Yvonne Liljekvist, Professor of Mathematics Education

After a few years as a secondary school teacher, she pursued a master’s degree in education to acquire more knowledge about teaching and learning. She started working at Karlstad University in 2004 as a lecturer in mathematics education, before being promoted to senior lecturer in 2014 and docent in 2019. In 2014 she completed a PhD in educational work, also at Karlstad University, with a thesis on learning mathematics. She made professor in 2023.

"My research looks at the conditions for mathematics teaching and mathematics learning. As a PhD student, I focused on the properties of mathematical problems and their relevance to the quality and depth of the knowledge gained by the pupils. I worked with researchers in mathematics, psychology and neuroscience from Umeå University. After defending my thesis, I held a few temporary research positions at the universities in Umeå, Gothenburg, and Uppsala where I contributed to various projects. I have since taken an interest in how digitalisation in schools affects the mathematics education and teaching conditions. In several projects, I have worked with professionals in schools as well as researchers from different groups and disciplines to systematically investigate complex problem areas. One example is how planning and follow-up work can be used to shape a collegial infrastructure to promote improvement within the framework of the local school organisation."

"Every day, people all over the globe visit a school to learn or to teach, and mathematics is one subject that is taught throughout the school system. In short, the questions my colleagues and I work with are about how to improve teaching. The findings are used by teachers and pupils, school leaders, teacher educators and students, and textbook authors. I can’t predict exactly what sort of studies I will be involved in going forward, but both the present and future place high demands on researchers and the scientific community in general. We have to defend the systematic production of knowledge and be deliberate in how we disseminate results. For that reason, the need for strong, cutting-edge research environments in international networks will only continue to grow."

In addition to her career as a teacher and researcher, Yvonne Liljekvist has worked as a sailmaker. She can also prune fruit trees like nobody’s business and has season tickets to Löfbergs Arena.