In 2004, the University of Madeira created a research centre of Education, the “CIE-UMa” (Regulamento no. 41/2003. In Diário da República, II Serie, no. 194, of 23rd August 2003). It focuses on the scientific research in the area of Education and on the provision of services to the community, being these functions carried out through the development of research projects. The CIE-UMa develops its research from three research essential lines: Educational Administration, Curriculum and Pedagogical Innovation. This is the mission that, for 16 years, has implied us as researchers to reflect and act critically in the field of social sciences and in the epistemological field of educational sciences.
When it comes to the curriculum studies, our goal is to promote research on the role of educational policy in the creation of the curriculum, on the hidden pressures and interests underlying the curriculum, on the relation between knowledge and ideology, culture and power, on the identity creation and on the personal models of pedagogical intervention.
When it comes to the pedagogical education, we intend to support several studies that intend to understand the reasons why schools or educational systems have become inadequate at meeting the cultural, economic and social development needs; studies about the new pedagogical settings, aiming at the conciliation between school or educational systems and the cultural, economic and social development needs.; studies about the cultural invariants that complicate innovation; studies about the fixations in paradigms that are anchored in the past; studies about the local paradigmatic changes; and prospective studies about education.
Regarding the educational administration, we intend to foster research in studies about the management principles and practices in schools; studies about leadership styles and their influence in the efficiency of schools; studies directed to the comprehension and analysis of organizational culture of schools; studies focused on the analysis of the development and execution of educational projects in school; studies about the influence of genders in performing functions in school management; and studies about intervention/relationship of the community and of parents in the management of schools and the role of autarchies in education.