Anna Nissen

Anna Nissen is an assistant professor of Swedish didactics and holds a PhD in educational work. She completed her doctoral studies at Karlstad University and defended her thesis, Nordic Literature Instruction, in 2024. The aim of the thesis was to contribute knowledge on how Nordic lower secondary language arts teachers use literary texts in their ordinary instruction and how the promote students’ development of literary competence. It focuses on students' first years in lower secondary school and is based partly on video data from LISA Nordic, partly on a teacher questionnaire that reached out to lower secondary teachers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. 

In the spring of 2025, Anna was a visiting researcher at Karlstad University and involved in two different research projects: Teachers and influencers? Social media as an arena for professional practice and the ULF project Predictors of English language learning outcomes in Swedish secondary school. In the ULF project, the teachers and classes involved worked on reading comprehension strategies and literary reading in English, among other things. 

Anna has previously worked as a teacher in Swedish, English and music, mainly at upper secondary level. She also has experience from compulsory education (grades 4–9), special needs education, and adult education. She currently teaches literature, comparative literature and literature didactics, primarily in teacher training programmes.