Johannes Westberg
Position: Professor School/office: School of Humanities, Education and Social SciencesEmail: johannes.westberg@oru.se
Phone: +46 19 303928
Room: F3213
About Johannes Westberg
Johannes Westberg is professor of education at Örebro University. Westberg organizes the Nordic Network for History of Education, is a member of the editorial team of Nordic Journal of Educational History, corresponding member of the editorial board of History of Education, and member of the international advisory board of Paedagogica Historica.
Research
Westberg has, since finishing his Phd on the history of early care and education in Sweden (2008), conducted research that has dealt with the content of education as well as the social, economic and cultural context of education. Westberg has paid special attention to the history of schooling and pre-primary education (kindergartens, infant schools, crèches), and covered issues relating to the social and economic history of education; school finance; material culture, school architecture; teachers, teachers' salary and livelihoods, and the teacher profession; discipline and governmentalities; educational borrowing and educational transfer.
Westberg has published more than 50 book chapters and articles, the latter in journals including History of Education, Paedagogica Historica, Scandinavian Journal of History and IJHE Bildungsgeschichte, and been editor and co-editor of more than 10 edited books and special issues, including the text book Utbildningens historia – en introduktion [History of Education – An Introduction] (3 ed. 2019), and School Acts and the Rise of Mass Schooling (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). He has also written two monographs: Att bygga ett skolväsende (Nordic Academic Press, 2014, 445 pp.) and Funding the Rise of Mass Schooling (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 242 pp). A short CV of my range of activities and a full publication list is available here>>
Current and recent projects
Westberg has previously led projects on the history of school finance and educational journals, funded mainly by grants from Swedish Research Council and Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelser. He currently leads the project “How did education policy shape the race towards mass education? A comparative perspective based on France, Italy, Spain and Sweden, c. 1840–1940” (Swedish Research Council, 2017-2021), and conducts research on early twentieth-century Swedish kindergartens and the expanding sector of early care and education in Sweden 1970-2000. He is also co-investigator in two additional projects funded by the Swedish Science Research Council.
Professional activities (a selection)
- Coordinator of the Nordic Network on History of Education (2008-)
- Editorial team at Nordic Journal of Educational History (2015-)
- International Scientific Committee of Rivista di storia dell’educazione (2017-)
- Correspondent editorial board, History of Education (2018-)
- International Advisory Board, Paedagogica Historica (2018-)
- Scientific Committee of ISCHE, Berlin (2018), Porto (2019)
- Referensgrupp för Sjunde Nordiska utbildningshistoriska konferensen, Trondheim (2018)
- Scientific committee of the conference “Training programs and geographical mobilities: models, tools and strategies”, Bourdeaux (2019)
Research projects
Active projects
- A School in Crisis: Changing Crisis Discourses and Unchanging Figures of Thought, 1950-2020
- How did education policy shape the race towards mass education? A comparative perspective based on France, Italy, Spain and Sweden, c. 1840-1940
- The First Choice: The Expansion of Preschool, its Marketization and Increased Importance for Families? Educational Strategies
Research groups
Publications
Articles in journals |
Articles, book reviews |
Books |
Chapters in books |
Collections (editor) |
Conference papers |
Other |
Articles in journals
- Westberg, J. (2022). The transnational dissemination of the infant school to the periphery of Europe: the role of primary schools, religion, travels, and handbooks in the case of nineteenth-century Sweden. Paedagogica historica, 58 (1), 99-119.
- Westberg, J. (2022). Were there national school systems in the nineteenth century? The construction of a regionalised primary school system in Sweden. History of Education, 51 (2), 184-206.
- Westberg, J. (2021). Designing preschools for an independent and social child: visions of preschool space in the Swedish welfare state. Early years, 41 (5), 458-475.
- Larsson, G. & Westberg, J. (2020). Child Labour, Parental Neglect, School Boards, and Teacher Quality: School Inspector Reports on the Supply and Demand of Schooling in Mid-nineteenth-century Sweden. Historical Studies in Education, 32 (1), 69-88.
- Westberg, J. (2020). Combining Global and Local Narratives: A New Social History of the Expansion of Mass Education?. European Education: Issues and Studies, 52 (3), 206-214.
- Westberg, J. (2020). What Were The Main Features Of Nineteenth Century School Acts?: Local School Organization, Basic Schooling, A Diversity Of Revenues And The Institutional Framework Of An Educational Revolution. Rivista di Storia Economica, 36 (2), 139-173.
- Westberg, J. & Cappelli, G. (2019). Divergent paths to mass schooling at Europe’s poles?: Regional differences in Italy and Sweden, 1840-1900. IJHE Bildungsgeschichte, 9 (1), 11-28.
- Westberg, J. (2019). How did teachers make a living?: The teacher occupation, livelihood diversification and the rise of mass schooling in nineteenth-century Sweden. History of Education, 48 (1), 19-40.
- Paksuniemi, M. , Ribarič, M. & Westberg, J. (2019). Unmarried, well behaved and well dressed: The socialization process of female teachers in early twentieth-century Finland and Slovenia. Šolska kronika / School Chronicle – Journal of The History of Schooling and Education, 28 (3), 295-310.
- Westberg, J. (2018). 15 riktlinjer för den offentliga debatten om skolan. Skola och samhälle.
- Westberg, J. (2018). A Comparative History from Below?: A Local and Mundane International History of Nineteenth Century Schooling. Rivista di storia dell’educazione, 5 (2), 111-132.
- Westberg, J. (2018). A conflicted political will to levy local taxes: inequality and local schoolpolitics in Sweden, 1840–1900. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 4 (1), 3-12.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Adjusting Swedish gymnastics to the female nature: Discrepancies in the gendering of girl’s physical education in the mid-nineteenth century. Espacio, Tiempo y Educación, 5 (1), 261-279.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Från natura- till penninghushållning? [From in-kind to monetary payments?]: Den svenska folkskolans finansiering, 1840–1900 [The funding of the Swedish primary school system 1840-1900]. Historisk Tidskrift, 138 (4), 619-648.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Source materials are not the past: Celebrating historians’ work in archives. IJHE Bildungsgeschichte, 8 (2), 208-212.
- Westberg, J. , Incirci, A. , Paksuniemi, M. & Turunen, T. (2018). State formation and the rise of elementary education at the periphery of Europe: The cases of Finland and Turkey 1860-1930. Journal of Educational Administration & History, 50 (3), 133-144.
- Pannula Toft, P. , Paksuniemi, M. & Westberg, J. (2018). The Challenge of Returning Home: The Role of School and Teachers in the Wellbeing of Finnish War Children, ‘Finnebørn’, during and after World War II. Paedagogica historica, 54 (6), 736-749.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Folkskolestadgan 175 år: Vad innebar den?. Vägval i skolans historia (4), 1-7.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Girls’ Gymnastics in the Service of the Nation: Educationalisation, Gender and Swedish Gymnastics in the Mid-Nineteenth Century. Nordic Journal of Educational History, 4 (2), 47-69.
- Tröhler, D. & Westberg, J. (2017). The Body Between the Protestant Souls and Nascent Nation-States: Physical Education as an Emerging School Subject in the Nineteenth Century. Nordic Journal of Educational History, 4 (2), 1-12.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Vad är utbildningshistoria?: Ett forskningsfälts historia, framtid och relation till pedagogikämnet. Utbildning och Demokrati, 26 (3), 7-37.
- Westberg, J. (2016). Making mass schooling affordable: in-kind taxation and the establishment of an elementary school system in Sweden, 1840–1870. Paedagogica historica, 52 (4), 349-363.
- Sjögren, D. & Westberg, J. (2016). Notes from the Editors. Nordic Journal of Educational History, 3 (2), 1-2.
Articles, book reviews
- Westberg, J. (2019). Montessori educational empire: Cultural Criticism and politics between the wartime Montessori Movement. Historisk Tidskrift, 139 (3), 630-631.
- Westberg, J. (2019). Om 1900-talets progressivism, skolpolitik och skola. Pekpinnar: Historiska perspektiv på utbildning, 1-8.
- Westberg, J. (2019). Review of: UNESCO's Utopia of Lifelong Learning: An Intellectual History. Historical Studies in Education, 31 (1), 143-145.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Dorena Caroli: “Day nurseries and childcare in Europe". IJHE Bildungsgeschichte, 8 (1), 98-100.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Recension av: Den svenska skolgårdens historia: Skolans utemiljö som pedagogiskt och socialt rum. Bebyggelsehistorisk tidskrift (74), 137-139.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Recension av: Ett hem av solsken: Disa Beijer och barnträdgården som arena för socialt arbete. Personhistorisk Tidskrift (1), 80-83.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Review of: Marcelo Caruso (Ed.): Classroom Struggle: An important contribution. IJHE Bildungsgeschichte, 7 (1), 100-102.
- Westberg, J. (2016). Review of: Pædagogprofessionens historie og aktualitet. 1 & 2. Nordic Journal of Educational History, 3 (2), 64-67.
Books
- Westberg, J. (2017). Funding the Rise of Mass Schooling: The Social, Economic and Cultural History of School Finance in Sweden, 1840-1900.. Springer.
Chapters in books
- Westberg, J. (2019). Basic Schools in Each and Every Parish: The School Act of 1842 and the Rise of Mass Schooling in Sweden. In: Johannes Westberg, Lukas Boser, Ingrid Brühwiler, School Acts and the Rise of Mass Schooling: Education Policy in the Long Nineteenth Century (pp. 195-222). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Westberg, J. (2019). Förskolans historia. In: Esbjörn Larsson, Johannes Westberg, Utbildningshistoria: En introduktion (pp. 107-126). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB.
- Westberg, J. , Boser, L. & Brühwiler, I. (2019). The History of School Acts. In: Johannes Westberg, Lukas Boser, Ingrid Brühwiler, School Acts and the Rise of Mass Schooling: Education Policy in the Long Nineteenth Century (pp. 1-15). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Westberg, J. (2019). The Production of Impoverished but Sophisticated Emigrants: Emigration, Human Capital, and Economic Growth in Sweden. In: Gabriele Cappelli, David Mitch, Globalization and the Rise of Mass Education (pp. 193-217). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Westberg, J. (2019). Utbildning och ekonomi. In: Esbjörn Larsson, Johannes Westberg, Utbildningshistoria: En introduktion (pp. 481-499). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB.
- Larsson, E. & Westberg, J. (2019). Utbildningshistoria. In: Esbjörn Larsson & Johannes Westberg, Utbildningshistoria: En introduktion (pp. 31-34). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Beyond the Educational Visions of the State: The Construction of School Buildings in Rural Nineteenth-Century Sweden. In: Ian Grosvenor, Lisa Rosén Rasmussen, Making Education: Material School Design and Educational Governance (pp. 95-117). Cham: Springer Publishing Company.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Ellen Catharina Moberg: 1874-12-06 — 1955-07-20. Förskolepionjär, barnträdgårdsledare. In: Larsson, Lisbeth; Sjöberg, Maria, et al., Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon. Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Maria Elisabeth Moberg: 1877-04-04 — 1948-12-16. Förskolepionjär, barnträdgårdsledare. In: Larsson, Lisbeth; Sjöberg, Maria, et al., Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon. Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet.
- Berg, A. , Larsson, E. & Westberg, J. (2017). Att studera omvälvande förändringar. In: Anne Berg, Esbjörn Larsson, Madeleine Michaëlsson, Johannes Westberg & Andreas Åkerlund, Utbildningens revolutioner: Till studiet av utbildningshistorisk förändring (pp. 13-18). Uppsala: Uppsala universitet.
- Westberg, J. (2017). En förskola för alla?: Rationaliteten bakom den svenska förskolans expansion. In: Anne Berg, Esbjörn Larsson, Madeleine Michaëlsson, Johannes Westberg & Andreas Åkerlund, Utbildningens revolutioner: Till studiet av utbildningshistorisk förändring (pp. 211-232). Uppsala: Uppsala universitet.
- Westberg, J. (2016). In the Name of Froebel: Fundraising for Kindergartens in Sweden, 1890-1945. In: Helen May, Kristen D. Nawrotzki & Larry Prochner, Kindergarten Narratives on Froebelian Education: Transnational Investigations (pp. 67-80). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Collections (editor)
- Westberg, J. (ed.) , Boser, L. (ed.) & Brühwiler, I. (ed.) (2019). School Acts and the Rise of Mass Schooling: Education Policy in the Long Nineteenth Century (1ed.). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Larsson, E. (ed.) & Westberg, J. (ed.) (2019). Utbildningshistoria: En introduktion (3ed.). Lund: Studentlitteratur.
- Tröhler, D. (ed.) , Westberg, J. (ed.) & Berg, A. (ed.) (2017). Physical Education and the embodiment of the nation. Umeå: Umeå universitet (Nordic Journal of Educational History Vol.4:2).
- Westberg, J. (ed.) , Larsson, E. (ed.) , Berg, A. (ed.) , Michaëlsson, M. (ed.) & Åkerlund, A. (ed.) (2017). Utbildningens revolutioner: Till studiet av utbildningshistorisk förändring. Uppsala: Uppsala Studies of History and Education (SHED) (Utbildningshistoriska meddelanden 5).
- Sjögren, D. (ed.) & Westberg, J. (ed.) (2016). Nordic Journal of Educational History: Volume 3, Number 2, Autumn 2016. Umeå: Umeå University.
Conference papers
- Westberg, J. (2019). A comparative history from below?: Social and economic perspectives on the international rise of mass schooling. Paper presented at Nordic Educational Research Association Conference (NERA 2019), Uppsala, Sweden, March 6-8, 2019.
- Westberg, J. (2019). How were nineteenth-century teachers paid?. Paper presented at 13th Swedish Economic History Meeting and 1st Annual Conference of the Scandinavian Society for Economic and Social History, Uppsala, Sweden, October 10-12, 2019. Uppsala:
- Westberg, J. (2019). Reconstructing long lost classrooms: evidence from scattered and threatened Swedish school museums. Paper presented at 18. symposium for school museums and history of education collections - Challenges for the school museums and history of education in a time of globalization and digitization, Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark, July 3-5, 2019.
- Westberg, J. (2019). Regulating regional variations in primary schooling: the case of state subsidy reform in early twentieth century Sweden. In: Luís Grosso Correia and Sara Poças, ISCHE 41 – Spaces and Place of Education – Book of Abstracts. Paper presented at ISCHE 41st Annual Conference (ISCHE 2019), Porto, Portugal, July 16-20, 2019. (pp. 450-451). Porto, Portugal: International Standing Conference for the History of Education & Centre for Research and Intervention in Education of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto.
- Westberg, J. & Larsson, E. (2019). The Child as a Voucher?: The Marketization of the Swedish Preschools. Paper presented at Contemporary Perspectives on Preschools and Society, Uppsala, Sweden, March 5, 2019.
- Westberg, J. & Larsson, G. (2019). The limits of supply and demand: Schooling in 19th century rural Sweden. In: Luís Grosso Correia and Sara Poças, ISCHE 41 – Spaces and Place of Education – Book of Abstracts. Paper presented at ISCHE 41st Annual Conference (ISCHE 2019), Porto, Portugal, July 16-20, 2019. (pp. 257-257). Porto, Portugal: International Standing Conference for the History of Education & Centre for Research and Intervention in Education of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto.
- Westberg, J. (2019). The transfer, translation and transformation of the British infant school: the case of nineteenth century Sweden. Paper presented at Nordic Educational Research Association Conference (NERA 2019), Uppsala, Sweden, March 6-8, 2019.
- Westberg, J. & Geiss, M. (2019). Training Early Childhood Professionals in Sweden and Switzerland: Policies, Actor Constellations, Path Dependencies. Paper presented at Contemporary Perspectives on Preschools and Society, Uppsala, Sweden, March 5, 2019.
- Westberg, J. (2019). Where there any national school systems in the 19th century, and if so, in what sense? National school systems, regional differences, and international comparisons in a 19th century setting. Paper presented at ISCHE 41st Annual Conference (ISCHE 2019), Porto, Portugal, July 16-20, 2019.
- Westberg, J. (2018). A jack of all trades?: Rural teachers’ livelihood diversification and the rise of mass schooling in the nineteenth century Sweden. Paper presented at Seventh Nordic Conference on the History of Education, Trondheim, Norway, September 19-20, 2018.
- Westberg, J. (2018). A school in constant crisis?: The democratization, decentralization and marketization of schooling in Sweden. Paper presented at Nordic Education in a Democratically Troublesome Time - Threats and Opportunities, Örebro, Sweden, October 30-31, 2018.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Brokers between teachers and the resources of nature?: The role of family and village in nineteenth century school funding. Paper presented at 40th annual conference of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE 40), Berlin, Germany, August 29 - September 1, 2018.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Decentralization in a Swedish nineteenth century setting: The role of local school districts in the rise of mass schooling. Paper presented at 40th annual conference of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE 40), Berlin, Germany, August 29 - September 1, 2018.
- Westberg, J. (2018). Folkskoleseminariets och folkskollärarnas historia. Paper presented at Lärarutbildningen 175 år, Karlstads universitet, Karlstad, Sweden, November 30, 2018.
- Westberg, J. & Larsson, E. (2018). The Child as a Voucher?: The Marketization of the Swedish Preschools. Paper presented at 40th annual conference of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE 40), Berlin, Germany, August 29 - September 1, 2018.
- Westberg, J. (2018). The school act of 1842 and the rise of mass schooling in Sweden. Paper presented at Twelfth European Social Science History conference (ESSHC 2018), Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 4-7, 2018.
- Westberg, J. , Sjögren, D. & Landahl, J. (2018). Varför krisar i skolan?: Kontinuitet och forändring i den svenska skolkrisdebatten 1950-2020. Paper presented at Seventh Nordic Conference on the History of Education, Trondheim, Norway, September 19-20, 2018.
- Westberg, J. (2017). A Materialist Turn in Educational History?: The New Social and Economic History of Education. Paper presented at Celebration, Commemoration and Collaboration: Milestones in the History of Education. History of Education Society 50th Anniversary Conference, Winchester, UK, November 10-12, 2017.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Building Preschools for a Society in Transition: The Sociological, Psychological and Educational Design of Swedish Preschools in the 1970s. Paper presented at 9th Biennial SHCY Conference (SHCY 2017), Rutgers University, Camden, USA, June 21-23, 2017.
- Westberg, J. (2017). How was the rise of mass schooling funded?: The local, national and international history of school finance in Sweden, 1840-1900. Paper presented at Critical Research of Education: Long term historical trajectories and Europe, The Annual Gustaf Vasa Seminar, Jyväskylä, Finland, May 22–24, 2017.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Revolution eller reform?: Folkskolestadgan, skolorna och skolhusen. Paper presented at Svenska historikermötet, Sundsvall, Sweden, May 10–12, 2017.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Simple beginnings?: The school act of 1842 and the rise of mass schooling in Sweden. Paper presented at School Acts, the Rise of Mass Schooling and the Emerging Nation States during the Long Nineteenth Century, Uppsala, Sweden, October 12-13, 2017.
- Westberg, J. (2017). Virtues and vices: Decentralized education systems, centralization and the rise of mass schooling 1840–1940. Paper presented at Education and Society: A workshop on the Social, Cultural and Economic History of Education, Uppsala, Sweden, October 11, 2017.
- Westberg, J. (2016). Creating gendered bodies in the service of the nation: Girls physical education according to the Swedish pioneer Anton Santesson. Paper presented at International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE 38), Chicago, USA, August 17-20, 2016.
- Westberg, J. (2016). How could a teacher survive on a salary consisting of 8 barrels of grains and 53 riksdaler 16 skilling in cash? : A question answered. Paper presented at German Educational Research Association (GERA) Congress, Kassel, Germany, March 13-16, 2016.
- Westberg, J. (2016). Thrifty or fair?: The economic thinking of Swedish school districts, 1840-1900. Paper presented at 11th European Social Science History Conference, Valencia, Spain, March 30 - April 2, 2016.
Other
- Westberg, J. & Prytz, J. (2018). Farliga föreställningar präglar debatt om skolan. Stockholm, Sweden: Svenska Dagbladet AB & Co..