Professor’s portrait: When learning happens outside the classroom
Johan Söderman is a new Professor of Education at Halmstad University. His research focuses on learning that takes place outside the formal structures of school – in music, civil society associations and other environments where people are driven by interest and engagement.
Johan Söderman completed his doctorate in music education in 2007 with the thesis Rap(p) i käften: Hip-hop Musicians’ Artistic and Pedagogical Strategies (Rap in your face: Hip-hop musicians’ artistic and pedagogical strategies). Since then, he has continued to research informal and non-formal learning, with a particular focus on how culture and civil society can contribute to people’s development. A central theme in his research is that leisure-time learning does not stand in opposition to schooling but can also reinforce what happens within it.
In the film, Johan Söderman talks about how his own interest in music sparked an early interest in learning beyond the classroom. He also describes how hip-hop culture can open pathways to language, motivation and broader learning, and why trust is an important part of all pedagogy.
Text and film: Anna-Frida Agardson
About Johan Söderman
Johan Söderman trained as a primary and lower secondary school teacher specialising in music and Swedish at Lund University, graduating in 1994. He then worked as a music and Swedish teacher at Fågelskolan in Lund until 2000. Between 2000 and 2002, he was a lecturer at Kristianstad University, before beginning doctoral studies in music education at the Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University. In 2007, he completed his doctorate. Johan Söderman was appointed Docent in Music Education at Lund University in 2013, and in 2025 he was appointed Docent in Education, specialising in Adult Learning, at Linköping University. In 2018, he was appointed Professor of Child and Youth Studies at the University of Gothenburg. In 2026, Johan Söderman was appointed Professor of Education at Halmstad University.
