We are pleased to announce that Marloes Hagenaars has been awarded an FWO Postdoctoral Fellowship for her new research project "From Print to Pupil" (2026-2029).
The project investigates how social identities are represented in primary school textbooks and how these representations ultimately shape pupils’ experiences in the classroom.
Research has consistently shown that certain groups, including women, people with darker skin tones, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and persons with disabilities, are often underrepresented or portrayed in stereotypical ways in educational materials. While previous studies have documented these patterns, we still know very little about how these representations actually reach and influence children.
The project challenges the assumption that pupils simply absorb messages directly from textbooks. Instead, it recognises that representations pass through several layers before reaching children. Publishers decide which images and stories are included, teachers interpret and contextualise the materials, and pupils themselves actively engage with and make sense of these representations.
Using an innovative intersectional approach, the project will examine how different social identities, such as gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background and disability, interact and shape experiences of inclusion and exclusion.
The research will focus on three interconnected stages:
- Production: how publishers decide who is represented and how;
- Mediation: how teachers interpret, adapt and teach these materials;
- Interpretation: how pupils perceive, negotiate and internalise these representations.
By tracing the journey from textbook to classroom experience, "From Print to Pupil" will provide new insights into how educational materials contribute to children's understanding of themselves and others, and how more inclusive representations can be developed in the future.
The project will be supervised by Prof. dr. Fanny D'hondt (BRISPO), with Prof. dr. Peter Stevens (Ghent University) as co-supervisor.
