Education Studies

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While there is no one way to characterise teaching and research in Education Studies, the following ideas are endorsed by many in the group:

• education is more than schooling
• education is more than skills, techniques and methods
• education is a multifaceted, lifelong process
• teaching and learning are ethical and political activities
• underlying any pedagogical system is an implicit or explicit theory of knowledge
• to understand education, we must examine it in its social, cultural and historical contexts
• the study of education is also the study of what it means to be human
• theory and practice are both important
• critical engagement with policy is vital
• a commitment to education is also a commitment to some form of human ideal
• these ideas, like all others considered in a university, should be open to questioning, discussion and debate.

Key areas for research, teaching and supervision in Education Studies include the sociology of education, the history of education, the philosophy of education, adult and community education, disability studies in education, gender and education, sexualities and education, ethnicity and culture in education, and educational policy studies (including early childhood education policy, special education and disability policy, school policy, tertiary education policy, languages policy and qualifications policy).

Members of the Education Studies group contribute to teaching in both liberal arts and professional programmes, such as the BA, the MA, the BEd(Tchg), the BHumServ, the MEd and the EdD. Supervision of PhD, EdD and masters students is an important part of our work. Members of the group occupy a number of important leadership roles in the school and faculty, and serve on a wide range of committees and working groups, including those relating to research, postgraduate study, equity, staffing, workload, property services and the library.