Alexander Brauer

PhD student in language- and literature didactics at the Department of Culture, Languages and Media, Malmö University.

I am a newly graduated teacher of Swedish and English at upper secondary school level. However, most of the teaching that I have done is as a teacher of Swedish as a foreign language in adult education.

During my studies at the teacher education program, I came to take an interest in creative writing and its status in the educational system, which is also what I focus on as a doctoral student. Fiction reading plays an important part in the subject of Swedish as well as English, while literary writing has almost no support in the curriculum or syllabi. As a result, creative writing in upper secondary schools seems to be seen as a diversion for the pupils when there is time to spare, regardless of whether the teachers themselves are of that opinion or not. The fact that creative writing has this position (especially in the subject of Swedish) has been established, but not to the same extent on what bases.

In my work, I wish to examine what possibilities and limitations creative writing entails. Literature is an important basis for a democratic society, and giving pupils the tools to express themselves through literature may be a way to equip them with cultural empowerment.