PhD Candidate in Didactics with a Focus on Preschool Didactics

Mälardalen University (MDU) is Sweden's newest university. With our vision to be a progressive and collaborative university where we together shape a sustainable future, we want to make a real difference.

Would you like to contribute to our development?

Together, we contribute to a more sustainable future through knowledge and innovation. We believe that new knowledge and perspectives are best created and achieved in collaboration with others - colleagues, students, industry, and the public sector both nationally and internationally.

At the Academy of Education, Culture and Communication (UKK), our students primarily study programs in teacher education, but programs and courses are also offered in language and communication, mathematics/applied mathematics, physics, music and opera, as well as the preparatory education technical foundation year. MDU's research focus on educational science and mathematics is part of the academy. Our work is conducted in collaboration with the surrounding community and international partners.

Employment Information

Employment type: Fixed-term employment starting 2025-09-01 or by agreement
Extent: Full-time
Number of positions: 1
Application deadline: 2025-05-05
Location: Eskilstuna
Academy/unit/section: Academy of Education, Culture and Communication

Access to doctoral education and basic eligibility requirements are regulated in the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 7, Sections 34–41. Read more here: https://www.mdu.se/utbildning/forskarutbildning (https://www.mdu.se/utbildning/forskarutbildning). A full-time doctoral position is linked to the educational period, which corresponds to four years.

Job Responsibilities

The Academy of Education, Culture and Communication (UKK) at Mälardalen University is seeking a PhD candidate in didactics with a focus on preschool didactics for the newly established doctoral school, Practices and Technologies of Teaching.

Research in the field of didactics addresses issues of education, teaching, and learning. Didactics encompasses questions about the content of teaching in various educational contexts and how this content is legitimized, that is, who has the power over the selection processes of teaching. Furthermore, scientific didactics investigates the forms (methods and models) of teaching and learning, as well as its actors (teachers and students/children) and their interrelationships.

The doctoral school is linked to a practice environment for teacher education, where teacher students are given the opportunity to experiment, explore, and train (subject) didactic knowledge and skills using various technologies and modalities. Here, technologies and modalities refer to the resources, techniques, and expressions of teaching, both digital (e.g., creating a podcast, using AI in teaching, developing teaching materials) and analog (e.g., methodology, aesthetic expressions, teachers' classroom communication). The practice environment is under construction, and the doctoral school will study and participate in the development work. The practice environment will play a central role in teacher education at MDU as well as for schools and preschools connected to teacher education.

As a PhD candidate in the doctoral school, you will also belong to the research environment, Children and Youth in School and Society (BUSS), which gathers staff in preschool didactics and special didactics.

Dissertation Projects

The dissertation projects within the doctoral school should address the themes of the doctoral school, practices and technologies of teaching, and be linked to the field of preschool didactics research. This theme can thus be advantageously related to prioritized research areas within the educational science research environment at MDU, such as:

• teachers' and preschool teachers' competence to meet children and youth in need of special support
• preschool teachers' work and pedagogical leadership
• the profession of preschool teacher and teacher education
• issues of democracy, sustainability, and justice from both a local and global perspective (global citizenship, global humanities)

Eligibility Requirements

For basic eligibility for doctoral education, one of the following is required:

• degree at an advanced level
• at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 at an advanced level
• otherwise acquired equivalent knowledge in Sweden or abroad.

As a specific eligibility requirement for admission to doctoral studies in didactics, a degree with studies of at least 60 higher education credits with educational scientific relevance and an independent project corresponding to 15 higher education credits with educational scientific relevance is required. The applicant must have completed an approved thesis/independent project/paper of at least 15 higher education credits at the advanced level (or equivalent) during their undergraduate education. Specific eligibility is also granted to those who have otherwise acquired mainly equivalent knowledge within or outside the country.

You should have good oral and written communication skills in Swedish and English at the level required to perform regular tasks in research, teaching, and administration.

Assessment Criteria

A fundamental assessment criterion is the ability to benefit from education at the doctoral level.

For this position, particular importance will be placed on the applicant's preliminary dissertation plan and previously completed independent work (especially theses at the advanced level) with regard to independence, methodological clarity, theoretical awareness, analytical and stylistic coherence, and a critical approach.

A teaching degree or experience in pedagogical professional activities is meritorious.

In a comprehensive assessment of suitability, personal qualities will also be considered. All employees at MDU are expected to cooperate and meet colleagues and students with respect, take responsibility for the operations and their own tasks, and contribute to a good working environment.

In this recruitment, we invite exploratory dissertation projects, and we are therefore looking for you who are driven by creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking.

We value the qualities that a balanced age and gender distribution as well as ethnic and cultural diversity contribute.

Application

You can submit your application by clicking the “Apply” button below.

You as an applicant are responsible for ensuring that your application is complete in accordance with the advertisement and submitted to the university no later than the application deadline.

Welcome with your application!

Union Representatives:

Saco-S saco-s@mdu.se
Susanne Meijer ST-OFR/S, tel: 021-10 14 89

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