The three branches of study (general education, teaching methodology, education and social work) share a common educational grounding in epistemology of research and in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.

The lessons, the workshops, the seminars and other activities will be held in German, English and Italian.

The following courses are mandatory for all PhD students

• research methodology in the educational and social fields (5 ECTS, 32 hours) 
• ethnographic research in the social-educational field (5 ECTS, 30 hours)
• experimental research in the educational and social fields (3 ECTS, 18 hours)
• Survey Research (3 ECTS, 18 hours)
• tools for qualitative and quantitative data assessment: interviews and narrative methods (2 ECTS, 12 hours)
• tools for qualitative and quantitative data assessment: Focus Group and interviews with a re-proposal of the discussion (2 ECTS, 12 hours)
• multivariate analysis of qualitative data (3 ECTS, 18 hours)
• multivariate analysis of quantitative data (3 ECTS, 18 hours)
• statistics for educational and social sciences (5 ECTS, 30 hours)
• research design (3 ECTS, 18 hours)
• coaching I (peer coaching with facilitator) (3 ECTS, 18 hours)
• coaching II (peer coaching with facilitator) (3 ECTS, 18 hours)
• coaching III (peer coaching with facilitator) (3 ECTS, 18 hours)

  

In addition to the above-mentioned course components, one of the following courses must be attended, depending on the topic of research:

• epistemological statute and research and application fields relevant to general education (7 CF, 42 hours)
• epistemological statute and research and application fields relevant to teaching methodology (7 CF, 42 hours)
• epistemological statute and research and application fields relevant to social work and social education (7 CF, 42 hours)

The lessons and the seminar cycle inherent in the epistemological statute and the research and application area will develop the following topics:  

General education

• Epistemological statute of education.
• State of the art of educational models.
• models of investigation and of the methodologies and research in the educational field.
• Discussion and advanced research on: educational policies and school organization; lifelong, lifewide, lifedeep learning: educational as well as personal and group development processes and programmes; integrated training system: analysis, models and methods; group theories and methodologies and cooperative approaches; communication and training environments and contexts.

Principles of teaching methodology

• epistemological statute of teaching methods.
• relationship between general teaching methodology and the individual subject.
• state of the art of research in the field of general teaching methodology.
• state of the art and theoretical-methodological competencies relevant to e-learning platforms for a shared knowledge construction and to technologies for the individualization of learning processes.
• discussion and advanced research on: planning, methodologies and evaluation of classroom practices and of the educational systems; methodologies of cooperative learning; research on and practices of the teaching profession; technologies for teaching methodology: advanced research and classroom practices; didactics and special needs: state of the art and advanced research.

Social education and social work

• epistemological discussion in social education and social work.
• discussion on the relationship between theory and practice in the social professions.
• advanced approaches in social work.
• trends and research topics in the fields of social education and social work: social policies and professional practices; methodologies and intervention practices in the educational-social field; research and professional practices (evidence oriented practice); evaluation and quality of professional practices; social inequality, needs and interventions.