Research in the School of Education
Research in the School of Education serves a number of important functions. Firstly, it informs the teaching programmes in Initial Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development. All courses take account of new scholarship and research on learning and teaching, curriculum development and assessment. Secondly, research seeks to influence policy and practice at national and local levels, contributing to policy debates involving the Scottish Executive, local authorities and bodies such as Learning and Teaching Scotland, the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Thirdly, staff contribute to wider research networks within the academic community through their involvement in the Scottish, British and European Educational Research Associations, and in the Applied Educational Research Scheme, which aims to build research capacity across Scotland. And fourthly, by publishing the results of their research in books, journal articles and project reports, staff help to enhance knowledge and understanding of educational theories, policies and practices.
Current areas of research activity within the School include the following:
- Policy studies
- Initial teacher education
- Continuing professional development
- Curriculum development
- Citizenship education
- Online learning
- Early education
- Physical education
For further details about these, see entries under Research Staff, Recent Publications and Research Projects. There are a number of part-time and full-time research students working towards MPhil/PhD degrees: their topics are listed under Research Students.
The School of Education will be entering the UK Research Assessment Exercise for the first time in 2008 and the feedback from this will help to inform future research strategy.