We focus on instruction and learning processes in a number of domains that are at the core of the curriculum in primary and secondary education and on factors at the micro, meso and macro level that are essential for the quality of these processes. Factors at the micro level include student characteristics (sociocultural background, gender, aptitude, self-regulation, motivation), and the pupil-teacher relationship. At the meso level we study the effect of school leaderschip on educational innovation. Typical macro issues include equal opportunities in relation to segregation, selection procedures, and school drop-out. The combination of micro, meso, and macro levels of research is a distinctive characteristic of the Education programme as a whole. Research lines in the Education programme are:

• Cultural and individual differences, social outcomes
• Instruction, learning processes and learning disorders
• Domain-specific learning (e.g. literacy, history, arts, mathematics, science). 
• Innovation in education
• Motivation and learning
• Philosophy of education, school segregation
• Student-teacher relationship
• Vocational education, educational policy

The 4 research groups in this research programme are

• Educational Sciences
• Domain Specific Learning
• Developmental Disorders and Special Education
• Methods and Statistics