What is EERA?
EERA stands for the European Educational Research Association, which is made up of more than 35 national and regional Educational Research Associations.
The organisation was founded in 1994 to foster the exchange of ideas between European researchers, to promote collaboration in research, improve research quality and offer independent advice on educational research to European policy-makers, administrators and practitioners.
Why does EERA need a blog?
Alongside the goal of encouraging collaboration amongst educational researchers in Europe, the strategy of EERA is to promote communication between educational researchers and international governmental organisations, such as the EU, Council of Europe, OECD, IEA and UNESCO. Further, EERA aims to disseminate the findings of educational research and highlight their contribution to policy and practice.
One excellent way to inform the research community, policymakers and other interested parties about advances in educational research is to reach out directly to them in a blog. Find out more about the reasons for starting the EERA Blog from our President, Professor Joe O’Hara.
Who is the blog for?
For anyone who is interested in education! That includes (naturally) our members, but also educators and policymakers around Europe, and of course parents. We intend the blog to be accessible to all.
Why should I contribute to the EERA blog?
Casey Fiesler wrote this excellent article on why (and how) academics should blog their papers but here is a quick summary:
- tell your own story without the filter of a journalist
- enable journalists to grasp the key results of your research in accessible language
- reach interested parties who might not dive deep into academic papers (or even have access to them)
- summarise your work for your peers and attract their interest
- include reflections beyond your actual research
- the more your work is shared, the more it impacts society – and making it available in an easy-to-digest format makes it more shareable
Remember that our target audience is both academic and non-academics and adapt your writing to suit these readers. Casey Fiedler suggests:
Think about what some of your non-academic friends would find interesting about this research. How does it relate to their lives or to society as a whole? Take the “why do we care” question that’s so important to research and extend it beyond just the narrow research community.
You can find more about our writing style in our Editorial and Style Guidelines.
How do I contribute to the EERA Blog?
Anyone who is active in EERA (EERA Networks, the Emerging Researchers’ Group, ECER, the EERA Summer Schools, Network Season Schools, Workshops, EERA Publications, EERA member associations and their work etc) and in general colleagues engaged in educational research and willing to share their ideas are invited to contribute to the EERA Blog.
Please see our Submission Guidelines for more information on the submission process and get in touch with us. We look forward to hearing from you.