Sigrid Blömeke, Director of CEMO, will lead the Centre of Excellence during the first five years together with Arne Lervåg from the Department of Education (IPED). Henrik Daae Zachrisson and Monica Melby-Lervåg from ISP will lead CREATE during the second five years. Blömeke explains that current research on educational inequalities is highly fragmented:
— CREATE aims to change this, providing an integrated approach to understanding educational inequalities and a holistic picture of their causes and consequences. We will break down the disciplinary silos with respect to research on educational inequalities and thus overcome the barriers to equality in education through tailored interventions with lasting effects.
Equal opportunities are crucial for democracy
We cannot afford not to exploit all potential from all children, Blömeke continues. A cornerstone in a democratic society are equal rights and equal opportunities for everyone. Moreover, the labor market needs well-skilled employees since jobs for the non-skilled have almost disappeared. We are currently not there.
CREATE will make a difference
CREATE will make a substantial difference to the current research situation: The 10-year funding stability of the centre-of-excellence frame is decisive for being able to implement long-term interventions and longitudinal studies. This has so far been impossible. Blömeke finishes by saying:
— We will provide policy makers with a new generation of sound evidence-based educational interventions that can be used to decrease inequalities in education. These interventions will cover all aspects from screening to identify individual children’s struggles in reading, mathematics and problem solving through addressing these via targeted interventions to evaluating the costs of these tools.
CREATE will start up in August 2023.