The Institute for Educational Research (IfB)

Foundation and Development

The Institute for Educational Research (IfB) is an integral part of the School of Education, established in 2010. Operating as an independent unit within the University of Wuppertal, the School of Education serves as the central hub for teacher education and research. It supports the various faculties in their teacher education programs, with the IfB specifically overseeing research activities and coordinating the educational science components of the curriculum.

Research Focus

Research at the IfB is diverse, spanning all dimensions of the educational system: instruction (interaction), school (organization), and society (system). Within this framework, the Institute focuses primarily on teacher professionalism and social inequalities in access to education. These projects are supported by major funding bodies, including the DFG (German Research Foundation), the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), as well as state and private foundations.

The Institute’s departments collaborate on these issues, drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives such as psychology and linguistics. This work is further strengthened by the methodological expertise of Junior Professorships in quantitative and qualitative methods. Recent additions to the Institute focus on language acquisition among students from migrant backgrounds and the needs of children with special educational requirements, further rounding out the IfB’s multi-perspective approach.