About Us | Technology Search | Research Expertise | Track Record | Links | Contact Us | Home |

 

 

 

 

Research Expertise

Educational Research

The following highlights our research expertise in this area:

Applied Arts:
Art and technology; arts in education; arts in society; education interface; creative industries.

Business and Computer Education:
Pedagogy and assessment/evaluation of information and computer technology (ICT) in education; educational uses of the internet/www-particularly in primary education, social studies and business education; design and development of multimedia resources for education; ICT competence of teachers/intending teachers; school-FE/HE interface transition.

Community Education:
Local interpretations of sustainable development; agency and active citizenship; local agenda 21; non-formal education and local development; young people and territoriality; young people and alcohol; community based adult education; community development; informal educational provision for black and minority ethnic young people; social and emotional competence and non-formal education; outreach and detached youth work; community learning and development.

Computers in Education:
Development of the concept of a virtual university; quality in computer science education.

Developmental and Education Psychology:
Language acquisition, e.g. syntactic development, reference and communication skill; early identification and treatment of language delay; use of acoustically modified speech to help children with specific language impairment; children's negotiation skills; children's understanding of issues concerning their own safety from physical and sexual abuse, e.g. secrecy and stranger-danger; bullying, antisocial behaviour, and the promotion of prosocial thinking; parental perspectives on preschool provision.

Educational Studies:
Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; discourse analysis; educational management, effectiveness and leadership; education, societal prejudice, social conflict and discrimination; E-learning; lifelong learning; policy related research: policy making in Scottish education; policies, professionals and institutions; professional education and development: research and policy; the nature of educational research and its relation to policy and practice; social contexts of education and allied professions; society, sport and socialisation; teacher education and professional development.

Further Education:
Initial training and continuing professional development of teachers and other staff in further and higher education; nurse and midwifery education; professions ancillary to medicine; health studies; management; policy studies; adult learning.

Language Education:
Language learning and national curriculum programmes; development of linguistic skills; inclusive education; development of writing skills; first two years of secondary school; creating an ethos of achievement; school self evaluation; critical friend-role in school improvement; transition from primary to secondary school; motivation and modern languages teaching; modern languages in the primary school; literary studies; comparative studies in language education; interdisciplinary projects.

Mathematics, Science and Technological Education:
National and international assessment; curriculum development in the primary, secondary and higher education sectors; scientific and technological competence and literacy.

Primary Education:
Basic numeracy; basic literacy; non-maternal childcare; education of autistic children; enterprise education.

Residential Childcare:
Evaluation of process and outcome in residential child care interventions; the education of children and young people in care; safe caring in residential child care; education and training of residential child care staff; comparative approaches to residential childcare; mental health issues for children and young people in care.

Special Educational Needs:
Responses to individuals with identified disabilities; supporting the learning of pupils in mainstream schools; policy issues in special education and support for learning.

Speech and Language Therapy:
Children's speech and language disorders; voice disorders; stammering; motor speech disorders in adults; policy research; communication and aging; speech and language in learning disability.

Social Studies:
Health education in secondary schools; health education in Scottish higher education; drugs education; sex education, management in schools; 5-14 guidelines on religious and moral education, environmental studies and health; IT research packs for history; history education; 18th and 20th century Scottish religious history; comparative methodologies in teaching of history; the impact of modern studies teaching on Political Literacy; surviving the Holocaust: the anger and guilt of Primo Levi; enterprise education; key skills; assessment in geography; 5-14 guidelines on environmental studies; nutrition education; healthy eating in schools; schools nutrition action groups; education for citizenship; developing positive values in schools through teaching the Holocaust; 5-14 social subjects enquiry skills; modern studies curriculum structure S1-S6; religious observance in primary and secondary schools; personal search in religious and moral education.

Departments and Specialist Centres:

These areas of research represent the activities of a number of University Departments and Specialist Centre Centres including: