French–Swedish exchange in educational sciences
Henrik Edgren is a docent in history and sociology of education at the Department of Education.
How is Christianity taught in French secondary schools? That is the question Henrik Edgren will be exploring for four months at the university in Angers. In March, the French researcher Eric Mutabazi will come to Uppsala University.
When we meet in early November, Henrik Edgren has already packed his bags. The next day he will be off to France, or more specifically the Université Catholique de l'Ouest (UCO) in Angers. He and Eric Mutabazi, a researcher at UCO, have been granted a research exchange funded by ASFR senior fellowships.
The two researchers have different research projects but their topics are closely related.
“For Erik, the focus is on how values are taught in Swedish schools compared to France. In my case, I am looking at teaching of Christianity in upper secondary schools – a project that I will be working on while there,” explains Edgren.
He is a docent in history and sociology of education at the Department of Education.
Ongoing for ten years
The exchange programme with France has been running for 10 years, but it initially started with exchanges for teachers and students. It started as an Erasmus project for teachers when Edgren and a colleague travelled to France. Later, students travelling on Erasmus exchanges were included. Another initiative was for preschool teachers and students of education to undertake one of their placements in France at a French school.
“As head of department, I worked a lot on this and several teachers at the department have been involved. Hopefully it will continue to live on.
The collaboration focusing on students later led to educational and research collaborations on the concept of ‘citizenship’ and values in teaching.
“I became more and more involved in that research, and in recent years I have helped organised French-language conferences, including in Canada. Based on that, we applied for this grant from AFSR,” continues Edgren.
Researches into teaching of Christianity
His own research focuses on the impact of the principle of ‘laïcité’ on the teaching of Christianity. This entails the exclusion of religion from public life, despite Christianity forming part of France’s cultural heritage.
“I’m going to explore how Christianity is taught without violating the principle of 'laïcité'. Then I will compare this to the situation in Sweden, where all religions are supposed to have the same status but in practice Christianity is afforded a little more importance.”
He will observe the teaching, meet French teachers and read up on French research in the field, as well as study teaching materials.
“As I have several different entry points, it is important to be on site, plus I will be part of the research environment, at seminars and participating in the activities as much as possible.”
Important to know the language
Another important factor, naturally, is the ability to speak the language.
“Things would have been very limited if I could only communicate in English. French researchers often publish in French and have their own networks, so language skills are essential to take full advantage of the research environment.”
It helps that he has been to Angers before.
“It is comforting to be familiar with the environment – it’s not a completely new place I’m coming to. And Erik has also been to Uppsala before, of course. So this is a good example of how to build a partnership over time, taking small steps at a time.”
Annica Hulth
Senior scholarships from ASFR
AFSR, the French-Swedish Association for Research, is presenting four senior scholarships for the academic year 2024–25. Two of them involve researchers at Uppsala University:
- Professor Sylvie Requemora, Professor of 17th-century French Literature at Aix-Marseille Université, who will collaborate with Christina Kullberg at the Department of Modern Languages and colleagues at the Department of History of Science and Ideas.
- Eric Mutabazi, Faculty of Education, Université catholique de l'Ouest (UCO), Angers, who will collaborate with Henrik Edgren from the Department of Education, Uppsala University.
Key objectives of AFSR’s fellowships are to promote academic excellence in targeted academic fields and, at the same time, enhance research collaboration between Sweden and France.