Jan
Löfström
Professor, Department of Teacher Education (Turku)
Professor

Contact

+358 29 450 4755
+358 50 478 4021

Areas of expertise

Social science education
social studies education
history education
economic education
intercultural education
moral education
teacher education
use of history
historical consciousness
historical reparations

Biography

Professor of History and Social Studies Education, University of Turku, 2022–

Visiting Professor of History Education, Linnaeus University, Sweden, 2020–2022

Associate Professor of History and Social Studies Education, University of Turku, 2019–2022

University Lecturer of History and Social Studies Education, University of Helsinki, 1999–2019

Docent (Social Studies and History Education), University of Turku, 2014 

Docent (Historical Anthropology), University of Jyväskylä, 2000

PhD (Sociology), University of Essex, 1994

For further information and publications 1999–2019, see: ORCID 0000-0003-0995-3265

Research

My research interests include intersections of historical consciousness and moral consciousness that was explored in the research project History in Moral Encounters, directed by Professor Niklas Ammert at the Linnaeus University, Sweden. In the project collaborated Niklas Ammert, Silvia Edling, Jan Löfström, and Heather Sharp, and it was funded by the Swedish Research Council (2018–2021). The foundations of the project were outlined in the Special Issue, "Historical and Moral Consciousness," in Historical Encounters, 4(1), eds. Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp (2017). The results have been published in a number of peer reviewed articles (see my list of publications) and in the books, Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp (2022) Historical and moral consciousness in education: Learning ethics for democratic citizenship education. London: Routledge; and, Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp (2023) Att lära från, om och med historia. Historiemedvetande, moral och didaktik. Malmö: Gleerups.

The aforementioned topic connects closely with my earlier work on the politics of historical apologies and on conceptions of historical responsibility as a perspective on historical consciousness. These topics have been discussed in my papers in the Journal of Curriculum Studies, 46(2014):4, Citizenship Studies, 15(2011):1, and in the edited volume, Jan Löfström (2012) Voiko historiaa hyvittää? (Can history be repaired?), Helsinki: Gaudeamus University Press. 

The research project on intersections of historical and moral consciousness has resulted in an international network, "Democracy in the past, the present, and looking to the future: A network on historical, moral, and democratic consciousness in history education, research and policy"; funded by Swedish Research Council (2023–2025), and steered by Niklas Ammert (PI), Fredrik Alvén, Silvia Edling, Jan Löfström, and Heather Sharp. 

I have been involved also in the exploratory workshop serie, "Educating active and democratic citizens in challenging times: exploring the past, present and future of social studies in the Nordic countries", funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (2022–2023) and steered by Jakob Maliks (PI), Tom Gullberg, Brit Marie Hoveland, Jan Löfström, and David Rosenlund. The workshop serie took place in Trondheim, Malmö and Turku (Åbo), and is envsioned to result in a research project.

Currently I'm engaged in editing a volume on economic education and democracy education, with Dr. Marko van den Berg (University of Helsinki).

I also serve as the PI of the Finnish team in the European research project, Youth and History II (directed by professor Carlo Spagnolo, University of Bari), that replicates the European survey of 1995, titled Youth and History. The Finnish team includes Jukka Rantala, Tanja Taivalantti, Johanna Norppa, and Najat Ouakrim-Soivio. The survey questionnaire will be piloted in spring 2024. 

I'm active as co-editor in the Journal of Social Science Education (www.jsse.org), and in the editorial board of the journal Nordidactica: Nordic Journal in Humanities and Social Studies Education.

Publications

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