Margaretha Häggström

Senior Lecturer

The Pedagogy Unit: Visual Art and Sloyd

Mail

margareta.haggstrom@gu.se

Visiting address

Kristinelundsgatan 6-8

Göteborg

Postal address

Box 131

40530 Göteborg

About Margaretha Häggström

About Me

I hold a Ph.D. in Educational Work and am an Associate Professor of Aesthetic Expressions with a Focus on Educational Science. My work is grounded in a multimodal perspective, with a specialization in aesthetic learning processes and narrative pedagogical methods.

Teaching and Research Interests

My teaching interests include the use of aesthetics and narrative processes as didactic tools, as well as fostering participation, communication, and inclusive practices in higher education through multimodality. My research focuses on aesthetic experiences, inclusive and aesthetic teaching methods, and transformative learning. This encompasses teaching that emphasizes relational pedagogy, the democratic mission of schools, and education for and through sustainable development. Additionally, I am interested in visual literacy and rhetoric.

Keywords: Aesthetic Forms of Expression and Learning Processes; Narrative Pedagogy; Multimodality; Communication; Didactic Tools; Visual Literacy; Sustainable Development; Relational Pedagogy.

Ongoing Research Project

Future Visions through Aesthetic Expression: A Study of the Municipal School of Arts (September 1, 2025 – June 31, 2026)

This project explores how drama and multimodal storytelling within the framework of the Swedish Municipal School of Arts (Kulturskolan) can provide young people with a voice and strengthen their capacity to navigate complex societal challenges. The project establishes and develops a pedagogical platform within a drama course at the Municipal School of Arts in Ale Municipality, where students from diverse backgrounds collaboratively explore alternative futures through narrative creation and performative practices.

The project is led by Margaretha Häggström (Project Leader) and Susanne Björninger (Artistic Director).

Funding is provided by Kulturskoleklivet, a national initiative supporting the development of the Municipal School of Arts.

https://gunet.sharepoint.com/sites/k1-konstnarliga-fakulteten/SitePages/Utvecklingsmedel-fr%C3%A5n-Kulturskoleklivet-till-projekt-om-ungas-framtidsvisioner.aspx

Art Education in Transition: Re-construction and Subject Development in Visual Arts within the Revised Primary Teacher Education Programme(January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2027)

This project provides a broad, national overview of the conditions for visual arts education within Swedish primary teacher education. It is of significance for how stakeholders within teacher education and the field of art pedagogy may continue to identify and challenge traditional conceptions of the subject. The aim is to investigate the consequences of how visual arts is enacted, reconstructed, and developed within higher education courses designed for student teachers who qualify to teach visual arts in grades F–6.

The project consists of two sub-studies:

An investigation of policy documents regulating primary teacher education in relation to the 2011 teacher education reform (Betänkande 2009/10:UbU16), curriculum reforms, and changes in visual arts policy, using policy ethnography.

An exploration of how these policies are enacted in visual arts teaching practices at participating universities, using visual ethnography.

The research project is a collaboration between the University of Gothenburg, Malmö University, and Södertörn University.

Project Leader: Tarja Karlsson Häikiö, University of GothenburgResearchers: Margaretha Häggström (University of Gothenburg), Annika Hellman (Malmö University), and Ingrid Forsler (Södertörn University)

The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council (Grant No. 2024-04740).

The Significance of Sketching in Craft Education (2025-01-01 – 2025-12-31)

The project examines the role and use of images in craft education. Formulating an idea and then realizing it in practice often requires testing and reconsidering different alternatives. In this context, the sketch plays a central role, as imagination can be externalized on paper and thus visualized, both for the person sketching and for others. Explaining something verbally alone can often be problematic, especially when the participants in a conversation have different levels of prior knowledge. The sketch then provides a common starting point that enables the recipient to form a conception corresponding to that of the explainer.

Researchers: Joakim Andersson, Craft, and Margareta Häggström, Visual Arts.

The project is funded by HDK-Valand.

Collaborative Teaching Strategies for Promoting Students' Future Literacy for a Sustainable Future

(August 15, 2024 - June 31, 2026)

This project aims to develop an educational model to support teachers and students in cultivating future literacy through an intervention study. It involves collaboration between researchers in literature and didactics and teachers from a high school class, a fifth-grade class, and a ninth-grade class. The project will test a combination of two scientifically validated methods, both based on storytelling and visionary thinking, to develop and evaluate practical teaching methods for co-teaching in Swedish, art, and climate education. The project is conducted within the framework of Education, Learning, and Research (ULF).

Here is a link to a brief presentation:

https://www.gu.se/nyheter/forskningsmedel-till-projekt-om-utopiska-framtider

Sketching the Future: An Interdisciplinary Study of Analog and Digital Creation Methods

(2025-04-01 - 2025-10-31)

This is a research initiation project aimed at finding ways and methods to study analog sketching versus digital sketching. Researchers and museum educators from the USA, Canada, Finland, Norway, and Sweden are part of the group.

Completed Research Projects

Describing and Writing About Alternative Future Worlds: An Intervention Study Aimed at Developing and Evaluating Future Literacy Skills

(January 2, 2024 - December 31, 2024)

This pilot project was funded by the Gunvor and Josef Anér Foundation. The project explores the combination of Utopian Stories and Storyline as didactic tools in an intervention with a high school class to engage students in thinking about the future.

Education for Resilience and Sustainability

This was a three-year ERASMUS+ project that concluded in September 2023. The project involved schools in Sweden, Slovenia, Norway, and Finland, all of which integrated the Storyline teaching method in their work on sustainable development. Researchers from Finland, Norway, and Sweden participated in the project, with me serving as the research leader. As part of the project, a website was created to provide teaching materials and serve as a resource bank for research, including research articles, lectures, and more:

https://storyline.education/

Here you can find a brief presentation of the project and articles related to it:

https://www.gu.se/forskning/education-for-resilience-and-sustainability

Identity Formation, Representation, and Learning: Portraits in Education

(2015-2022)

This project originated from a pilot study conducted in high school and what was previously called the Individual Program. Within this framework, a course package was developed, consisting of courses in visual arts, drama, Swedish, and rhetoric. The purpose of the course package was to enhance students' ability to achieve goals in the integrated courses, increase self-awareness, self-esteem, and a sense of agency. Part of the teaching involved self-portrayal. These ideas were subsequently implemented in the primary teacher education program, where they remain a staple.

Here you can find a brief description of the project and articles related to it:

https://www.gu.se/forskning/identitetsskapande-representation-och-larande-portratt-i-undervisning

My Dissertation

Aesthetic Experiences in Encounters with Nature: A Phenomenological Study of Experiences of Forests, Vegetation, and Teaching (2020)

My dissertation focused on the relationship between humans and forests, and students' experiences of education conducted in forest settings.

https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/62583