Studies on professional knowledge and education (SPE)

Studies on professional knowledge and education is a national and interdisciplinary node for research, professional education, collaboration and development. The node was established in 2022 with the intention to address as well as impact on one of the largest challenges of the welfare society today.

We aim to establish and develop a strong national node for innovative and highly relevant research that worldwide has been targeted as a gap when it comes to professional knowledge, professional education and development for the welfare state and beyond. The purpose of the node is to fill this gap nationally, but to some extent also internationally, both in research aimed at professional development in higher education more broadly, but also in four specific and highly discussed welfare professions of today: nursing education, social work education, teacher education and police education.

Overall, the node addresses how knowledge is produced to support these professions and their educational programmes nationally, but also in collaboration with international centres, institutes, and research environments. In times of political turmoil, economical re-directives and current strategies of downsizing, new knowledge is needed to understand how these tendencies impact on the contemporary challenges of professional education and, by extension, the professions upon which the educational programmes are based.

The node is based on interdisciplinary collaboration among various higher education fields, research fields, professions, and educational programmes and includes the use of a combination of methods, theories, and focus areas. By connecting problems, theories, and methods from the fields of higher education pedagogy, sociology, social work, education, caring science, and police science, the idea is to develop new knowledge, perspectives, and methods in the area of professional knowledge and education for welfare professions. It will address questions such as:

How should professional knowledge be developed for university teachers to ensure the quality of profession-based programmes today?
How should high quality research on professional education and profession-based knowledge be ensured nationally and internationally?
How is the knowledge produced then implemented in profession-based educational programmes and in teachers’/researchers’ professional development?
How can we recognise and be open to societal needs and change in research on and for professional education and development?

The overall vision is to create a fresh and innovative research node based on the needs of a recognised strong welfare state, Sweden, and use that to build international collaboration.

www.samverkansforskning.se