Educational Sciences

Our guiding principles: (a) research is central to education, b) our teaching takes place within an inspiring, academic community, and (c) education and research are at the heart of society.

Therefore, our master's has/offers:

• a strong empirical-analytical approach, in which we adopt an evidence-based work approach and use insights from educational sociology, educational economics, policy sciences, and education law
• choice of differentiations that match the fields in which educationalists work
• intensive thesis supervision
• Opportunity to participate in international research projects (graduation project)

Groningen professor Leon van Gelder was at the cradle of Educational Science as Science. (Read more at https://www.rug.nl/gmw/organisation/about-us/erfgoed/pages/van-gelder-erfgoed)
Our researchers operate in the very center of practice, serving on education committees or collaborating with municipalities and colleges, for example.

De Rijksuniversiteit Groningen is een internationale instelling met partnerships over de hele wereld en een groot aantal buitenlandse studenten. Ook voor Nederlandse studenten is het mogelijk gedurende een periode van drie tot twaalf maanden in het buitenland te studeren. Dit kan in het kader van de bestaande samenwerkingsovereenkomsten, maar ook als 'freemover'.

The Master of Educational Sciences prepares you for policy and advisory positions. You can advise pupils and teachers, but also school teams, boards and policy makers. You will deal with learning and organisational problems, such as the introduction of educational innovations. You can also work within the government on educational policy and the development of new forms and methods of education.

Areas of activity for educationalists:

• Policy advisor, educational developer, staff member, quality care employee, study advisor, school dean or career counselor at large educational institutions such as universities, teacher training courses, intermediate or higher vocational education, or adult education.
• Education policy officer with the municipal, provincial or national government
• For educational guidance services as school, teacher or pupil counselor/coach
• Employee at educational support services
• Policy officer at the umbrella organizations of education or associations
• School supervisor / educational manager/coordinator within an educational institution
• (Deputy) Director/management
• Scientific research: Governments, companies, research bureaus, educational institutions, university (Ph.D.: scholarships for a.o. the learning teacher or Research Master (as side entrant))
• Teacher at intermediate or higher vocational education (HBO/MBO)
• The media (radio, television, press) as educational journalists

Career services BSS
Where do you want to work after your studies? You can contact Career Services already during your studies. They will help you orientate on your career, develop your skills, apply for jobs and find an internship.

GION (Groningen Institute for Research and Education) makes a concrete contribution to better education through scientific research. Education is better if it has more favourable consequences for the cognitive and affective development of pupils. The aim of the research institute is to increase knowledge about education and to improve educational practice. GION, therefore, conducts both fundamental research and commissioned research.

Research themes

GION's research focuses on four research themes:

• Learner, teacher and instruction
  Research on what happens in the classroom. How do students learn? What do teachers do in the classroom? In what ways can we improve student learning?
• School boards and educational policy
  Research conducted at the level of the school (organization). How are schools managed? How do employees and management work together? In which ways can we improve educational policy?
• Society, culture and politics
  Sometimes research questions exceed the level of the class or school. These studies are broad, diverse and focus on the social, cultural and/or political side of education. For example, GION has conducted education/research surveys into the national level of pupils in the field of language and movement education.
• Educational research methodologies
  Some of our researchers focus on theoretical and fundamental aspects of scientific research. For example, on the way in which research is carried out within the educational field and on which methods are used.

For the research interests of staff members involved in our tracks see the track pages of Onderwijsinnovatie and Learning in Interaction