First grants awarded for schools research
Learning environment, student motivation, class management in mathematics and digital learning in Danish subjects.
These are just some of the topics for the first six PhD scholarships in education research, as awarded by the PhD council.
The PhD projects will be carried out in cooperation between universities and university colleges and will strengthen the research background of teaching methods employed in Danish primary and secondary schools.
The political agreement for the implementation of the research reserve in 2012 has set aside a further DKK 28 million to new education research PhD projects.
Higher Education Minister Morten Østergaard has met the news with satisfaction.
– We should be delighted by these exciting projects that will make us wiser about how to improve the daily teaching in schools. The quality of the applications shows it was the right decision to find more funds for 2012. We want to strengthen the Danish school system and create long-term solutions. It is therefore important that we great a good research foundation for schooling. With these PhD education research grants and the further grants in 2012, we're emphasising that practical research has a high priority, says Morten Østergaard.
In addition to giving education research a boost, the projects will strengthen cooperation between university colleges and universities.
Practice-oriented projects preferred
The chairman for the PhD council, Jens Rasmussen from the Centre for Research in Compulsory Schooling at Aarhus University underlines that the projects must be practically relevant.
– It is an important prerequisite that the PhD students get close to the teachers' reality during their projects. The research must be carried out with its basis the everyday life of Danish schools. The fully-qualified PhD recipients will also be able to enter directly into teaching at the university colleges' teacher education programmes so that they themselves can help ensure that their research is translated to practice, says Jens Rasmussen.
The PhD council recommends preparing projects already for the next application round. The council will hold information meetings about the aims and requirements for applicants in connection with the next application deadline, which will be announced in January 2012.
More information about the research funds can be found of the PhD council's website, including information on application deadlines, the work of the PhD council and the six selected projects.
Further information:
PhD council: chairman Jens Rasmussen can be contacted via special consultant Rebekka Sylvest, tel: +45 8715 2142 or email: rst@adm.au.dk .
Higher Education Ministry: Press officer Ingeborg Nielsen, tel:+45 2210 0200.