Faculty of Education

Research Activities at the Faculty

With 108 research projects, the Faculty of Education has registered nearly the same number of research projects in 2006. Besides newly initiated projects, the large ma-jority represents projects that have been continued. The year’s research activities of 2006 have again been subject to suboptimal conditions. On the one hand, the vacant professorships have contributed their part to the situation. On the other hand, the strong reference to schools in most of the fields of activity at the Faculty of Education resulted in the fact that only a small number of projects were promoted by third-party funds of the economy. However, almost all parts of the Faculty of Education have various third-party funding, such as governmental support by ministries or private supporting organizations. Thus, it is altogether still half of the projects (51%) that are (co-)financed from sources outside the university (same level as in 2005). Compared to the previous year, the number of publications in 2006 has declined with the total of just 66 publications.

The international character of the research (international partners or issues) has been strengthened, but it is striking that most of the research done is in Comparative Education, Curriculum Studies as well as Teacher Education – as in the preceding years.
The Departments of Fundamental Educational Disciplines continued to concen-trate research on the Saxon history of schools (19th century/ 1st half of 20th century/ after 1990). Many research projects still have an interdisciplinary focus on the (com-parative) reception of pedagogic ideas (Comenius, philanthropists, educational re-form currents) as well as in 2006.

The education system with the new social and cultural structures, among other things in the course of the enlargement of the EU, is still emphasized interdisciplinary. Within the field of Curriculum Studies problems of the border triangle between Ger-many, Poland and the Czech Republic are also examined in 2006, such as within the scope of the project “TRINA” (trinational homeland within the Europe of regions). Fur-ther interdisciplinary research concentrates on intercultural communication and inter-cultural learning as well as on children with migration background in lower secondary education. Joint graduation projects, e.g. about teacher’s education and school de-velopment are possible by virtue of existing relations to e.g. the Latvian University of Riga. Projects regarding the comparative analysis of the educational system are be-ing continued. Within the field of Curriculum Studies II, the focus is on environmental education as well as on the work at schools concerning the connection of subjects based on the new Saxon curriculum.
The Theodor-Litt-Research Center had also organised a symposium in 2006. An-other yearbook of the Theodor-Litt Society documents research activities of this Leip-zig educator.

In the field of Educational Psychology (in cooperation with the field of Curriculum Studies), research concentrated on aspects of teacher students´ concepts of teacher training and teaching practice as well as students´ evaluations of internships in teacher education. Moreover, research on emotional autonomy as well as adoles-cents´ conceptions of authority has been continued. New projects focus on e.g. the relations between curriculum, teacher´s conceptions and support of learning strate-gies or the construction of endeavor grades by teachers.

In the Department of Psychology in School and Instruction, the test-development in reading, spelling and mathematics was again one of the most important topics in 2006.
Despite the vacancy of important chairs in the Institute of Primary Education, new projects have been initiated: In the field of Science and Culture Primary School Edu-cation (“The impact of democratic school settings and conceptions as a pedagogic alternative to the traditional primary school”) and in the field of Physical Education at Primary School (“An optimal start in the school career - optiSTART”). A few other pro-jects can be found in the fields of history of education of mathematics, geometry and astronomy.

The range of the projects of the Department of Adult Education varies from regional learning institutions, quality management (also with an international orientation) to Education by the family in cooperation with kindergartens and recently to educational consultation. In the field of Social work and pedagogy, the prevention of violence remains still one of the key topics. Furthermore, a project about the Community So-cial work with Migrants was continued.

Research activities in the field of Special Education have been expanded, favoured by the filling of the chair of Education for People with Physical Handicaps. The fields of Edu-cation for People with Language and Speech Pathology and of Education for Chil-dren with Learning Disturbance have successfully continued projects with the focus on re-search regarding prerequisites of teaching. The chair of Education of Mentally Handi-capped People has not yet been filled. Research projects in the field of special edu-cation for people with behavioural disorders were started, followed up and completed on Cooperative Counselling, Individual Education Plans (IEP), Vocational Rehabilitation and Quality Management Methods in schools.