Institute for School Development Research

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IFS - Institute for School Development Research
category Research institute
carrier Technical university Dortmund
Facility location Dortmund
subjects Empirical educational research, educational science,
educational psychology
areas of expertise Empirical educational research with a focus on teaching and learning in a school context;

School development and school effectiveness;  

Empirical educational research with a focus on educational trajectories and determinants of teaching and school quality;

Empirical educational research in the context of social heterogeneity

Basic funding State funds of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Homepage www.ifs.tu-dortmund.de

The Institute for School Development Research (abbreviated: IFS ) at the Technical University of Dortmund is one of the largest school and educational research institutes in Germany.

Organization and history

The IFS was founded in 1973 by a state resolution as an office for school development research. The founding director emeritus Hans-Günter Rolff was followed in 2005 by Wilfried Bos as the new director, who has finally retired since March 2019. Under his leadership, the institute established itself as one of the central locations for educational monitoring in the context of national and international large-scale studies (e.g. IGLU). In the summer of 2014, Nele McElvany took over as Managing Director of the IFS. There are currently around 40 scientists, mainly from the fields of education, psychology, sociology and statistics, as well as seconded teachers in four work areas.

The work of the IFS is divided into four main research areas:

  • Teaching and learning in a school context        
  • School development and school effectiveness
  • Educational courses and determinants of teaching and school quality        
  • Empirical educational research in the context of social heterogeneity

The IFS cooperates with other university and non-university research institutions in Germany and abroad. In 2013 the IFS celebrated its 40th anniversary as part of the conference of the Empirical Educational Research section of the German Society for Educational Science (DGfE).

research

Research at IFS deals with the structural framework conditions of education, school design and organization, with the competencies of teachers and the quality of teaching, as well as with school learning processes and educational outcomes of children and young people. In particular, educational, psychological and sociological theories are applied, discussed, further developed and empirically verified at the various levels of the education system. The applied basic and school development research projects are each assigned to one or more work areas:

  • Research within the Empirical Educational Research working group with a focus on teaching and learning in a school context (working group leader: Nele McElvany) deals with the description, explanation and optimization of learning processes, their requirements and educational results for students in different contexts and age groups.
  • The research area school development and school effectiveness (working group leader: Heinz Günter Holtappels ) examines reform processes in the school system as well as the quality and pedagogical design of schools and their effectiveness.
  • For the Empirical Educational Research working group with a focus on educational trajectories and determinants of teaching and school quality (working group leader: Fani Lauermann), three complementary subject areas are in charge: research on the teaching profession, research on educational trajectories and research on the interactions between characteristics of the teacher and the learners and possible consequences for the lesson.       
  • Opportunities and challenges of migration-related diversity for school teaching and learning describes the research field of the empirical educational research in the context of social heterogeneity (group leader Aileen Edele).

Depending on the respective research questions, a large number of research designs (e.g. longitudinal section, small / large scale, intervention, experiment), survey methods (including questionnaires, interviews, competence tests, videography) and quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods are used at the IFS. At the same time, the IFS maintains an intensive exchange with the regional school landscape in the Ruhr Metropolis and with educational policy in order to ensure the practical relevance of the research projects and to disseminate research results and make them usable.

Most of the research projects are financed by third parties (e.g. by the German Research Association, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research , the European Commission, foundations, etc.). The IFS is one of the institutes of the TU Dortmund with the most third-party funding. With its research strength, the IFS significantly shapes the profile area of ​​the TU Dortmund "Education, School and Inclusion" and forms the scientific competence field "School and Educational Research" within the framework of the Science Master Plan of the City of Dortmund.

Teaching and training of young scientists

The IFS offers courses as part of various courses of study at TU Dortmund University and organizes a number of events aimed at promoting its own young academics. Every six months, the doctoral candidates present and discuss their qualification work in the so-called research and qualification seminar (QuaFo) and discuss their work process progress in small groups within doctoral conferences. In addition, the so-called basic curriculum is offered for all doctoral candidates, in which different aspects of scientific work and empirical research methods are taught in a practical manner in several workshops.

Events and central publications

The IFS organizes conferences and seminars in order to exchange ideas with actors from science, politics and practice. The Dortmund Symposium on Empirical Educational Research is a scientific specialist event and has been held annually since 2015. In addition, the IFS regularly organizes specialist conferences for scientific societies. The IFS Education Dialogue is a conference at the interface between science and education policy, which deals with current social issues. In the summer semesters, a weekly public lecture series is organized in which external experts speak on changing topics.

The IFS also publishes numerous edited works. This includes in particular the school development yearbook, which has been published since 1995, in which central educational science topics are highlighted. The journal JERO - Journal for Educational Research Online - was co-founded in 2009 by Wilfried Bos. In addition, the journal AFS-Werkheft (Arbeitsstelle Schulentwicklungsforschung) was published from 1985 to 2005, which was later renamed IFS-Werkheft.

Scientific Advisory Board

The IFS is supported and advised by an interdisciplinary scientific advisory board, which meets every two years:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Main research areas of TU Dortmund University . Technical university Dortmund. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  2. ^ Volumes of the yearbook of school development
  3. ↑ Website of the magazine JERO