EducationCurriculum and Pedagogy

Our Curriculum and Pedagogy research theme seeks to generate original scholarship and research into curriculum theory and development that responds to the world's infinitely diverse epistemological traditions. It is dedicated to conducting critical, post-structural, decolonial, and indigenous research on curriculum history and theories from within and outside the Global North, as well as their impact on schools and classrooms. 

Researchers in this theme deconstruct educational theories and praxis, shaping culturally relevant pedagogical experiences. They delve into the intricate connections between policy, political economy, reform, and evaluation to address issues of relevance, inclusivity, equity, and efficacy.

Further, we investigate national and international policy and the impact of integrating emerging educational technologies into different learning contexts. This allows us to advance our understanding of the ever-changing relationship between curriculum, pedagogy, teacher education, and new technologies. The insights gained help to improve educational practices and adapt to changing learning landscapes, ensuring that our research is still relevant and influential in shaping the future of education.

Co-leads

Subthemes

The Advanced Pedagogical Theory (APT) research subtheme provides a forum for researchers interested in pedagogy, understood as the theorisation of the meaning, purpose and practice of education throughout the life course.

Pedagogy is here not limited to educational institutions but spans the lifelong process of human (self) formation that takes diverse cultural forms and is shaped by specific political and social conditions. Drawing on a wide range of philosophical, theoretical and historical traditions, APT researchers explore the theory of education, and it’s associated pedagogical processes, in and through a variety of diverse cultural phenomena: from encounters with art and artefacts in literature, film, theatre and (popular) culture; to religious-spiritual practices (the Japanese tea ceremony; monastic practice) and educational policy-making in the neoliberal age.

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Subtheme members

The Critical Instructional Technology and Digital Education (CITDE) subtheme under the Curriculum and Pedagogy Research theme at the Strathclyde Institute of Education is dedicated to advancing research on the transformative role of digital tools and technologies in education. CITDE explores emerging technologies, critically assessing their pedagogical impact and potential to revolutionize curriculum design. We are committed to equipping educators with the skills to integrate learning technologies effectively into their praxis and to improve students’ learning experience.

Aligned with the overarching Curriculum and Pedagogy Research theme, our goal is to ensure that digital education initiatives are inclusive, equitable, and culturally responsive, honouring diverse traditions and contexts. By exploring the pedagogically sound integration of digital technologies and promoting innovative yet culturally relevant approaches, we strive to advance non-derivative educational practices.

Our research spans various specializations, including smart learning environments (e.g. mobile and ubiquitous learning, immersive learning, artificial intelligence), digital literacies, instructional design, STEM education, digital technologies for early childhood settings, smart tech for clinical practices (e.g., autism and neurodevelopmental disorders), philosophy of technology.

By fostering collaborations with policymakers, academics, and practitioners, CITDE promotes dialogue on critical instructional technologies, addressing global challenges with transformative solutions for today’s classrooms.

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Subtheme members

This subtheme is to enable research based on STEM across the educational landscape. This means from Early Childhood to university, and beyond the confines of formal education.

Areas are developed through the interests of the members of the subtheme, but examples are:

  • Primary science development linked to work completed on confidence and ITE
  • Early Childhood work linked to KE projects in both science and technologies
  • Technicians’ roles in school, FE and HE settings
  • Secondary to University transition in physics
  • Equity, equality, diversity and inclusion in science
  • Experiences of students following concurrent degrees
  • Developing technological education in primary and secondary settings
  • Developing technologies across the STEM curriculum
  • Teaching maths and numeracy through other subjects.

We are particularly interested in areas which bring together two or more ‘fields’ within the STEM landscape.

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Subtheme members

Researchers in this subtheme are experienced and interested in art practices that foster inclusivity and address issues associated with equity and efficacy. We aim to deconstruct, challenge and reshape educational theories and practice through an arts lens, focusing on culturally sustaining pedagogy.

Through our research, we intend to work collaboratively with practitioners, community partners, policymakers and learners.

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Subtheme members:

This subtheme encompasses a range of work in the Strathclyde Institute of Education targeting professional learning and agency through research. Positioning educational professionals as researchers, it encourages and explores the process of ‘systematic enquiry made public’ (Stenhouse 1981) across roles, contexts, ages and stages of the education system, including:

  • Colleagues in the early childhood, primary, secondary, special, college and higher education sectors
  • Student teachers, classroom teachers, mentors and leaders
  • Educators located in island, rural and urban environments locally, nationally and internationally.

Common is the privileging of partnership approaches between the university and professional communities using collaborative and creative approaches to bridge methodology and pedagogy in such a way as to co-construct a dynamic and useful dialogue that supports improved practice and learner outcomes.

Members of this subtheme identify themselves as teacher researchers. They foreground their learning about the endeavour of teaching and learning while working with others. The aim is to practise what we preach and create authentic partnerships whereby knowledge is co-constructed and shared collaboratively. The group aligns with a social justice and democratic intent and as such foregrounds the ethical prerogative of professionals engaging critically with their practice with the aim to better understand their classroom and the learners in their care.

Projects in this subtheme may be research, knowledge exchange or teaching orientated representing areas of activity within and across the group whereby teachers and other education professionals engage with research as part of their professional learning aligned with the Scottish National Model for Professional Learning and the GTCS Professional Standards. This sub-theme particularly extends work out of the Supporting Teacher Learning PG Cert, which has GTCS Professional Accreditation, but also includes approaches used on our Doctorate of Education (EdD), ITE programmes, and Into Headship qualification, as well as approaches used within our undergraduate and postgraduate research projects and dissertations.

Activities in this subtheme target how and why we support teachers and other educational professionals to engage in and with research. It will propose and empirically explore theory, methodology and pedagogy for supporting teachers in professional learning through research and target the potential impact of such an approach. A practitioner enquiry approach will be a fundamental core aspect of this sub-theme and the activity it represents but will not be the only approach included.

Lead
Subtheme members