I work at MF School of Theology, and religion and Society and hold a position as associated professor of pedagogy. I am the head of the teacher education program and lecture in pedagogy and didactics of social studies. My scholarly work focuses on education in emergencies, the relationship between education and citizenship, education and reconciliation, national identity , social cohesion, child soldiers and Sudan and South Sudan. In my PhD dissertation, I focused on history education in the newly independent South Sudan. Currently, I am in my research focusing on the new textbook for secondary education in South Sudan.
Recent publications
Skårås, M; Bentrovato, D (2022). Authoritarian cosmopolitan citizenship in the new nation of South Sudan: insights from a secondary school textbook analysis. Citizenship Teaching and Learning, s 388-414. Citizenship Teaching and Learning
Skårås, M (2022). No Textbook, No Peace? Historical Narratives in South Sudan, Teaching Peace and Conflict: The Multiple Roles of School Textbooks in Peacebuilding, s.139-153. Springer, ISBN: 978-3-031-04676-6
Skårås, Merethe (2021). Teaching and learning the most recent history in divided societies emerging from conflict: A review of the literature through the lens of social justice. Journal of Peace Education, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/17400201.2021.1965971
Skårås, Merethe (2019). Constructing a national narrative in civil war: History teaching and national unity in South Sudan. Comparative Education.
Skårås, Merethe; Tami Carsillo; Breidlid, Anders (2019). The ethnic/local, the national and the global. Citizenship education in South Sudan. British Journal of Educational Science.
Skårås, Merethe (2018). Why it’s hard to get South Sudan’s former child soldiers back to school. The Converation, April 29th.
Skårås, Merethe (2017). Educational and Social Challenges in the Reintegration Process of Former Child Soldiers, in Rowhea M. Elmesky , Carol Camp Yeakey , Olivia Marcucci (ed.) The Power of Resistance (Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research, Policy and Praxis, Volume 12) Emerald Publishing Limited, pp.243 - 263
Skårås, Merethe; Breidlid, Anders (2016). Teaching the violent past in newly independant South Sudan. Education as Change.
Skårås, Merethe (2016). Focused ethnographic Research on teaching and Learning in conflict zones: History education in South Sudan. Forum for Development studies.
Presentations and interviews
BBC | July, 2018
Radio interview, BBC World Service UK. Commenting on the recent release of child soldiers in South Sudan and the challenges of reintegration.
Voice of America | May 4th, 2018
Radio interview, South Sudan in Focus May 4th: Commenting on the recent release of child soldiers in South Sudan and their reintegration and access to education.
INEE Annual working group meeting | 2018
Breidlid, Anders; Skårås, Merethe (2018). History teaching and nation building: A case study from South Sudan. The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE).
CIES, Conference | 2018
Comparative and International Education Society Conference (CIES), theme: North-South Dialogue
Paper presentation with Tami Carsillo, George Mason University: The ethnic, the national and the global: Citizenship education in South Sudan
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Center for International Teacher Education | Visiting scholar April-May 2017
Presentation Cape Town 18.04.17
Merethe Skårås: Teaching history in secondary schools in post independent South Sudan.
Presentation Cape Town 4.05.17
Merethe Skårås: Choosing a theoretical framework in a study of history teaching and learning in schools in South Sudan.
History Teaching in multicultural society - Challenges and models | EEA Grants 2015-2016
Presentation, Sofia 25.05.2016
Kooij, Kristin Skinstad van der; Skårås, Merethe:
Challenges and opportunities of teaching about democracy through the contrasting case of Nazi occupied Norway 1940-1945. Matching the objectives of historical and civil society education through history teaching.
CIES, Conference | 2016
Comparative and International Education Society Conference (CIES), theme: Six Decades of Comparative and International Education. Taking Stock and Looking Forward.
Individual paper presentation: Teaching history in secondary schools in post independent South Sudan
New scholars publication mentoring workshop: Teaching history in secondary schools in post independent South Sudan.
CIES, Conference | 2015
Conference theme: Ubuntu! Imagining a humanist education globally
New scholars dissertation mentoring workshop: Teaching history in (post)-conflict South Sudan. Comparative and International Education society Conference.
Researching education in a globalised world 