2025 Distinguished Teaching Award winner on identifying obstacles to learning

A colleague of Maria Kjellsson had just received the Distinguished Teaching Award in the category Medicine and Health, so it took a while before she realised that she too had received a teaching award.

“It took me completely by surprise. Receiving the Independent category Distinguished Teaching Award, and as the first teacher from the Faculty of Pharmacy to do so – it’s something I never even dared to dream of. The award money feels secondary – it’s just such a huge honour to get this award,” she says.

Maria Kjellsson teaches in the international programmes and encounters many students from all over the world. Many come from China and India, and some also from less well-represented countries among our international students, such as Uruguay or Namibia.

“I’m motivated by curiosity to a large extent. I think my commitment to making academic study more accessible started when I realised that some important information was only available in Swedish.”

Identifying obstacles to learning

Maria Kjellsson started working to make sure that translations were available to her international students. This work also spawned other thoughts and ideas.

“If information is not being absorbed due to missing or incorrect translations, then what else is getting missed as well? Are differences in culture impeding the flow of information and thus the student’s learning?

The discussions around gender-conscious teaching methods in the basic course in teaching and learning in higher education offered to staff led her to start thinking a lot about what these problems might look like if you replaced gender with culture. She participated in an intercultural workshop for teaching staff and students in the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy and acquired more knowledge about this area.

“What are the unwritten rules that apply in the realm of higher education in Sweden that differ from those in the academic arena in other countries? How does the teacher–student relationship in Sweden differ from that relationship in other countries? In order to identify these differences, you need to understand yourself and your own culture.”

Maria Kjellsson started to change her courses to clarify for students what applies in each of the course components.

“In the introductory lecture, I usually do a little survey among the students – as a group, where are we coming from, academically and regionally, what languages do we speak, and so on. I can often conclude that no one, including me, has English as their first language. A good initial discussion to have with the group is how this might be an obstacle to their learning.”

Our climate is a particular obstacle

Along with cultural and linguistic barriers to learning, our Nordic climate and the darkness in our winters can also pose psychological challenges that cannot be understood until you experience them yourself.

“Mental ill-health is also an obstacle to learning. I first meet our international students in November or December, and my experience is that the climate here can make students from other cultures more vulnerable to mental ill-health. My best tip right now is probably to encourage the University’s teaching staff to train themselves in identifying mental health conditions, for example by taking the course Mental Health First Aid. If a student is suffering from a mental health condition, it doesn’t matter how good you are as a teacher. That kind of obstacle cannot be overcome by teaching.”

Facilitator of learning

Maria Kjellsson sees her most important task in teaching as providing her expertise and creating an environment where the students feel motivated to learn and supported.

“Clarity about my expectations of them, especially in relation to their own expectations of me and the course, is vital for creating a sense of security,” she says.

She hopes that her engagement with the subject area and her use of concrete examples of how the subject knowledge is used in future professional practice helps motivate the students to learn. She sees herself as a facilitator of learning.

“It’s not so much about me teaching – it’s about the students learning. When the students understand what’s expected of them, their studies get easier and they can take control of their studies in a more positive way. Many students have not previously been assessed using grading criteria in relation to the achievement of course objectives. This makes it even more important to communicate to them precisely how they are assessed.”

Inspiring colleagues

When asked whether Maria Kjellsson also contributes to her colleagues’ educational development, she answers that that is really a question for her colleagues. But she tells us that she is surrounded by colleagues who are extremely talented, many of them excellent teachers including several recipients of the Distinguished University Teacher Award in Medicine and Health.

“The environment is inspirational. In such a positive environment, you can’t help but grow as a teacher because it fosters a natural basis for sharing experiences in teaching and learning and helping each other to improve. The Faculty of Pharmacy’s joint ‘basic education days’ each semester also provide a natural forum for contributing to each other’s educational development,” she concludes.

Johan Ahlenius