Mission & Strategy

    Our research aims to do two things

    Address fundamental questions that have a direct bearing on all members of society.  These include:

    • the use of international, comparative and global perspectives in education advancing the values of equality
    • social justice and human rights in education
    • defending and promoting the foundations of education and the contribution of the disciplines of education
    • recognising the specialist status of our Institution in these areas
    • understanding the links between theory and practice in education
    • building clear and explicit connections between education and other social domains such as the family, health and welfare.

    Raise the standard of educational research. We achieve this in a number of ways, by:

    • seeking to promote the highest standards of quality in research in education 
    • promoting the highest standards of ethical integrity in our research 
    • aspiring to maintain and build on the tradition of research in education developed here over the last century
    • seeking to lead the field of educational research 
    • aiming to enhance the public debate about education through our independent research-based contributions to the major issues of our day 
    • welcoming and pursuing partnerships with local, national and international agencies, in order to promote the public good in education 
    • cultivating links and critical engagement with other social sciences and humanities, thereby enhancing theoretical, methodological and evidence-based understandings of education in its broader relationships with society.

    Through these means we aspire to understand and improve the standard of education as a whole, in schools and throughout life and society, and to advance the standing and role of education in twenty-first century society.