History and Theory of Education and Schooling

The members of the research unit History and Theory of Education and Schooling at the Department of Educational Science at the University of Klagenfurt promote the coexistence of democratic, equal, gender-sensitive, socially just and diversity-conscious approaches in teaching, research, and further education as well as in social positioning.

The research interests of the unit focus on the educational system from a historical-systematic, theoretical and professional-practical perspective. The various institutions in the education system make a central contribution to society, being a learning and living environment for children and young people as well as the workplace of educators.

In addition to imparting knowledge and fostering learning processes, education is a place of communication, pedagogical relationships, personality development and social learning of all participants. School pedagogy thus encompasses theoretical, socializing, teaching-learning and communication-theoretical approaches. In school-pedagogical research, the social, material, economic, and political interconnections of the education system are of particular interest.

In order to adequately consider the historical genesis and dimension of educational institutions, the research unit integrates historical educational research as an important component of educational science and educational research. It analyses the phenomena of education, upbringing, school and teaching from a historical, systematic and comparative perspective in regional, national and international (global) contexts.

Current research areas (alphabetical):

• Promoting gifted learners
• Education for sustainable development
• Cooperative educational research
• Education and socialisation in elementary education
• Diversity and social inequalities in education and society
• Women’s and gender studies in school education
• Pedagogical education and professionalization
• School performance and examination and assessment techniques
• School and educational history in international comparison