Seminar: Lotta Björkman

Presenter
Lotta Björkman, Södertörns Högskola

Title
Norm-critical re-orientations in pedagogical practice – Didactical reflections and possibilities with Sara Ahmed

About the seminar
This seminar explores how Sara Ahmed’s (2006) concept of orientations can contribute to a deeper understanding of didactic work in schools from a norm-critical perspective. The point of departure is the didactic model developed within the dissertation project Inclusive Didactic Dimensions – A Phenomenological Study of Teachers’ Instruction from Students’ Perspectives (Björkman, 2025), with particular attention to the model referred to as Intertwined Inclusive Teaching (IIT). By examining how a norm-critical perspective can be understood and enacted within the didactic dimensions articulated in this model, the seminar investigates how teaching practices may be shaped in ways that are more likely to, in Ahmed’s sense, be experienced as “in line” and “at home” by a greater diversity of students. Taken together, the seminar probes the idea of inclusive teaching as a form of power-conscious didactic work, in which the design of instruction aims not merely at participation but at accommodating multiple ways of being, orienting, and feeling at home within educational practices.

About Lotta
Lotta Björkman holds a PhD in Education and has a research focus on power-critical and inclusive teaching practices. She has been a key contributor to the development of the norm-critical perspective within the Swedish educational context and has served as editor for several influential publications in the field. Originally trained as an upper secondary school teacher in drama and social studies, she has more than thirteen years of teaching experience. Since 2016, Lotta has been working in teacher education at Södertörn University in Stockholm.