RESEARCH ROAD MAP
This Research Road Map of the Institute for Education
outlines the broad areas the Institute for Education is focusing on terms of research
and practice. It reflects our vision, interest, strengths and areas requiring
focus in the future.
The aim of the Research Road Map is communicating our
research focus and welcoming research collaboration.
Pedagogical Practices
Pedagogical practices include the application of
educational theory in the act of teaching. The main interest in this area is
the multiple orientations theory informed practices give to lesson planning,
delivery, and assessment. It also includes reflection on the tension between
educational theory and the situatedness of the act of teaching. This research
area is also interested in reflection on practice as a means of directly
improving one’s practice in the classroom and as a tool for the people working
in the field of education to mull over their “becoming a teacher” which puts
them in control of their teacher identity and allows them to exercise it in a
more authentic fashion.
This area may include, but is not limited to:
- Early childhood education and care
- Lifelong and Lifewide Learning
- Attending to Multiple Intelligences
- Teaching strategies
- Assessment of Teaching and Learning
- Creative Pedagogies
- Critical Pedagogies
Education and Society
This research area explores the complementarity of
education and society. Their interconnectedness requires examination of the
purposes of education, as well as the processes, including policy.
This area may include, but is not limited to:
- Colonising discourses in education
- Politics of the curriculum
- Individuation and enculturation
- Identity and otherness
- What is critique?
- Education for sustainability
- Social Justice in Education
- Disability Issues
- Intersectionality
- Post-colonial studies
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Education
- Experiential Learning
- Digital Education
- Contemporary Issues in Education
- Educational Dialogue
- Inclusive communities in schools
Educational leadership
Educational leadership directs and guides curricular
development and implementation. It articulates the educational vision, creates
the desired milieu and navigates the journey to reach the set goals. In
practice, it encompasses all the processes facilitating the optimal utilisation
of resources supporting the practitioner in schools and enabling success in the
educational performance of the student. Educational leadership as a concept
denotes authority and responsibility, however, it is also a concerted effort,
drawing on the expertise and commitment of several stakeholders within the
education system.
This area may include, but is not limited to:
- Inspirational leadership
- Effective school leadership and management
- Quality assurance in schools
- School improvement
- School ethos
- Mentoring and coaching
- Leading Change
- Transformational Leadership
Professional Development
Professional Development refers to the continuous growth of
the practitioner; this could be facilitated through formal and/or informal training,
self-sought or centrally organised initiatives and any other experiences that
contribute to the professional progression of the individual. Activities that
promote personal growth may also contribute significantly to the professional
advancement of the practitioner.
This area may include, but is not limited to:
- Strategic professional growth
- Lifelong Learning
- Reflective practice
Well-being
Well-being is what every individual strives for. The
individual may experience different types of well-being including: the
emotional, the physical, the psychological, the social, the vocational and the
moral. All these work in an intricate manner to make a whole individual who is
made from different aspects which affect each other. Research in well-being
delves deep into these concepts and focuses on personal and social competences,
resilience and quality of life.
This area may include, but is not limited to:
- Educator Empowerment
- Holistic education
- Equity in education
- Quality of Life
- Health and Well-being in Schools
- Empowerment
Novel trends in
educational theory and practice
The present age requires a paradigm shift in the way
teachers are teaching and students are learning to ensure the overall wellbeing
of all involved in the education process. This requires a shift away from the
conventional pattern. Such changes in educational patterns require
open-mindedness and new schools of thought and practices regarding teaching and
learning at all levels within the educational sector.
This area may include, but is not limited to:
- Neuroscience
- Technology enhanced and Remote Teaching and
Learning
- Artificial intelligence
- Education for Sustainable Development