Key research areas

Current areas of interest in the school for research enquiry have included critical pedagogies, subject knowledge for teaching, the professional knowledge of beginning teachers, the management and leadership of schools, inter-professional working, widening participation in higher education, international education and the contribution of HEIs to teacher education.

More widely a wide range of research projects have been undertaken in recent years. These include enhancing the learning experience through mobile technologies, geographical enquiry in diverse places, policy and practice in literacy education, cross curriculum links in Mathematics and Music, developing children's spirituality and equality and diversity in HE. Work is also being undertaken on life histories in Education, self study methodologies and a number of projects are located in the arena of reflective practice in early years, primary and secondary education.

Partnerships and networks between higher education and schools continue to be the focus of much enquiry as do those that relate to professional development opportunities for teachers in the region and internationally. The School's collaborative work with teachers and its commitment to improving the practice of teacher education underpins its research. We are very active in attending professionally relevant conferences and presenting papers which lead to published outcomes in scholarly journals.