Education Research in ‘Interesting Times’

It is no secret to any of us that the world we live in is going through a great deal of turbulence, with the impact of COVID-19 lingering and social and political change occurring across continents.

This is obviously affecting the world of education, where we are seeing significant fall-out from the pandemic. In terms of learning, we have seen significant learning loss across countries, reflected in decreases in results in international studies such as PISA and PIRLS as well as in a range of in-country studies [1]. We have also seen a significant increase in the mental health needs of children and young people, which again is playing out internationally [2,3]. The closure of early-years provision during the height of the pandemic in many jurisdictions has led to delays in the socialisation of young children and resulting issues when they join educational settings [4].

The world is also encountering a turbulent geopolitical situation, leading to greater population mobility and the need to cater for the education of newcomers across countries, while global challenges like climate change and growing inequality, as well as global injustices and wars, require educational as well as societal responses [5,6].

While the above paints a somewhat negative picture, there are also more positive changes afoot. We are seeing a growth in awareness of the importance of health and wellbeing as key educational outcomes [7], the continuing growth of inclusive education [8], and exciting technological developments such as the exponential growth of AI, which has the potential to transform education as it will other areas of society [9]. We are also seeing our growing knowledge of cognition feed into educational practice [10], and a growing interest of practitioners in research has become evident through initiatives such as ResearchEd and a rich eco-system of teacher-researchers who are doping important work in particular relating to translation of research into practice.

In these times of change, it is of course essential that, as a discipline, we remain evidence-informed in what we do. Connecting research, policy, and practice has to be central to our practice, as only by ensuring this connection can we make sure that we address the big questions in education in the most effective and equitable way. Research is essential to us successfully navigating our changing world and addressing the challenges this poses to education, and as a journal, Education Sciences therefore aims to publish across a broad range of areas in education, so that high-quality research can inform high-quality policy and practice. We aim to publish quickly, so that the issue of the often overly long lag between problem, research, and publication can be mitigated, and within an open access model, so research is accessible to practitioners and researchers across the world.

Key to the values that inform us is diversity. This manifests itself in a number of ways. The voices of the Global South are rightly demanding to be heard, and we hope to provide the opportunity to showcase high-quality education research from the Global South in Education Sciences. The same is true of the voices of others less heard in the spaces of educational research, such as those who are disabled or neurodiverse. We encourage submissions from all voices, places, and opinions. Diversity in education research also manifests itself in the variety of research methods used, from randomised controlled trials to auto-ethnographies. All have a place in the family of educational research, as all can contribute to answering the variety of questions that characterise our discipline. In Education Sciences, we aim to reflect this breadth of research, both in terms of topics and methods.

All of the above does not, however, negate what has to remain our core. Research has no value if it has no quality, and to ensure this, peer review remains central to academic endeavour and to what we do in Education Sciences.

Above all, education is about providing a future for children and young people in which they can thrive. As educational researchers, we contribute to this through rigorous and relevant research which can help learners, practitioners, and policymakers, and I look forward to receiving and reading more excellent work from researchers across the world in the coming years.