Course content

The course shall strengthen the student's knowledge within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) research through providing sufficient breadth and focus within the contemporary ECEC research field. The course will focus on children from 0-9 years of age and the educational institutions (ECEC centers and schools) in which they attend. The course is designed as a hybrid course that offers the students the opportunity, through developing their own textbook, to explore and review the status of knowledge on chosen topics related to their own PhD work. The course will give methodological and theoretical knowledge as well as analytical competence. The students will also gain authentic experience in the process of developing a written scientific publication and giving an oral presentation, similar to what they will experience in the research community.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The candidate

• has advanced knowledge on contemporary ECEC research - has specialized and in depth knowledge within a chosen topic within contemporary ECEC research

Skills

The candidate

• is able to assess the adequacy and applicability of publications/studies within ECEC research - has the competence to coach other students in their scientifically writing process
• is able to perform a peer review of other people's scientific texts

General competence

The candidate

• has the competence to evaluate research papers on their scientific merit
• has the competence to analytically read research papers and to and collate them in a research overview

Learning methods and activities

The course will be based on a write your own textbook method. This method includes lectures, seminars, workshops and supervision on literature search, literature review, scientific writing, peer coaching, and peer reviewing. The themes in focus will be based on topics individually chosen by each of the students, to match their research interest and need for developing knowledge. The chosen topic must be related to the ECEC research field, focusing on children between 0-9 years of age and their educational institutions. Most of the teaching will be a supervised process through work in study groups, formed on the basis of the students' chosen topic, with a teacher as a supervisor. As part of this process, each student must select approximately 15 contemporary research papers on which to develop his or her own academic text. The students in the study group will coach each other on writing a chapter in a joint textbook, and the students will conduct peer review on each other's final chapters. The faculty will facilitate and supervise the coaching and peer review process. The joint textbook will comprise a central part of the curriculum on which the students will conduct a written exam by the end of the study.

The course is arranged in collaboration with DMMH and is taught at DMMH's campus.

Compulsory assignments

• 80 % attendance
• Participation in group work

Further on evaluation

Individual written text. The final chapter developed by each student throughout the course will be evaluated as an exam. The exam must be submitted through Inspera.

Text submitted for assessment in the required academic coursework may be included in the thesis in revised form.

For a retake of a failed exam, the candidate can submit a revised version of a previously submitted text in the course. If the submission is a revised version of a previously submitted text, this must be clarified in the text.

Specific conditions

Required previous knowledge

Master's degree or equivalent. PhD students are ranked first upon admission. Admission restrictions*: The course is limited to a of maximum 25 students, where 6 spots are reserved for applicants from other institutions affiliated with NorTED (www.nor-ted.com). If there are less than 5 applicants, the Department of Teacher Education reserves the right to cancel the course. *Applicants will be ranked based on the following criteria and deadline for applications can be found here: https://ntnu.edu/ilu/phd-courses