Primary fields of research:

Inclusion and exclusion in an educational, sociological and historical perspective

General education and the relation to special needs education in the era of inclusion

Pschiatry and diagnosing educational perspectives and challenges

Current Research

Childpsychiatry, educational psychiatry - past and present in a Danish and Scandinavian perspective

The Politics of Inclusion in the Danish Welfare State

Scchool reforms, testing and inclusive schooling in a global perspective

Teaching

The sociology of education

Educational history

General education, special education and social pedagogy

Research

I understand pedagogy as a practice on the one hand tasked with delivering ideas about how something or someone should be, on the other hand tasked with the handling behavior or individuals who differ from the prevailing ideas about how a student as a school subject should be or behave – that is, students that who present an exception to the norm.

My research interests revolve around inclusion and exclusion in educational practices from a historical and sociological perspective. Among my research interests are the welfare state, testing, educational policy, schooling, interprofessional collaboration, special education, educational psychology and child psychiatry. I co-edited the book Testing and Inclusive Education - International Challenges and Opportunities (Hamre, Morin and Ydesen 2018), examining the tensions in global educational policy. Another co-edited volume, Islands of Extreme Exclusion - Studies on Global Practices of Isolation, Punishment, and Education of the Unwanted (Hamre & Villadsen 2024) examines the mechanisms of exclusion. Currently (2024-2026). Currently, I am working on the DFF funded project: Psychiatry in school, Interdisciplinary experiences within the educational system. The project is part of the project Danish child psychiatry in the clinic and beyond https://www.sdu.dk/en/sif/forskning/projekter/boernepsykiatriens_historie