UNICEF Sveriges arbetsmodell RÄTTIGHETSBASERAD SKOLA [Evaluation of UNICEF Swedens working model RIGHTS BASED SCHOOL]. Unicef Sverige.

Research group

Ann leads the research group ReCEL (Research on Children’s Education and Learning) at Örebro University. Researchers and doctoral students in ReCEL centre around an interest in teaching and learning for younger children, and dedicate their research to formal and information pedagogical practice for children in the age span 0-12 years.

Post-doc visits

Visiting Research Fellow at Children’s Issues Centre, College of Education, University of Otago, New Zealand: 01 October 2008 – 28 April 2009.
Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Education, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia: 01 November 2011 – 7 December 2011.
Invited research visit at the University of Brighton, United Kingdom, 28 April – 2 May 2014.
Visiting researcher, Queensland university of Technology, Nov-Dec 2018.

Supervision of doctoral students

Jeanette Koskinen, since 2020 (main supervisor)

Helena Yourston, since 2020 (main supervisor)

Linnéa Waldekranz, since 2020 (co-supervisor)

Anna Sjödahl, since 2024 (main supervisor)

Anna Englund Bohm, since 2024 (main supervisor)

Other

Ann has been convenor for the EERA network Research in Children's Rights in Education since 2013; co-convenor from 2013-2017, link-convenor (lead) 2017-2024, and co-convenor 2024-2025. 

Ann has since 2011 been part of the Editorial Board for International Journal of Children’s Rights. Between 2019-2021 Ann was Associate Editor for the journal.

Ann leads the International Network on Children's Human Rights Education, which is funded by the Swedish Research Council 2022-2024.

Research groups

Publications

Articles in journals |  Articles, reviews/surveys |  Books |  Chapters in books |  Collections (editor) |  Conference papers |  Doctoral theses, monographs |  Manuscripts | 

Articles in journals

Articles, reviews/surveys

Books

Chapters in books

Collections (editor)

Conference papers

Doctoral theses, monographs

Manuscripts