Background and current activities
Sandra Hafner studied Sociology, Educational Sciences and Media Studies at the University of Basel.In 2020, Sandra Hafner completed her PhD on school types on upper secondary level that lead into teacher education.
Her main research interests are sociology of education, transformation of educational institutions, governance of education and educational inequalities.
Since July 2020, she has been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Secondary Education of the School of Education FHNW and is doing research in a project on governance of educational transitions (GovTrans).
She also is involved in teaching and holds lectures on topics of sociology of education.
Find out more about Sandra Hafners background, research, teaching and publications here.
Current research
Governance of Transitions in the Swiss Education System. A Study on the Political Regulation of Moving from Primary to Lower-Secondary and from Lower-Secondary to Upper-Secondary Education (GovTrans).
This study applies a governance perspective to examine how in the Swiss system of educational federalism the transition from primary to secondary education (transition 1) and from lower-secondary to upper-secondary education (transition 2) is governed – that is, regulated, organised, reformed, and legitimised; how differences in governance between the cantons can be explained; what kinds of tensions arise within and between the cantons as a result; and how these are addressed by the relevant actors involved in the governance process.
Duration | July 2020 – June 2024 |
Funding | Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), School of Education FHNW |
Project Leader | Prof. Dr. Regula Julia Leemann (School of Education FHNW) |
Research associates | Dr. des. Raffaella Esposito, lic. phil. Andrea Pfeifer Brändli, Fanny Marila Klaffke (student research assistant) |
Find out more about this research here.
Past research
The upper secondary specialised middle/specialised baccalaureate school as a separate educational track besides vocational education and training and general baccalaureate school - processes and outcomes of its positioning and profile raising.
In a long-term transformation process from the 1970s onwards, the specialised middle/specialised baccalaureate school has established itself as the third federally approved educational pathway alongside VET and the Gymnasium. The study examines the controversial process of institutionalising the school as an access to tertiary education. How has the school succeeded in positioning itself alongside VET and general baccalaureate school? How does the school profile itself as a way of complementing VET and general baccalaureate school? To investigate the positioning and profiling of the school, we refer to document analysis, interviews and quantitative statistical data.
Duration | March 2016 – August 2019 |
Funding | Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), School of Education FHNW |
Project Leade | Prof. Dr. Regula Julia Leemann (School of Education FHNW), Prof. Dr. Christian Imdorf (University of Hannover) |
Doctoral Students | MA Raffaella Esposito, MA Sandra Hafner |
Research Associates | MA Andrea Fischer, lic. phil. Andrea Pfeifer Brändli, Mario Steinberg (student research assistant) |
Find out more about this research here.
More information about the chair of educational sociology at the School of Education, its ongoing research, its courses, exams and bachelor or master thesis you can find here.