My teaching is within the undergraduate, master's and postgraduate courses at the department. I teach children's learning, resilience in preschool, sociocultural perspectives, international perspectives on preschool and research methodology at different levels. I also teach in rector's continuing education at Stockholm University. I supervise students in independent work, master's students and doctoral students.

I write books and carry out investigations and act as an expert for authorities and organisations.

In the research I lead and/or conduct, the preschool as a contemporary context is included in various ways. Emphasis in my research is on different kinds of analyzes of preschool as a social institution today. My research can be framed through the concepts of learning, play, gender and other social categorizations and children's participation and agency. In some studies all of these are present, in others some appears more clearly than others. In recent years, issues and the preschool's organization and educational leadership have also become more prominent in my reserach, which coincides with the interest in making the preschool as good as possible for all children. There, leadership and organization are important parts.

For me, conducting reserach close to the ECEC context are central aspects, and affects the choice of method and theory. This means that my reserach is seldom focused on a specific theory or method. In studies of younger children, however, I see great advantages in using moving or auditory material.

Currently, I am scientifically responsible for a four-year research project on how resilience can be understood in a preschool context, ResECE, funded by the Foundation Brita Maria Renlunds minne sr and the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland. I am also active in projects about educational leadership in early childhood education in Swedish speaking parts of Finland.

More information here

Other themes that are relevant are children's meaning-making in preschool around the corona pandemic, gender and teaching in subject units in preschool, the overall concept in the Finnish preschool context, as well as texts about resilience in preschool.

Recently completed projects include Stjärnklart, a study on children's social and emotional expression and a smaller project on abuse in preschool.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Pedagogiskt ledarskap för personalen, verksamheten och organisationen – en praktiknära studie med daghemsföreståndare

  2024. Pia Nordin, Mikaela Svanbäck-Laaksonen, Mia Heikkilä. Nordisk Barnehageforskning 21 (2), 42-61

  Article

  Read more about Pedagogiskt ledarskap för personalen, verksamheten och organisationen – en praktiknära studie med daghemsföreståndare

• Planning and interaction: Teachers’ views on pre-primary read-alouds

  2023. Sofie Tjäru, Mia Heikkilä. Journal of Early Childhood Education Research 12 (3), 214-236

  Article

  Read-alouds are recurrent in early childhood education and care settings and there is an abundance of scholarly advice regarding the planning and implementation of these sessions. However, most studies concern read-alouds with younger children and there is little knowledge regarding read-alouds during the pre-primary year for Finnish six-year-olds. The present study therefore investigated teachers’ self-reported ways of organising and arguing for their ways of implementing read-alouds in Finnish pre-primary settings. The study focused on what teachers reported paying attention to when planning read-alouds and how they viewed interaction during the read-alouds. Data were collected through a questionnaire completed by 47 teachers and through group interviews with nine teachers. A qualitative content analysis showed that teachers mentioned paying attention to children’s needs, interests, prerequisites and the characteristics of the books in connection to planning. They also described practices that indicated that it is common for them not to be acquainted with the books beforehand or not to have a prior plan. According to the teachers, interaction during read-alouds is common and important. At the same time, some of them expressed that they felt expected to use read-alouds as tools for supporting children’s school readiness by calling for silence during the read-alouds.

  Read more about Planning and interaction

Show all publications by Mia Helena Heikkilä at Stockholm University