RESEARCH IN FACULTY

Welcome

FACULTY OF EDUCATION SCIENCES AND THE
FACULTY RESEARCH ADMINISTRATION
nso-focus@nwu.ac.za
Tel +27-18-299 4776

Welcome to the Website of research of the Faculty and the Research Focus Area: Teaching-Learning Organisations (Education as Praxis) in the Faculty of Education Sciences (Potchefstroom Campus).

The Faculty of Education Sciences’ research policy strives to involve as many academics in the faculty in research projects as possible. The engagement of the researchers exploring the challenges of education regionally and globally is an important goal of our research. The NWU (Potchefstroom Campus) is striving towards becoming more research driven and research pro-active. The Faculty’s research strategic plans are in line with the vision of the NWU and support many research initiatives. We host annually as a highlight on the research calendar of the Faculty the Dean’s Research Forum. International scholars in their field of Education Research are invited to share their academic discourses with faculty. Due to the success of this endeavour since 2008 the academic discourses are extended from a one day forum with plenary sessions to hosting annually two-day international conferences and workshops adjacent to the Forum.

During the past few years the Focus Area has established itself as a scholarly leader in Education Research with an emphasis on Education as Praxis. The outcome of an international audit in August 2012, gave us valuable inputs on the new focus and support for establishing new research entities. As outlined in our vision we strive to address education challenges in diverse education and socio-economic settings in our region as well as nationally. Most of our research projects are conducted in collaboration with national and international colleagues and universities funded by, for example the EU. Our research outputs reflect the academic rigour of researchers’ engagements within their respective research foci. The Focus Area regularly revisits the efficacy of its research outputs through international benchmarking. As researchers we are dedicated to improve and enhance the capacity of Education Research at the NWU as well as within our region, the broader South African and international education contexts. The Research [project groups] entities in the Faculty host a number of projects which presently involve 43 researchers (of whom seven are NRF-rated researchers), assisted by five post-doctoral fellows and many full-time post graduate students. The project leaders of six international and three NRF-projects are hosted in the Focus Area (see our diagram for an outline of the research projects).

To ensure quality research outputs we have a structured and capacity building programme to support novice and developing researchers as well as a MEd&PhD research support programmes in January, March and June. The PhD-colloquium in January is a highlight on the postgraduate research calendar and an introduction to academic discourses for all new post-graduate students. International and national scholars are invited to present key notes at the colloquium and reflect on completed pots-graduate research. In addition some foremost international and South African researchers visit the Faculty on a regular basis to present prestige lectures and to facilitate research workshops.

The MEd and PhD-programmes are also situated within the Focus Area. Information on the programmes offered (related to the projects hosted in the Focus Area and Faculty), application procedures, as well as training and development programmes are to be found on the website.

I wish you a fruitful engagement with our website and you are more than welcome to contact us.

Cornelia Roux

April 2013