Research Assistant (Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning) [NIE]

The National Institute of Education invites suitable applications for the position of Research Assistant on a 14-month contract at the National Institute of Education/ Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning .

Project Title: Developing a preliminary learning progression model in historical understanding through an investigation of the ways knowledge about the past is understood by lower secondary students in Singapore.
 

Project Introduction: This project focuses on developing a preliminary progression model of students’ ideas and understandings about the nature and status of historical knowledge. It explores how lower secondary students in Singapore view and make sense of knowledge about the past they encounter when learning the national history and examines how their ideas can be mapped across a progression, i.e., from naive to more sophisticated states of understanding. Consequently, the study will seek to establish an empirical basis from which pedagogical and practical considerations could be made on ways to improve the teaching and learning of Singapore history to 13 and 14-year-old students, particularly with progression in students’ ideas and understanding in mind.

Requirements:

• A good Undergraduate or Master degree in history and/or history education;

• Attained formal certification as a qualified history teacher (e.g., Postgraduate Diploma in Education);  

• At least 3 years of experience teaching history in a secondary school (applicants with additional experience in curriculum planning and resource development will be preferred); 

• Familiarity with educational research and has reasonably deep knowledge of topics related to history education research (especially in student cognition and thinking in history); 

• Published at least one journal article on a topic in history education research and has presented at local and/or international conferences;

• Able to work independently and has the resourcefulness to undertake research-related tasks/activities with minimal supervision;

• Possess excellent written and spoken English.  

Responsibilities:

The research assistant (RA) will work closely with the Principal Investigator in both the preparatory phase of the project (including the review of literature and the design of research instruments), and the management phase of the project (including data collection and analysis). The RA will be expected to assist with the following tasks: 

• Undertake literature scans of scholarly papers, academic research/projects, empirical studies, conference proceedings, working papers, syllabus documents.

• Writing up the literature review.

• Designing research instruments for data collection.

• Drafting the IRB application.

• Writing to research sites/schools and potential research participants.

• Collecting data (including conducting interviews) at multiple research sites.

• Assist the PI in managing and analysing data.

• Reporting/writing up of preliminary findings.

• Producing professional development materials and practical guides.

• Dealing with image rights and permissions for reproduction.

• Monitoring research timelines, milestones, and workflow.

• Providing all other administrative support related to the project (where necessary/ required) as determined by the PI.

Application

Applicants (external and internal) will apply via Workday. We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Closing Date

Closing date for advertisements will be set to 14 calendar days from date of posting.

Hiring Institution: NIE