Iris Kruse

Prof. Dr. Iris Kruse is Professor of German Literature Didactics with a focus on elementary school at Paderborn University's Faculty of Arts and Humanities, where she has been teaching since 2014. She leads the Paderborner Kinderliteraturtage (Paderborn Children's Literature Days) and serves as chair of the honorary critic jury for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize) for 2023-2024. Her work bridges academic research, teacher education, and practical classroom application in children's literature and inclusive education.

Prof. Kruse's educational background includes:

• Doctorate (Dr. sc. paed.) from Kiel University (1998) with dissertation "Dass der Mensch allein nicht das Ganze ist!" Versuche menschlicher Zweisamkeit im Werk Max Frischs
• First State Examination for teaching at secondary schools (1994)
• Studies in German, Chemistry, and Educational Sciences at Kiel University

Prof. Kruse's research focuses on children's and young adult literature, particularly examining how literature can address complex social issues in elementary education. Her work explores Holocaust education through children's literature, inclusive teaching practices, and the integration of multiple media forms in literature instruction. She investigates how children engage with challenging topics like historical trauma, racism, and social inequality through literature, developing pedagogical approaches that foster critical thinking while respecting children's developmental stages. Her concept of "Fragen-generierende-Didaktik des staunenden Erschreckens" (question-generating didactics of astonished shock) provides a framework for addressing difficult historical topics with young learners.

Her recent publications reveal a strong emphasis on inclusive education and the use of children's literature to address complex historical and social issues. A notable trend is her focus on Holocaust education in elementary schools through picture books, examining both teacher perspectives and pedagogical approaches. She also explores how literature can address contemporary social issues like poverty, migration, and racism. Her work frequently employs intermedial approaches, examining how stories told across different media formats (books, films, etc.) can enhance literary learning. Much of her research is practice-oriented, developing concrete teaching strategies grounded in empirical classroom observations.

Prof. Kruse serves in several significant professional roles:

• Chair of the honorary critic jury for the German Youth Literature Prize (2023-2024)
• Jury member for the Kranichsteiner Children's and Youth Literature Scholarships (2023)
• Member of the Clearing Office of the Graduate Center of the Faculty of Cultural Studies
• Member of the "Inclusion and Research" working group at Paderborn University
• Co-editor of academic journal series including "Kinder- und Jugendliteratur aktuell" and "Literacy im Elementar- und Primarbereich"

As an educator, Prof. Kruse supervises bachelor's and master's theses and teaches courses such as "Paderborner Perspektiven auf Inklusion" (Paderborn Perspectives on Inclusion) and "Literarische Geselligkeit und ästhetische Praxis mit Kinderliteratur" (Literary Sociability and Aesthetic Practice with Children's Literature). She has developed innovative teaching approaches documented in her numerous publications on literature didactics. Her "Paderborner Kinderliteraturtage" (Paderborn Children's Literature Days) brings children's authors to campus for multi-day events where students analyze works, conduct interviews, and participate in workshops with the authors.

Prof. Kruse leads the Paderborner Kinderliteraturtage, an annual event series that invites children's and young adult authors to Paderborn University. This initiative connects academic research with practical classroom application, as students analyze literary works, conduct interviews with authors, and develop teaching materials. She also participates in interdisciplinary research projects on inclusive education, collaborating with scholars from special education, linguistics, and educational psychology to examine classroom practices through observational vignettes.