Karin Höijer

My research-interests primarily concerns learning about food and gender equality in the Swedish compulsory school subject Home and Consumer Studies (which can be described as the Swedish version of home economics).

Previously I have studied how students and teachers make food in education meaningful. With qualitative methods, such as ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, focus groups and document analysis, the study showed how students and teachers had a limited shared understanding of what food in education means.

Learning about food takes place somewhere. Therefore, I have been curious about how place interact with learning and meaning-making by studying food lessons in traditional classrooms and outdoors in a forest.

Another issue closely related to food and everyday life is gender equality and the need to research new and innovative ways to educate about this is great. In a project we have explored how fiction can be used to approach this area, both with university and compulsory school students.

Based on my expertise and research-interests I have had various assignments from the Swedish National Agency for Education and the Swedish Schools Inspectorate. I have also co-edited the first didactic anthology for student teachers of home and consumer studies.