Image: Malte Wingen
Research project The recently launched Swedish national action plan for digitalisation of schools emphasizes teacher education as crucial for preparing teachers to be able to use digital technology in meaningful ways in their professional activities. Within the graduate school, issues related to digitalisation in schools, preschools and teacher education are addressed in a broad sense.
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
University of Gothenburg
University of Gävle
University of Halmstad
Jönköping University
Linnaeus University
Mid Sweden University
University West
UPGRADE is a national graduate school with the following nine universities participating: Umeå University (host university), KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University of Gothenburg, University of Gävle, University of Halmstad, Jönköping University, Linnaeus University, Mid Sweden University, and University West.
In Sweden, the importance of teacher education for the digitalization of the school system has been recognized since the early 1990s. However, recent studies show that one in three teacher students felt that the use of digital tools in their teacher education was low and almost half of the teacher students felt that the preparation for teaching with digital resources was inadequate. In the recently launched Swedish Action Plan for Digitalization of the School System (SkolDigiplan, 2019), teacher education is emphasized as crucial for preparing teachers to be able to use digital technology in meaningful ways in their professional activities.
The graduate school will address the following broadly formulated areas:
UPGRADE will have the role of being a research school and research environment with high scientific quality and participating universities will collaborate to provide courses based on their expertise. The collaboration will also include supervision of doctoral students and other activities.
