European Educational Research Association

EERA was founded in June 1994 as a result of discussions among many national educational research associations and several major research institutes throughout Europe which identified the need for a European association to foster the exchange of ideas amongst European researchers, promote collaboration in research, improve research quality and offer independent advice on educational research and policies to European and national policy-makers, administrators and practitioners. From 1994 to 2007, EERA was constituted as a Charity under British Law and based in Glasgow, Scotland. Since 2008, EERA has been operating from its new office in Berlin, Germany, and is constituted as a non-profit organisation under German Law.

EERA aims to encourage collaboration amongst educational researchers and their respective associations in Europe. It promotes communication between educational researchers and international governmental organisations, such as the EU, Council of Europe, OECD and UNESCO. Furthermore, EERA seeks to disseminate the findings of educational research and to ascertain that the contribution of educational research to policy and practice is recognized and desired.

EERA is constituted as an association of associations (i.e. there are no individual members). Its membership is made up of more than 30 national and regional Educational Research Associations from all parts of wider Europe.

EERA is governed by Council and the Executive Board].

The Executive Board is made up of the President, the Treasurer and the Secretary General who are elected for a four-year term:

2016:

• Theo Wubbels, EERA President
• Maria P. Figueiredo, EERA Secretary General
• Herbert Altrichter, EERA Treasurer

Council consists of the representatives of the member associations and the co-opted Council members – the Networks’ Representative on Council, the editor of EERJ and the Convenor of the Emerging Researchers' Group.

EERA actively promotes the work and professional development of early researchers and PhD students and has therefore established the Emerging Researchers´ Group (ERG).

The Emerging Researchers' Group seeks to:·

• provide a European research community for Emerging Researchers (including those undertaking a Doctorate) ·
• provide a forum for dissemination of Early Career Research at the Emerging Researchers’ Conference.·
• offer support and guidance for article and poster production via the 'Best Paper Award' and 'Best Poster Award'·
• offer support for researchers from Central and Eastern Europe and other low-GDP countries to attend ECER and engage with peers through the bursary program·
• train researchers by offering Season Schools, such as the Summer School on Educational Methodology.
• Moreover, the ERG supports EERA networks in conducting season schools.

EERA’s most visible contribution to the dissemination of educational research is the annual European Conference on Educational Research (ECER).

The first ECER took place in Twente, Netherlands in 1992. Numbers of attendants have grown steadily since then. Usually ECER attracts over 2500 researchers from about 70 different countries.[1]

EERA supports cutting-edge research and training for young researchers and established scholars by funding season schools, projects, seminars, workshops and roundtables of its networks. Since 2009 EERA is running a series of summer schools for emerging researchers.

The European Educational Research Journal (EERJ)[3] is the official journal of the European Educational Research Association (EERA). It is an international peer-reviewed journal with an Editorial Board drawn from across Europe and representing leading scholars in the educational field. The EERJ Editor is a member of the EERA Council.