EARLI Mission Statement
Sustainable development of a scientific community in Learning and Instruction
The European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) started in 1985 as a small gathering of 140 researchers at the University of Leuven, in Belgium. Before that time, research in Europe was organized and supported only at the level of individual states. Language, culture and the different traditions of the various educational systems were widely thought of as barriers for meaningful collaboration or any co-ordination efforts. Since then, EARLI has grown into a dynamic scientific community that attracts more than 2000 participants from over 40 countries at its Biennial Conferences. Since 1989, Learning and Instruction has grown into one of the most influential scientific journals in educational research. Educational Research Review, the second EARLI journal was initiated in 2005 and has grown into a noteworthy publication forum for scientific review articles and also for position papers on issues that are of interest in educational policy development. In 2013, a third EARLI journal, New Approaches in Learning Research, will use an open-access electronic platform to publish articles on issues and trends occurring internationally in learning research.
EARLI is a scientific community with a broad mission to promote an active research culture in the field of learning and instruction. EARLI has developed through sustained initiative, shared values and commitment to promote the ongoing development and use of reliable knowledge on all aspects of teaching and learning, ranging from motivation to learning processes and metacognition, to teaching in diverse contexts and teacher education.
Scientific Community Values
EARLI pursues academic rigour as a value that defines the quality of both the procedures and the research outcomes that are reported within the community.
EARLI promotes a vision for research that is focused, purposeful and relies on cumulative progress. The assumption that it is possible to attain cumulative progress in the underlying ideas underpinning the function of social systems has led to a widespread emphasis within the community on the elaboration of theoretical structures and on the design of empirical research with the methodological rigour necessary for validating or refuting theoretical claims.
EARLI has consistently relied on openness as an important value that serves the need to seek strength in diversity, to accommodate many languages and cultures and to promote critical evidence-based and clearly argued dialogue across the specific constraints of individual educational systems. EARLI encourages individual initiative for the benefit of the community and hosts a broad range of theoretical and research paradigms both within and outside the community.
Scientific Initiative
Through its management structures and various activities, EARLI seeks to develop sustained initiative in providing for the necessary scientific continuity while also safeguarding a culture of innovation through sustainable change. Explicit emphasis is placed on promoting intensive contact between experienced and junior researchers.
EARLI provides a professional home, sustained throughout the life of researchers across many countries with a commonly shared set of values and broad research goals related to studying teaching and learning in theory and practice. EARLI fosters productive scientific collaboration that is focused on developing ideas across a broad range of contexts.
The numerous activities currently promoted by the association have evolved gradually over the years and have come to support the continuous development of a dynamic community of researchers in Learning and Instruction.