Jan Löfström
Professor
jan.lofstrom@utu.fi +358 29 450 4755 +358 50 478 4021 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0995-3265 |
Social science education; social studies education; history education; economic education; intercultural education; moral education; teacher education; use of history; historical consciousness; historical reparations
Professor of History and Social Studies Education, University of Turku, 2022–
Visiting Professor of History Education, Linnaeus University, Sweden, 2020–2022
Associate Professor of History and Social Studies Education, University of Turku, 2019–2022
University Lecturer of History and Social Studies Education, University of Helsinki, 1999–2019
Docent (Social Studies and History Education), University of Turku, 2014
Docent (Historical Anthropology), University of Jyväskylä, 2000
PhD (Sociology), University of Essex, 1994
For further information and publications 1999–2019, see: ORCID 0000-0003-0995-3265
My long-time research interests include intersections of historical consciousness and moral consciousness that was explored in the research project History in Moral Encounters, directed by Professor Niklas Ammert at the Linnaeus University and funded by the Swedish Research Council (2018–2021). In the project were collaborating Niklas Ammert, Silvia Edling, Jan Löfström and Heather Sharp. The foundations of the project were outlined in the Special Issue on Historical and Moral Consciousness, in Historical Encounters, vol. 4 issue 1 (eds Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp, 2017), and the results were published in a number of peer reviewed articles (see my ORCID) and in Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp (2022) Historical and moral consciousness in education: Learning ethics for democratic citizenship education. (London: Routledge); and, Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp (2023) Att lära från, om och med historia. Historiemedvetande, moral och didaktik (Malmö: Gleerups).
The aforementioned topic connects closely with my work on historical apologies and the notions of historical responsibility as a perspective on historical consciousness, for example in the Journal of Curriculum Studies 2014:4, Citizenship Studies, 2011:1, and in the edited volume, Jan Löfström (2012) Voiko historiaa hyvittää? (Can history be repaired?), Helsinki: Gaudeamus University Press.
The research project on intersections of historical and moral consciousness resulted also in an international network, Democracy in the past, the present, and looking to the future: A network on historical, moral, and democratic consciousness in history education, research and policy; funded by Swedish Research Council (2023–2025), and steered by Niklas Ammert (PI), Fredrik Alvén, Silvia Edling, Jan Löfström, and Heather Sharp. Members of the network have contributed in 2025 to a Special Issue on Historical and Democratic Consciousness in the journal Citizenship, Social and Economics Education. An other network relating to the connections between democracy education, history education and social science education, has been the exploratory workshop serie, Educating active and democratic citizens in challenging times: exploring the past, present and future of social studies in the Nordic countries" funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (2022–2023), steered by Jakob Maliks (PI), Tom Gullberg, Brit Marie Hoveland, Jan Löfström, and David Rosenlund. With Heidi Eskelund Knutsen as a new member, the steering group will embark on a project of editing an all-Nordic volume on the theme.
Further relating to my interest in democracy education, I'm currently leading a subproject in the research consortium Education for deliberation: practices of inquiry in dialogue-based democratic education, funded by the Finnish Research Council (2024–2028); the Consortium involves colleagues at the universities of Oulu, Tampere and Turku (Katariina Holma, Veli-Matti Värri, Tuukka Tomperi, Julia Jaakkola, Hanna-Maija Huhtala, Jan Löfström). For more information on the research project see: deliberate.fi.
I serve as the PI of the Finnish team in the European research project, Youth and History II (coordinated by Dr. Piero Colla), that replicates the European survey of 1995, titled Youth and History. The Finnish team includes Jukka Rantala, Tanja Taivalantti, Johanna Norppa, Aleksi Marti, and Najat Ouakrim-Soivio. The survey questionnaire has been piloted in 2024 and the survey is envisaged to take place in Autum 2025.
- What Students See as Generally Important and Personally Interesting in the History Classroom, and How it Matches the History Curriculum : Notes from a Finnish Pilot Study (2023) Why History Education? Löfström Jan
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Aims, concepts, and assessment of the citizenship education curriculum in northern Europe (2022) Handbook of Civic Engagement and Education Ouakrim-Soivio Najat, Löfström Jan
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - AVANÇOS NA EDUCAÇÃO ÉTICA NA AULA DE HISTÓRIA: o prosseguimento das interseções da consciência moral e histórica (2022)
- Curriculo sem Fronteiras
(Other publication) - Economic education: its past, present and future (2022)
- Journal of Social Science Education
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Editorial 2022:2 : Teaching and learning ethics in the Humanities and Social Science school subjects (2022)
- Nordidactica : Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Editorial: Perspectives on history and moral encounters (2022)
- Historical Encounters
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Historical and Moral Consciousness in Education : Learning Ethics for Democratic Citizenship Education (2022) Ammert Niklas, Edling Silvia, Löfström Jan, Sharp Heather
(C1 Refereed scientific book) - Historical Encounters vol 9, issue 2 : Special issue: Perspectives on History and Moral Encounters (2022)
- Historical Encounters
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Journal of Social Science Education, Vol. 21 No. 2 (2022) : Economic Education: Its past, present and future (2022)
- Journal of Social Science Education
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Language differences, output-orientation, popular TV series, direct school-democracy and research investment in Social Studies – Introduction to an open topics issue (2022)
- Journal of Social Science Education
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Mapping and exploring national landscapes of social science education: Country reports from Europe and beyond (2022)
- Journal of Social Science Education
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Mapping moral consciousness in research on historical consciousness and education - a summative content analysis of 512 research articles published between 1980 and 2020 (2022)
- Journal of Curriculum Studies
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Moral Consciousness (2022) Bloomsbury History : Theory and Method Ammert Niklas, Löfström Jan
(D2 Article in a professional compilation book) - Nordidactica Vol. 12 No. 2022:2 (2022) : Teaching and learning ethics in the Humanities and Social Science school subjects (2022)
- Nordidactica : Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education
(C2 Editorial work for a scientific compilation book) - Politics and ethics of civic and citizenship education curricula in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (2022) Handbook of Civic Engagement and Education Löfström Jan, Ouakrim-Soivio Najat
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Advances in ethics education in the history classroom: after intersections of moral and historical consciousness (2021)
- International Journal of Ethics Education
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Aims of Citizenship Education Across Nordic Countries: Comparing School Principals’ Priorities in Citizenship Education 2009–2016 (2021) Northern Lights on Civic and Citizenship Education : A Cross-national Comparison of Nordic Data from ICCS Seland Idunn, Huang Lihong, Arensmeier Cecilia, Bruun Jens, Löfström Jan
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Koulun yhteisöllinen ilmapiiri ja oppilaiden yhteiskunnallisen vaikuttamisen orientaatio: yhteyksiä etsimässä (2021)
- Nuorisotutkimus
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Millainen historian opetus tukisi ymmärrystä historian käytöstä paremmin? (2021)
- Historiallinen Aikakauskirja
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Moraali ja näkökulmanotto historian opetuksessa nuorten vastauksissa (2021)
- Psykologia
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)