ReCEL - Research on Children's Education and Learning

The research environment ReCEL brings together researchers and doctoral students at Örebro University who conduct research within the broader field of children’s education and learning. The environment is interdisciplinary, with members from Education, Social Studies, Mathematics Didactics, and Music Science. 

At the core of the environment’s research is a wide interest in pedagogical practices for young children (0-12 years), including both formal education for this age group and informal pedagogical activities. Several different areas of educational science and issues are examined, such as: 

• children's rights and rights education
• sustainable development and aesthetics
• children's early literacy learning
• multilingualism in preschool and school
• gender and gender equality in educational practices
• collaboration with guardians
• the professional profession of preschool teachers and teachers
• children’s mathematisation in programming 

The environment’s researchers carry out both theoretical and empirical studies, representing a variety of approaches such as North European Didaktik, ethnography, text analysis, and discourse theory. The environment hosts two research groups, which collaborate on projects or other forms of close cooperation. 

The researchers in the environment have an extensive network of contacts both nationally and internationally, and are involved in several concrete collaborations. 

Swedish networks: 

• Nationella Literacynätverket [the National Literacy Network]
• Sveriges genusforskarförbund [the Swedish Gender Research Association] 

International networks:

• EERA network Research in Children’s Rights in Education
• Nordic Early Literacy Education (NELL)
• Multilingual Childhoods (EECERA SIG) 
• Gender in the ECEC  (EECERA SIG)
• Nordic Research Network about Parents in Education (NORNAPE)
• Children’s Human Rights Education (CHRE) 

Besides participating in these networks, the researchers collaborate with numerous individual researchers in Sweden and from Australia, Brazil, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, and Switzerland. 

The environment is led by a steering group comprising Professor Ann Quennerstedt, Associate Professor Martina Norling, and Senior Lecturer Sara Frödén.