Greenland research center for learning & education

About

Iluliaq is a newly established research center at Ilisimatusarfik focusing on learning and education in Greenland.

The center was initially run by the Institute of Learning and builds on the research group's experience, but is also open to collaboration with external actors, both in Greenland and internationally.

Background - a broad perspective on learning and education

Iluliaq is intended to be a center that encompasses a wide range of research areas within learning and education - a "cradle to grave" principle.

This means that the center builds on the Institute of Learning's existing strengths in primary school and teacher training research, but at the same time has a vision of expanding its focus to encompass the entire life course.

From children's early encounters with learning in daycare centers, through school and youth education, to university education and skills development in working life and lifelong learning.

Primary school will continue to be a central core, but at Iluliaq it is part of a broader perspective on how learning and education shape people, society, and culture throughout life.

Purpose & vision

The center's name, Iluliaq (iceberg), symbolizes depth and strength: a large part of the iceberg lies beneath the surface, just as much of educational research is about understanding the hidden mechanisms that shape everyday life in schools, educational institutions, and organizations.

The iceberg symbolizes something beautiful and strong, but also changeable and fragile, something that arises and disappears - just like the field in which the center conducts its research.

Iluliaq's vision is to work with the entire education chain - from daycare centres and primary schools to secondary and higher education - as well as with learning in organisations and in the labour market.

We want to:

• develop research closely linked to Greenlandic conditions and everyday life

• support local education and skills development with research-based knowledge

• create new research agendas in dialogue with schools, educational institutions, authorities, and businesses

• strengthen international cooperation on learning and education

In short: to work with the entire education sector in Greenland.

Research areas & projects

Iluliaq already encompasses a wide range of research and development projects, including:

• pupils' experience of attending school in Greenland

• Teachers' practical experiences with sustainability and climate education

• development of outdoor education in a Greenlandic context

• studies of Greenlandic children's reading development

• development and investigation of many forms of digitally supported learning in schools, teacher training, and continuing education initiatives

• Various development projects, including a focus on student-active learning and sustainability didactics in collaboration with Nordic partners

Common to all the projects is a close link to practice and a desire to develop useful knowledge in collaboration with teachers, students, institutions, and local communities.

Cooperation & participation

The center will invite external researchers, educators, and organizations to enter into partnerships.

This may be through specific projects, guest lectures, workshops, or long-term research collaborations.

Iluliaq aims to be an open and vibrant forum for co-creation, where different voices can contribute to the development of learning and education in Greenland.

Organization & contact

Iluliaq is headed by professor Rikke Ørngreen, in collaboration with associate professor Lars Demant-Poort - and with close sparring from the research group at the Institute for Learning and the head of the institute.

The ambition is to create a flexible organization that makes it possible to include both internal and external researchers in the center's activities.

Read more about Rikke and Lars' ambitions and visions here.

In addition, Louise Pindstrup Scavenius, Kirsten Føns, Ivalo Mathiassen & Line Groth Nielsen are also part of the research group.