research topics on education management

Research Topics & Ideas: Education

170+ Research Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

If you’re just starting out exploring education-related topics for your dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of research topics and ideas , including examples from actual dissertations and theses..

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Education Research Topics

• How to find a research topic (video)
• List of 50+ education-related research topics/ideas
• List of 120+ level-specific research topics 
• Examples of actual dissertation topics in education
• Tips to fast-track your topic ideation (video)
• Free Webinar : Topic Ideation 101
• Where to get extra help

Education-Related Research Topics & Ideas

Below you’ll find a list of education-related research topics and idea kickstarters. These are fairly broad and flexible to various contexts, so keep in mind that you will need to refine them a little. Nevertheless, they should inspire some ideas for your project.

• The impact of school funding on student achievement
• The effects of social and emotional learning on student well-being
• The effects of parental involvement on student behaviour
• The impact of teacher training on student learning
• The impact of classroom design on student learning
• The impact of poverty on education
• The use of student data to inform instruction
• The role of parental involvement in education
• The effects of mindfulness practices in the classroom
• The use of technology in the classroom
• The role of critical thinking in education
• The use of formative and summative assessments in the classroom
• The use of differentiated instruction in the classroom
• The use of gamification in education
• The effects of teacher burnout on student learning
• The impact of school leadership on student achievement
• The effects of teacher diversity on student outcomes
• The role of teacher collaboration in improving student outcomes
• The implementation of blended and online learning
• The effects of teacher accountability on student achievement
• The effects of standardized testing on student learning
• The effects of classroom management on student behaviour
• The effects of school culture on student achievement
• The use of student-centred learning in the classroom
• The impact of teacher-student relationships on student outcomes
• The achievement gap in minority and low-income students
• The use of culturally responsive teaching in the classroom
• The impact of teacher professional development on student learning
• The use of project-based learning in the classroom
• The effects of teacher expectations on student achievement
• The use of adaptive learning technology in the classroom
• The impact of teacher turnover on student learning
• The effects of teacher recruitment and retention on student learning
• The impact of early childhood education on later academic success
• The impact of parental involvement on student engagement
• The use of positive reinforcement in education
• The impact of school climate on student engagement
• The role of STEM education in preparing students for the workforce
• The effects of school choice on student achievement
• The use of technology in the form of online tutoring

Level-Specific Research Topics

Looking for research topics for a specific level of education? We’ve got you covered. Below you can find research topic ideas for primary, secondary and tertiary-level education contexts. Click the relevant level to view the respective list.

Research Topics: Pick An Education Level

Primary education.

• Investigating the effects of peer tutoring on academic achievement in primary school
• Exploring the benefits of mindfulness practices in primary school classrooms
• Examining the effects of different teaching strategies on primary school students’ problem-solving skills
• The use of storytelling as a teaching strategy in primary school literacy instruction
• The role of cultural diversity in promoting tolerance and understanding in primary schools
• The impact of character education programs on moral development in primary school students
• Investigating the use of technology in enhancing primary school mathematics education
• The impact of inclusive curriculum on promoting equity and diversity in primary schools
• The impact of outdoor education programs on environmental awareness in primary school students
• The influence of school climate on student motivation and engagement in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of early literacy interventions on reading comprehension in primary school students
• The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student achievement in primary schools
• Exploring the benefits of inclusive education for students with special needs in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of teacher-student feedback on academic motivation in primary schools
• The role of technology in developing digital literacy skills in primary school students
• Effective strategies for fostering a growth mindset in primary school students
• Investigating the role of parental support in reducing academic stress in primary school children
• The role of arts education in fostering creativity and self-expression in primary school students
• Examining the effects of early childhood education programs on primary school readiness
• Examining the effects of homework on primary school students’ academic performance
• The role of formative assessment in improving learning outcomes in primary school classrooms
• The impact of teacher-student relationships on academic outcomes in primary school
• Investigating the effects of classroom environment on student behavior and learning outcomes in primary schools
• Investigating the role of creativity and imagination in primary school curriculum
• The impact of nutrition and healthy eating programs on academic performance in primary schools
• The impact of social-emotional learning programs on primary school students’ well-being and academic performance
• The role of parental involvement in academic achievement of primary school children
• Examining the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior in primary school
• The role of school leadership in creating a positive school climate Exploring the benefits of bilingual education in primary schools
• The effectiveness of project-based learning in developing critical thinking skills in primary school students
• The role of inquiry-based learning in fostering curiosity and critical thinking in primary school students
• The effects of class size on student engagement and achievement in primary schools
• Investigating the effects of recess and physical activity breaks on attention and learning in primary school
• Exploring the benefits of outdoor play in developing gross motor skills in primary school children
• The effects of educational field trips on knowledge retention in primary school students
• Examining the effects of inclusive classroom practices on students’ attitudes towards diversity in primary schools
• The impact of parental involvement in homework on primary school students’ academic achievement
• Investigating the effectiveness of different assessment methods in primary school classrooms
• The influence of physical activity and exercise on cognitive development in primary school children
• Exploring the benefits of cooperative learning in promoting social skills in primary school students

Secondary Education

• Investigating the effects of school discipline policies on student behavior and academic success in secondary education
• The role of social media in enhancing communication and collaboration among secondary school students
• The impact of school leadership on teacher effectiveness and student outcomes in secondary schools
• Investigating the effects of technology integration on teaching and learning in secondary education
• Exploring the benefits of interdisciplinary instruction in promoting critical thinking skills in secondary schools
• The impact of arts education on creativity and self-expression in secondary school students
• The effectiveness of flipped classrooms in promoting student learning in secondary education
• The role of career guidance programs in preparing secondary school students for future employment
• Investigating the effects of student-centered learning approaches on student autonomy and academic success in secondary schools
• The impact of socio-economic factors on educational attainment in secondary education
• Investigating the impact of project-based learning on student engagement and academic achievement in secondary schools
• Investigating the effects of multicultural education on cultural understanding and tolerance in secondary schools
• The influence of standardized testing on teaching practices and student learning in secondary education
• Investigating the effects of classroom management strategies on student behavior and academic engagement in secondary education
• The influence of teacher professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in secondary schools
• The role of extracurricular activities in promoting holistic development and well-roundedness in secondary school students
• Investigating the effects of blended learning models on student engagement and achievement in secondary education
• The role of physical education in promoting physical health and well-being among secondary school students
• Investigating the effects of gender on academic achievement and career aspirations in secondary education
• Exploring the benefits of multicultural literature in promoting cultural awareness and empathy among secondary school students
• The impact of school counseling services on student mental health and well-being in secondary schools
• Exploring the benefits of vocational education and training in preparing secondary school students for the workforce
• The role of digital literacy in preparing secondary school students for the digital age
• The influence of parental involvement on academic success and well-being of secondary school students
• The impact of social-emotional learning programs on secondary school students’ well-being and academic success
• The role of character education in fostering ethical and responsible behavior in secondary school students
• Examining the effects of digital citizenship education on responsible and ethical technology use among secondary school students
• The impact of parental involvement in school decision-making processes on student outcomes in secondary schools
• The role of educational technology in promoting personalized learning experiences in secondary schools
• The impact of inclusive education on the social and academic outcomes of students with disabilities in secondary schools
• The influence of parental support on academic motivation and achievement in secondary education
• The role of school climate in promoting positive behavior and well-being among secondary school students
• Examining the effects of peer mentoring programs on academic achievement and social-emotional development in secondary schools
• Examining the effects of teacher-student relationships on student motivation and achievement in secondary schools
• Exploring the benefits of service-learning programs in promoting civic engagement among secondary school students
• The impact of educational policies on educational equity and access in secondary education
• Examining the effects of homework on academic achievement and student well-being in secondary education
• Investigating the effects of different assessment methods on student performance in secondary schools
• Examining the effects of single-sex education on academic performance and gender stereotypes in secondary schools
• The role of mentoring programs in supporting the transition from secondary to post-secondary education

Tertiary Education

• The role of student support services in promoting academic success and well-being in higher education
• The impact of internationalization initiatives on students’ intercultural competence and global perspectives in tertiary education
• Investigating the effects of active learning classrooms and learning spaces on student engagement and learning outcomes in tertiary education
• Exploring the benefits of service-learning experiences in fostering civic engagement and social responsibility in higher education
• The influence of learning communities and collaborative learning environments on student academic and social integration in higher education
• Exploring the benefits of undergraduate research experiences in fostering critical thinking and scientific inquiry skills
• Investigating the effects of academic advising and mentoring on student retention and degree completion in higher education
• The role of student engagement and involvement in co-curricular activities on holistic student development in higher education
• The impact of multicultural education on fostering cultural competence and diversity appreciation in higher education
• The role of internships and work-integrated learning experiences in enhancing students’ employability and career outcomes
• Examining the effects of assessment and feedback practices on student learning and academic achievement in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty professional development on instructional practices and student outcomes in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty-student relationships on student success and well-being in tertiary education
• The impact of college transition programs on students’ academic and social adjustment to higher education
• The impact of online learning platforms on student learning outcomes in higher education
• The impact of financial aid and scholarships on access and persistence in higher education
• The influence of student leadership and involvement in extracurricular activities on personal development and campus engagement
• Exploring the benefits of competency-based education in developing job-specific skills in tertiary students
• Examining the effects of flipped classroom models on student learning and retention in higher education
• Exploring the benefits of online collaboration and virtual team projects in developing teamwork skills in tertiary students
• Investigating the effects of diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus climate and student experiences in tertiary education
• The influence of study abroad programs on intercultural competence and global perspectives of college students
• Investigating the effects of peer mentoring and tutoring programs on student retention and academic performance in tertiary education
• Investigating the effectiveness of active learning strategies in promoting student engagement and achievement in tertiary education
• Investigating the effects of blended learning models and hybrid courses on student learning and satisfaction in higher education
• The role of digital literacy and information literacy skills in supporting student success in the digital age
• Investigating the effects of experiential learning opportunities on career readiness and employability of college students
• The impact of e-portfolios on student reflection, self-assessment, and showcasing of learning in higher education
• The role of technology in enhancing collaborative learning experiences in tertiary classrooms
• The impact of research opportunities on undergraduate student engagement and pursuit of advanced degrees
• Examining the effects of competency-based assessment on measuring student learning and achievement in tertiary education
• Examining the effects of interdisciplinary programs and courses on critical thinking and problem-solving skills in college students
• The role of inclusive education and accessibility in promoting equitable learning experiences for diverse student populations
• The role of career counseling and guidance in supporting students’ career decision-making in tertiary education
• The influence of faculty diversity and representation on student success and inclusive learning environments in higher education

Education-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic in education, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses in the education space to see how this all comes together in practice.

Below, we’ve included a selection of education-related research projects to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• From Rural to Urban: Education Conditions of Migrant Children in China (Wang, 2019)
• Energy Renovation While Learning English: A Guidebook for Elementary ESL Teachers (Yang, 2019)
• A Reanalyses of Intercorrelational Matrices of Visual and Verbal Learners’ Abilities, Cognitive Styles, and Learning Preferences (Fox, 2020)
• A study of the elementary math program utilized by a mid-Missouri school district (Barabas, 2020)
• Instructor formative assessment practices in virtual learning environments : a posthumanist sociomaterial perspective (Burcks, 2019)
• Higher education students services: a qualitative study of two mid-size universities’ direct exchange programs (Kinde, 2020)
• Exploring editorial leadership : a qualitative study of scholastic journalism advisers teaching leadership in Missouri secondary schools (Lewis, 2020)
• Selling the virtual university: a multimodal discourse analysis of marketing for online learning (Ludwig, 2020)
• Advocacy and accountability in school counselling: assessing the use of data as related to professional self-efficacy (Matthews, 2020)
• The use of an application screening assessment as a predictor of teaching retention at a midwestern, K-12, public school district (Scarbrough, 2020)
• Core values driving sustained elite performance cultures (Beiner, 2020)
• Educative features of upper elementary Eureka math curriculum (Dwiggins, 2020)
• How female principals nurture adult learning opportunities in successful high schools with challenging student demographics (Woodward, 2020)
• The disproportionality of Black Males in Special Education: A Case Study Analysis of Educator Perceptions in a Southeastern Urban High School (McCrae, 2021)

As you can see, these research topics are a lot more focused than the generic topic ideas we presented earlier. So, in order for you to develop a high-quality research topic, you’ll need to get specific and laser-focused on a specific context with specific variables of interest.  In the video below, we explore some other important things you’ll need to consider when crafting your research topic.

Get 1-On-1 Help

If you’re still unsure about how to find a quality research topic within education, check out our Research Topic Kickstarter service, which is the perfect starting point for developing a unique, well-justified research topic.

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Educational Management Dissertation Topic Ideas

Published by Owen Ingram at January 2nd, 2023 , Revised On August 11, 2023

Students will inevitably experience anxiety while working on their dissertations on educational management. There is no doubt that a topic of this importance requires in-depth study, and you must follow a proper writing pattern when you write your paper. When it comes to writing a successful dissertation , choosing a topic is crucial.

Students should also be aware that many writing themes offered for writing evaluations are already quite broad, necessitating their narrowing and concentration. Widening them should only be done a little at a time. If you are looking for assistance, we have some remarkable educational management dissertation topic ideas for you.

Get started right away with one of the following dissertation topics related to educational management.

Dissertation Topics Related To Educational Management

• A comparison of the wonder kid and standardized tests used to gauge students’ academic achievement.
• Theoretical underpinnings of distance learning.
• A case study of nuts: the impact of strike action on the preachment of trade union aims in an organization.
• The functions of student behaviour guidelines in terms of managing the classroom.
• Examine the social, intellectual, and personal experiences of homeless university students.
• Private primary and secondary school operators face issues in some selected UK schools.
• Academic achievement and readiness for self-directed learning in online environments.
• The work environment and teacher quality determine secondary school students’ academic performance.
• Analysis of teachers’ participation in classroom management in secondary schools in Nigeria.
• Gaining a deeper grasp of how college students use interactive teaching methods.
• Federal government college guidance and counselling evaluation.
• Assessment of teachers’ knowledge of test construction procedure in senior secondary school’s chemistry objective test.
• Understanding how the principals affect their school by utilizing emotional intelligence.
• Evaluating the impact of the environment on students’ academic performance.
• Assessment of sites related to program objectives for business education.
• The effect of classroom management on pupils’ conduct.
• Assessing how faculty and student perceptions of student participation at public colleges relate to one another.
• The linkage between teachers’ job satisfaction in secondary schools and principals’ leadership style.
• Using walkthrough observations by the principals in the classroom to improve education.
• Factors preventing secondary school principals from managing school records effectively.
• The effect of the teachers’ welfare package on satisfaction with their job.
• The theory of career development by Ginsberg is validated among UK university graduates.
• A determination of government involvement in programs for adults.
• Efficient management of students’ academic records: factors to consider.
• The accessibility of human and material resources in Lagos state teaching senior school.
• The problem of parents’ unfavourable attitudes toward education
• Utilization of technology by the first-year mentor for literacy.
• A case study of UK schools’ junior secondary schools’ role in teaching sexual education.
• The effects of classroom management on pupils’ behaviours.

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There are several factors to consider when choosing a dissertation topic. There are a lot of great topics to choose from. We just discussed some educational management dissertation topic ideas . You can choose from those. Nevertheless, you can contact us or get our dissertation outline service immediately if you need custom subjects.

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How to find educational management dissertation topics.

To find educational management dissertation topics:

• Study recent education challenges.
• Explore leadership and policies.
• Investigate teaching methodologies.
• Analyze technology’s impact.
• Consider student engagement.
• Opt for a topic aligning with your passion and research goals.

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Current Trends in School Management: School Leadership in Education 4.0

• Open Access
• First Online: 31 May 2022

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• Münevver Çetin 5 &
• İsmail Karsantık 6  

Part of the book series: Maarif Global Education Series ((MGES))

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Meeting the needs of industrial development and reflecting the emerging demands onto the field of education has led to the emergence of Education 4.0 and initiated pedagogical, cultural, and managerial transformation in education in this direction. As a result of this transformation, macroscale structures and policies have been replaced by a microscale, web-oriented, local government paradigm. This section discusses current trends in education management and school leadership which are examined in the light of new education and management paradigms. In this direction, the shift in the education management paradigm, the sources of change, the role of school leaders in organizational development, the expected characteristics of school leaders in Education 4.0, and the use of the Internet of Things in education management and monitoring systems are addressed. In Education 4.0, the concepts of innovation management, digital literacy, productivity, collective participation in management and decisions, education communities, and capacity development are prominent in school leadership. This section emphasizes that strategic leaders who are able to adapt to the paradigm shift contribute and direct the formation of school culture and values. In this direction, the importance of organizing trainings for developing leadership skills and raising leaders who will help to restructure schools and shape cultural trends are underlined in the chapter. Emphasis is placed on the importance of raising leaders with technological skills who can use multi-channel communication strategies in school management.

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School Leadership 4.0: Are We Ready?

Same, but Different? Digital Transformation in Swiss Vocational Schools from the Perspectives of School Management and Teachers

Martina Rauseo, Andreas Harder, … Serge Imboden

The Critical Role of Leadership for Education Transformation with Successful Technology Implementation

• School management
• Education 4.0
• Internet of things

Education is a dynamic and innovative process. Throughout history, it has been affected by various social and scientific developments and has been exposed to change and innovation, which have resulted in its present form. The importance of preparing a training plan for increasing the effectiveness of educational institutions and of determining the necessary strategies for being able to apply those plans is increasing daily. The prepared education plans are expected to contribute to the sustainability of school development. Managing, changing, and improving organizational conditions; participating in decision making; and learning and teaching strategies by appropriately evaluating organizational culture are necessary in this context. Here, the biggest role falls upon school leaders. Developing vision and mission, preparing and implementing school development plans and strategies, improving organizational climate, creating communities that feel a sense of belonging to the institution, keeping communication channels open, increasing and ensuring coordination, developing critical thinking skills, being innovative, and managing change most of all can be considered as the competencies expected from school leaders of the twenty-first century. In today’s world where change happens quickly, leaders prefer online methods that will facilitate the institution’s adaptation to the environment more quickly for meeting the changing needs of society. In this direction, the features of Education 4.0, which has emerged as the current education paradigm, will bring education systems closer to the center of life. This center is expected to have school culture and values that include change in a way that can adapt to society. Education 4.0 can be stated to have a structure that supports coordinated work by replacing the competitive cultural understanding with the collaborative cultural understanding. Having leaders contribute to the organization’s adaptation to the use of technology in managerial processes by responding to global needs is important.

Historical Process of the Management Concept

As old as human history, the concept of management (Mandell et al., 1981 ) emerged with changing perspectives, beliefs, and goals in different civilizations and different fields (education, public, organization). The concept of management, having succeeded in making a name for itself by recognizing the Industrial Revolution, spread rapidly toward the end of the eighteenth century, especially in Europe. When examining the developmental process of management theories, they are seen to be discussed under three headings (Etzioni, 1964 ): the classical management approach, the human relations approach, and the structuralist approach. While putting forward the scientific management theory based on organizational efficiency, Taylor ( 1919 ) shared his belief that supervision activities should be maintained at a high level. Targeting the maximum production capacity, Taylor stated that workforce losses might be able to be minimized by following scientific methods. In this respect, the classical management approach ignores the social and psychological dimensions of the organization (Bursalıoğlu, 2010 ). Therefore, the educational administrator of today can be stated to have moved away from classical educational theories, to be sensitive to the social and psychological dimensions of the school, and to have roles and responsibilities that enable and direct the development of culture in communication with their environment.

Traditional management approaches can be stated to emphasize functionality rather than social perspective. Functional hierarchical management has been expressed as the basic management paradigm for nearly 200 years (Jamali, 2005 ). The classical management system can meet needs when markets, products, and technologies change slowly (Turner & Keegan, 1999 ). Rapid globalization has been one of the most striking aspects of the new century, especially since the rapid development of information technology in the last two decades (Brown, 1999 ). The weaknesses and limitations of the system have gradually emerged with globalization and technological innovations. The management paradigm an administrator adopts is effective in overcoming those limitations. In cases where administrators adopt the modern management paradigm, the difficulties and limitations related to adapting to innovations are considered to be overcome more easily.

Establishing and developing relationships based on rationality are important for managing change effectively. The new perspective on management in the twenty-first century is based on the ability to cope with constant change, not stability, and is built upon work networks, changing partnerships, alliances, and technological advantages rather than hierarchies (Carnall, 2003 ). The new management paradigm comes together around teamwork, participation and learning, communication, integration, cooperation and collaboration with stakeholders and suppliers through close interaction; it adopts guiding principles that foster a new understanding with evolving elements such as value creation, quality, sensitivity, agility, innovation, integration, and team building (Jamali, 2005 ). New organizations consist of complex networks based on virtual rather than vertical integration, interdependence instead of independence, and mass privatization rather than mass production (Greenwald, 2001 ). Effectively and efficiently managing those networks is possible in organizations that are constantly changing and opposed to traditional education and management paradigms.

Management of Change in Schools

The rapidly changing technological, sociological, and economic environment creates new challenges for structuring and managing organizations (Jamali, 2005 ). Those changes can be considered as numerous manifestations of a paradigm shift currently occurring in management and leadership approaches (Luksha & Kinsner, 2020 ). In this context, institutions operating in the knowledge economy should benefit from increasing knowledge, technology, and engineering developments as well as new skills and dynamic competencies (Liyanage & Poon, 2002 ). As one of those institutions, schools are open social systems that develop under the influence of changes in most areas as being the communities of practice that implement the innovations (Liyanage & Poon, 2002 ).

When faced with new problems and new scientific models that force them to produce solutions, communities of practice need a paradigm shift (Kuhn, 2012 ). While the first of the rational or political strategies to manage schools before the 1990s had assumed that schools would change as a result of exposing educators to new programs or new teaching methods, the second assumed that teachers and administrators were either unable or unwilling to initiate change (Kowalski, 2000 ). This is thought to be the reason why previous innovations had been unable to radically change education, despite schools being open systems importing new inputs from other systems for survival (Rodney, 2020 ). In this case, the proposed changes are often rejected when they conflict with the traditional role expectations of educators who resist innovation (Sarason, 1996 ). When innovations are not adopted by practitioners, the planned transformation is unrealizable. To prevent this, policies are needed for explaining innovations to stakeholders and helping them adopt the innovations.

The process of managing school change today is quite complex. School leaders play an important role as they are responsible for the management and implementation of this complex process. Because managing change consists of target-setting plans aimed at improving pre-determined standards, research on education system reforms is stated to have been focused on short-term planning in the last two decades. However, short-term planning needs to be incorporated into a longer-term planning framework that supports the strategic development of a school, say a period of 3–5 years (Davies & Ellison, 2003 ). When considering the goal to be achieving school development, educational planning seems to focus on establishing organizational structures that sustain change in education, particularly for improving student learning outcomes while at the same time contributing to a school’s capacity to manage change (Hoque et al., 2011 ). Planning and structuring education in the context of innovations is expected to be more effective as long as those focal points are considered.

Current thinking about the structuring of innovations is based on the judgment that schools are complex social institutions and that the restructuring of schools requires a social systems perspective (Chance, 2000 ). By adopting new inputs, the educational institution makes innovation a part of itself (Tyack & Tobin, 1994 ). Educational communities work to develop an open climate with policies and structures that support the participation of community members, educators, students, families, and wider community members (Wang & Degol, 2016 ). Similarly, making modular technology types that enable all stakeholders to access learning will be possible if education policies allow such innovations (Rodney, 2020 ). In this context, if schools and the environment are to be improved, they should be considered as complex entities consisting of interrelated and interacting parts. This point of view reveals the fallacy of blaming the lack of education on a single factor. More importantly, reforming education by manipulating only one or two elements of the system has been demonstrated to be futile (Kowalski, 2000 ). Reforms might not be possible to be successful until they start to be consistent with policy arrangements, and social, technological, and economic realities (Rodney, 2020 ). In this respect, it might be stated that the successful realization of reforms depends on the coherence between policies and realities. Realizing reforms seems more applicable in contemporary management paradigms that are open to innovation compared to traditional management paradigms.

Current Paradigms in Management and School Leadership

The idea that dominates the traditional paradigm involves increasing institutional productivity and managing available resources in a static and stable technological environment (Khalil, 2000 ). This mechanical orientation has dominated most institutions in the past and is still common, especially in developing countries (Jamali, 2005 ). However, while the traditional paradigm accepts labor as a concept to be bought, consumed, and discarded when appropriate, the innovative management approach requires empowerment, focus on teamwork, careful support for and effective management of human resources (Jamali, 2005 ). The last decade has witnessed an important evolution of management paradigms and approaches all over the world, and a transition has been stated to occur from a centralized, hierarchy-oriented management paradigm to a local, distributed, and network-oriented management paradigm (Luksha & Kinsner, 2020 ). In this context, school management is concerned with maintaining school activities, while school leadership also includes concerns about individual development, shaping of their attitudes and behaviors, and improving school performance (Bush & Glover, 2004 ). Pont et al. ( 2008 ) summarized school leaders’ duties as follows:

Defining learning goals and evaluating student performance by setting school goals in accordance with national and international standards, using data to measure progress, and making necessary interventions to help students reach their potential.

Using resources strategically and harmonizing all activities in the school to achieve the goal of excellence in teaching and learning.

Interacting with other stakeholders and communities outside of school such as policy makers, universities, communities, and social institutions to create value through mutual support.

School leadership is one of the areas of study addressed in the context of current paradigms in educational administration. New paradigms and approaches are stated to support organizational structures with less management layers compared to rigid, multi-layered, and vertical hierarchical organizations (Benveniste, 1994 ). In the age of Industry 4.0 in particular, changing global conditions such as productivity requirements, urgent need for continuous learning and advanced digital technologies require new approaches to educational leadership (Lappalainen, 2015 ). Although the need for effective school leadership is widely accepted within the scope of Education 4.0, which is the reflection of Industry 4.0 on education, uncertainties exist about which leadership behaviors are likely to produce positive results. In order to eliminate those uncertainties, the necessary leadership competencies should be determined first (Kin & Kareem, 2019 ). In this context, determining school leadership competencies is considered important in terms of how schools adapt to the age of Education 4.0.

Leadership development research in recent years has been proceeding toward determining the leadership competencies for achieving organizational goals (Shet et al., 2017 ). In the most general sense, school leadership can be stated to be related to strategic leadership in the context of Education 4.0. The concepts of change and innovation are emphasized in strategic leadership, and those key concepts are used to ensure the sustainability of corporate development. The leaders who will provide the conditions for strengthening communication networks, using technology effectively, and ensuring knowledge management efficiently are needed within the context of change and innovation in the field of education management in Education 4.0.

New Industry (Industry 4.0) and Education 4.0

Transformations and innovations in various fields from past to present have also directed the changes in different fields. Industry 4.0 is also considered one of the transformations currently taking place. It focuses on developing systems that are compatible with the needs of people and production through smart technologies based on individualization, flexibility, localization, resource efficiency, automation, digitalization, and networking (Lasi et al., 2014 ). Industry 4.0, which creates a global difference, brings some difficulties with it. Considering that difficulties such as digital culture, lack of training, lack of support from other administrators, undetermined economic benefits of investments in digital technologies, and high financial investment requirements (Slusarczyk, 2018 ) affect all areas of life, those should be carefully examined in terms of the future of education and training.

One of the paradigms shaping the future of education is the concept of Education 4.0, which includes the use of technology in the teaching and learning process and is inspired by Industry 4.0 (Anggraeni, 2018 ). When examining the transformations in industry and education, the period up to the present can be seen to have been handled through four different paradigms (Demartini & Benussi, 2017 ). The Education 1.0 paradigm provides a traditionally explanatory model in which measurement was mainly based on written and verbal evaluations. The Education 2.0 paradigm reveals the importance of projects developed with open-source software technologies in the context of institutions and classrooms. In Education 3.0, social networks play a key role in creating a more open environment where students’ creativity and participation are encouraged outside of course and institutional boundaries. Finally, Education 4.0 is presented as a rising paradigm and structure in which learning models are adapted and customized according to learner profiles. In this context, the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) are emphasized as the tools that provide Education 4.0 (Popenici & Kerr, 2017 ). Among those tools, IoT is one of the tools through which developing Internet technologies are reflected onto education in many ways.

The rapid spread of the Internet in the modern age has enabled the structures and objects around individuals to use the Internet effectively. One cannot deny IoT’s functionality in individuals’ lives as it is used as one of the most important resources of the Industry 4.0 era. Technology integration in education has opened the doors of Education 4.0, and Education 4.0 offers some models for how to use IoT. Bagheri and Movahed ( 2017 ) stated that IoT usage in an education-oriented context will improve students’ health status, classroom access, and teaching-learning processes. As a result, Education 4.0 as offered by Industry 4.0 ensures that education is maintained in a more open-to-communication, efficient, and student-centered context.

In this context, the advantages of Education 4.0 can be defined as follows (Kassim & Teng, 2018 ):

Education anytime and anywhere : Students can have interactive learning environments and tools.

Personalized learning : Learning autonomously will improve students’ individual learning process.

Project-based learning : As most employment focuses on applied areas, students are offered learning activities based on projects and case studies.

Mentoring : Even though the education system is in a virtual environment, the mentor is expected to facilitate the process. Mentoring helps students adapt to the system.

Learner autonomy : Students are responsible for learning processes.

Those advantages facilitate the understanding of school leadership functions in Education 4.0 and shape school leadership practices. School leadership in Education 4.0 includes the different knowledge, skills, and practices based on the characteristics of Education 4.0. When considering knowledge, skills, and practices together, the competencies that school leaders are expected to have become evident.

School Leadership in Education 4.0

Pedagogy in Education 4.0 has been developed to respond to the demands of Industry 4.0 and has given new impetus to the transformations in education in terms of content, curriculum, and education management (Kin & Kareem, 2019 ). This dramatic change has caused changes in the future of education (Kassim & Teng, 2018 ). Managing change involves the competence school leaders have to encourage change, to enable and support others to change, and to make change sustainable (Kin & Kareem, 2018 ). In the context of Education 4.0, school leadership is regarded as a process that takes place within the framework of technology, communication, cooperation, problem-solving, innovation, professional development, and school leaders’ competencies.

The change that first took place with Education 4.0 included directing education in non-traditional ways with technology-based tools and resources instead of traditional teaching materials (Tang et al., 2015 ). As an example of this, technology leadership competencies and performance evaluations are able to be done with technology tools (Banoğlu et al., 2016 ). In this context, technology is regarded as one of the keywords emphasized in Education 4.0.

One of the biggest advantages of Education 4.0 is the ability to realize effective and fast communication. Communication refers to how school leaders can effectively advance their vision and beliefs through direction, words, and actions to achieve school goals (Smith & Riley, 2012 ). Traditional management is based on theories from Fayol, Taylor, and Weber, which are based on stability and therefore tend to determine central decision-making processes and hierarchical communication channels (Jamali, 2005 ). Considering the need to implement quality processes and improvement in schools, relationships and communication can be thought of as the basic features in institutions (Jefferson & Anderson, 2017 ). Communication is also important in making decisions that facilitate transformation in schools because decision-making processes have become more and more interactive (Smoliar & Sprague, 2003 ). In this context, four of the conditions that leaders must provide in order to develop a school environment that facilitates transformations are based on interpersonal relationships. Those conditions are listed as commitment to collaborative planning, student and community involvement in school policies and decisions, creation of effective coordination strategies, and professional development (Ainscow et al., 2000 ). Accordingly, communication can be stated to play a key role in today’s educational paradigms. Keeping the communication channels open and managing the communication process transparently facilitate cooperation in education management and problem-solving.

Transforming the education system from a system based on facts and procedures to a system based on cooperation and active problem-solving is the main feature of Education 4.0 (Kin & Kareem, 2019 ). Education 4.0 sets a different future level for today’s generation of students. Technology is changing the production system in human nature. Working in the virtual environment while collaborating on productivity and developing new skills are trends in the emerging technological change in the new era (Kassim & Teng, 2018 ). School administrators must respond to those needs with sufficient competencies to be effective leaders who can bring schools to the frontier of transformation. The task of a school leader includes setting up systems that increase capacities and forming collaborations to achieve teaching goals (Ng & Chan, 2014 ). Meanwhile, those collaborative structures support a school enriched in terms of learning by affecting performance positively (Fullan, 2010 ). The new educational approach provides a school environment where innovations are encouraged, and students are located at the center of this process.

Education 4.0 is believed to empower students in terms of innovations; thus, increasing their success levels and learning outcomes. In addition, as teachers and other professional staff are at the center of the educational community, support and professional development for teachers is crucial in any school development process (Díez et al., 2020 ). In order to meet the increasing demands for excellence in education, school administrators can become effective leaders by systematically and continuously gaining new knowledge, skills, and abilities through effective professional development programs or interventions (Kin & Kareem, 2019 ). Having leaders who steer innovation adopt approaches that will keep school stakeholders and themselves open to continuous improvement is important.

Certain competencies exist that school leaders are expected to have in order to achieve school leadership in the context of Education 4.0. Kin and Kareem ( 2019 ) summarized those competencies as follows:

Communication : Communication is the social issue in which realizing differences in understanding among parties is the primary priority (Kin & Kareem, 2019 ). Communication is one of the basic building blocks of educational administration in the new paradigm.

Collaboration : In the contemporary paradigm, education leaders assume school development and effectiveness to be more of a collective initiative than an individual initiative (Kin & Kareem, 2019 ). In the context of Education 4.0, the school leader is expected to move away from being the sole decision maker and to involve others in the decision-making process in a way that increases the effectiveness of the school (Slater, 2005 ).

Critical thinking : Critical thinking is a necessary component of school change because school leaders who are powerful critical thinkers can see events from different perspectives (Kin & Kareem, 2019 ). School leaders who are critical thinkers are needed in the new paradigm.

Creativity and innovation : Creativity is the ability to think differently and design new ideas, methods, materials, products, and actions; innovation involves the creation of new combinations of new knowledge or old insights in order to make a concrete and useful contribution to increasing the effectiveness of the school (Mainemelis et al., 2015 ). In the new paradigm, school leaders have to be creative and innovative.

Decision making : In the new paradigm, talented school leaders are defined as individuals who can optimize their beliefs, responsibilities, and obligations in order to make the right decisions to minimize negative consequences (Kin & Kareem, 2018 ).

Problem solving : Since the school leaders are the individuals who spend a lot of time to solve instructional problems at school and whose performance in solving those problems has a visible effect on the academic success of students, leaders are assumed to need the skills to use certain procedures to help achieve those goals (Kin & Kareem, 2018 ).

Entrepreneurship : Having school leaders be equipped with the competence of entrepreneurship is said to be important as it helps them be sensitive to contextual problems (Kin & Kareem, 2018 ).

Technology : Although the age of Education 4.0 is all about integrating digital technology, the main task of school leaders with high levels of digital literacy is how to increase the meaningful use of technology pedagogically (Kin & Kareem, 2018 ).

Based on those explanations, the features of Education 4.0 and the equivalence of those features in school leadership are summarized in Table 1 .

Use of Internet-of-Things in Education Management

In the context of digitalization, changing traditional interaction models is among the main topics of education (Frolova et al., 2020 ). The Internet of Things (IoT) technology provides new opportunities and perspectives to education in all aspects. In this context, modern education based on digital technologies is a process in which not only knowledge and skills but also self-awareness and personal values are produced (McLay & Renshaw, 2020 ). IoT technology shows a radical break in educational understanding from our past.

IoT technology challenges the universal success models and reveals new problems and solutions in the field of education as much as it sets the background for the information technologies and communication revolutions of the late twentieth century. IoT can provide meaningful information about how and when students and school staff can access the school (Rodney, 2020 ). This customized learning process enables students to monitor their performance analytically (Kassim & Teng, 2018 ). IoT can also monitor students’ illnesses, sleep, and general well-being for school attendance and demonstrate proactive approaches that can support parents and school staff (Rodney, 2020 ). Bagheri and Movahed ( 2017 ) stated that IoT technology plays an important role in the following issues: monitoring the learning ecosystem through wearable technologies students use; ensuring school security using classroom registration systems and digital ID cards; monitoring students’ health status with smart wristbands or watches; contributing to the creation of the most appropriate physical conditions for learning in the classroom with the help of sensors and reducing training costs by conserving energy; increasing comfort in the education process by creating appropriate physical conditions in learning environments; individualized teaching and learning; increasing student collaboration with mobile devices and virtual learning environments. IoT is thought to change three basic features in the current education system: the reduction of control-based hierarchies, the replacement of financing and standardization-based homeostasis through efficiency, and the more tightly linking educational purpose with student learning (Rodney, 2020 ). The realization of that change can ensure a quick and effective continuation of the managerial process, emphasize individual assessment, and structure a student-oriented education system.

IoT as a concept works in harmony with various technological structures. Those structures contribute to academic and social planning in addition to monitoring processes. Technological structures are seen to have importance in different fields such as data security, information storage, provision of virtual learning environments, support for individual learning, creation of new pedagogical paradigms, and rearrangement of financial strategies. Various examples are found on the use IoT in educational administration and teaching. Quick Response (QR) codes are one of the most common examples of IoT usage areas. QR codes which are known as a two-dimensional barcodes, are the most frequent and affordable of identification technologies in the world and can store up to 7,089 characters of information (Budak et al., 2018 ). Those codes are also useful in associating any resource with an online resource. On the other hand, its weak data security, degradation caused by harsh environments, and read-only capability are the main weaknesses of this technology (Budak et al., 2018 ). Students can receive academic and social feedback by scanning QR codes with their smartphones (Mershad & Wakim, 2018 ). Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is another widely used area in IoT. Unlike barcodes that need to be directed toward a scanner to read, RFID tags can store a larger amount of data that can be quickly transmitted, rewritten, and encrypted many times in addition to being readable without line-of-sight requirements as long as they are within the range of the reader (Budak et al., 2018 ). Shan et al. ( 2016 ) emphasized RFID technology to have become widespread through mobile technologies and to contribute to the individualization of learning, based on students’ position. Virtual reality (VR) is one of the technologies whose usage rate has increased in today’s educational environments. IoT-supported VR applications enable lesson simulations and the creation of interactive learning environments (Mershad & Wakim, 2018 ). Artificial intelligence (AI) is the field of computer science that focuses on the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans. AI can be applied to support and improve learning in the creation of smart classrooms that take advantage of IoT (Timms, 2016 ). AI also has the abilities to learn the aspects and types of interactions as well as pedagogically relate them to relevant contexts, to help teachers more clearly, understand students’ ways of thinking and to be able to easily direct learning, and to share all the data it collects with relevant stakeholders (i.e., students, teachers, administrators) so that metacognitive approaches and possible areas that need to be improved can be deliberated. On the other hand, blockchain technology is one of the prominent structures with current educational uses. Blockchain technology is associated with many stakeholders in the field of education such as students, teachers, employers, and administrators. Tapscott and Tapscott ( 2017 ) stated that educational institutions can benefit from blockchain technology in the following areas: (1) ID and student records through secure management of all data belonging to a student enrolled in a training program; (2) new pedagogy by managing enrollments and saving data on courses chosen by students and their learning interactions in order to identify learning patterns, improve teaching, and reveal new learning models; (3) fees and rewards for planning financial strategies and rewarding students for their achievements; and (4) upper education institution model to restructure the educational institution by bringing together the expectations of students and employers on a common ground. As seen in the relevant examples, the concept of IoT is used in various ways in educational institutions at different levels. Integrating technology into education leads to paradigm shifts in learning and education management. Those changes can be stated to be effective at improving the education and training process.

This chapter which examines current educational management and cultural trends addresses the competencies of twenty-first-century educational leaders, the role educational leaders have in cultural orientations, the differences between traditional management understanding and current management paradigms, the use of technology and leaders’ managerial processes in educational administration, and IoT usage that directly and indirectly affect the cultural structure all in the context of Education 4.0. The focal points of the modern management paradigm are improving academic performance, adopting a networked management approach, and designing and adopting innovations and sustainability. The belief in the traditional management paradigm, which is based on school productivity and the stable and static use of resources, has been replaced by microscale development, and school leaders’ emphasis on individual development and local needs in this context. Considering that schools are complex social structures, school administrators with traditional roles can be stated to have difficulty adapting to global conditions. In this context, initiating change and reducing resistance to change are within the scope of the roles and responsibilities of school leaders. The formation of a school culture that can adapt to new inputs and the development of this cultural structure are also the responsibilities expected from school leaders. Education 4.0 can also be said to strengthen the specified innovations and make management processes more efficient.

One of the innovations Education 4.0 brings is to adapt IoT to the educational context. IoT technology can provide instant and multi-dimensional information flow to students, teachers, parents, and administrators. While targets are achieved more quickly and effectively in this context, the use of resources in a school can also be ensured to be kept to a minimum. IoT usage and communications between stakeholders can also be said to be more transparent and quicker. Effectively managing communication processes through the use of IoT, which has become one of the tools of change, will also contribute to sustainable change.

IoT seems important in adapting developing technology to education. IoT’s contributions to the management processes and academic success should not be ignored. IoT is emphasized to contribute to the decrease in the hierarchical structure in the education system, to increase financial efficiency, and to increase students’ acquisitions. IoT, which provides educational leaders with new roles and responsibilities, can also be said will speed up information processing and communication processes. This situation gives new perspectives to leaders and stakeholders and clearly contributes to the production of values and the development of culture. Suggestions for schools to be able to support new managerial and cultural trends and adapt more easily to those trends are stated as follows:

When examining the relevant research, ensuring participation in decision-making in the initiation phase of change is believed to increase all stakeholders’ belief in change and their level of adaptability to change.

Considering that change occurs as a result of cultural development needs, the change in organizational structure should be handled together with the cultural change process. For this reason, having cultural development be at the center of the change process can be considered as a natural result.

In order for schools to cope with the ever-changing realities and adapt to the era, it seems important that leaders ensure their personal development and keep their knowledge and skills up to date.

Including adaptation to change, leadership competencies and skills, and cultural change processes in the strategic plans prepared in schools are important in terms of ensuring program integrity.

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Yusuf Alpaydın

Board of Education, Ministry of National Education, Ankara, Turkey

Cihad Demirli

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Çetin, M., Karsantık, İ. (2022). Current Trends in School Management: School Leadership in Education 4.0. In: Alpaydın, Y., Demirli, C. (eds) Educational Theory in the 21st Century. Maarif Global Education Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9640-4_9

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Educational Administration, Leadership, and Research Theses

Theses and specialist projects from 2023 2023.

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Assessing the Persistence to Graduation of Students Joining Fraternities at Western Kentucky University , Charles Pride

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Assessing the Efficacy of the Training Opportunities Program for Undiscovered Potential (TOP UP) Dropout Prevention Program at Western Kentucky University for At-Risk High School Students , Kaye Foust

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Teacher Influence in Site-Based Decision Making: A Descriptive Study , Keith Restine

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Public Relations: Its Importance in the Public School System , Lawrence Crittenden Hunter

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Site-Based Management, Knowledge Base of Kentucky Superintendents , Alan Reed

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The Development & Study of a Competency-Based Vocational Education Drafting Program , Kenneth Mussnug

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The Effect of Summer Recess on the Reading Achievement of Title I Students at L.C. Curry School, Bowling Green, Kentucky , Virginia Scheider

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A Study of the Holding Power and Follow-Up of North Bullitt High School Students (Classes of 1978, 1979 and 1980) , Robert Wagoner

Theses and Specialist projects from 1980 1980

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A Descriptive Study of the Problems Reported by Selected Students on Academic Probation at Western Kentucky University , James Somers Jr.

A Comparison of the Admission Criteria of Kentucky's Junior Colleges , Janet Walters

A Study of Factors Related to Low General Technical Scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery as Identified by Members of the Second Squadron, Seventeenth Cavalry, Fort Campbell, Kentucky , David Yates

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The Relationship of Sex-role Classifications, Measured Vocational Interests and Expressed Vocational Interests of Selected College Women , SallyAnn McLeod Koenig

A Comparison of Role Performance & Role Expectation of Supervisors in Selected Public School Districts in Kentucky , Mae Mefford

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110+ Exceptional Education Research Topics Ideas

Topics for education research usually comprise school research topics, research problems in education, qualitative research topics in education, and concept paper topics about education to mention a few.

If you’re looking for research titles about education,  you’re reading the right post! This article contains 110 of the best education research topics that will come in handy when you need to choose one for your research. From sample research topics in education, to research titles examples for high school students about education – we have it all.

Educational Research Topics

Research title examples for college students, quantitative research titles about education, topics related to education for thesis, research titles about school issues, ph.d. research titles in education, elementary education research topics, research title examples about online class, research titles about modular learning, examples of research questions in education, special education research titles.

The best research titles about education must be done through the detailed process of exploring previous works and improving personal knowledge.

Here are some good research topics in education to consider.

What Are Good Research Topics Related to Education?

• The role of Covid-19 in reinvigorating online learning
• The growth of cognitive abilities through leisure experiences
• The merits of group study in education
• Merits and demerits of traditional learning methods
• The impact of homework on traditional and modern education
• Student underdevelopment as a result of larger class volumes
• Advantages of digital textbooks in learning
• The struggle of older generations in computer education
• The standards of learning  in the various academic levels
• Bullying and its effects on educational and mental health
• Exceptional education tutors: Is the need for higher pay justifiable?

The following examples of research titles about education for college students are ideal for a project that will take a long duration to complete. Here are some education topics for research that you can consider for your degree.

• Modern classroom difficulties of students and teachers
• Strategies to reform the learning difficulties within schools
• The rising cost of tuition and its burden on middle-class parents
• The concept of creativity among public schools and how it can be harnessed
• Major difficulties experienced in academic staff training
• Evaluating the learning cultures of college students
• Use of scientific development techniques in student learning
• Research of skill development in high school and college students
• Modern grading methods in underdeveloped institutions
• Dissertations and the difficulties surrounding their completion
• Integration of new gender categories in personalized learning

These research topics about education require a direct quantitative analysis and study of major ideas and arguments. They often contain general statistics and figures to back up regular research. Some of such research topics in education include:

• The relationship between poor education and increased academic fees
• Creating a social link between homeschool and traditional schoolgoers
• The relationship between teacher satisfaction and student performance
• The divide between public and private school performance
• The merits of parental involvement in students’ cognitive growth.
• A study on child welfare and its impact on educational development
• The relationship between academic performance and economic growth
• Urbanization in rural areas and its contribution to institutional growth
• The relationship between students and professors in dissertation writing
• The link between debt accumulation and student loans
• Boarding schools and regular schools: The role these two school types play in cognitive development

Educational-related topics used for a thesis normally require a wide aspect of study and enough educational materials.  Here are some education research topics you can use for write my thesis .

• The difficulties of bilingual education in private universities
• Homework and its impact on learning processes in college education
• Dissertation topic selection: Key aspects and research obligations
• Social media research topics and their educational functions
• A detailed educational review of student learning via virtual reality techniques
• Ethnicities in universities and their participation in group activities
• The modern approach to self-studying for college students
• Developing time management skills in modern education
• Guidelines for teacher development in advanced educational institutions
• The need for religious education in boarding schools
• A measure of cognitive development using digital learning methods

A research title about school issues focuses on activities surrounding the school environment and its effects on students, teachers, parents, and education in general. Below are some sample research titles in education, relating to school issues.

• Learning English in bilingual schools
• A study of teachers’ role as parent figures on school grounds
• Addressing the increased use of illegal substances and their effects in schools
• The benefits of after-class activities for foreign students
• Assessing student and teacher relationships
• A study of the best methods to implement safety rules in school
• Major obstacles in meeting school schedules using boarding students as a case study
• The need for counseling in public and private schools: Which is greater?
• Academic volunteering in understaffed public schools
• Modern techniques for curbing school violence among college students
• The advantages and disadvantages of teacher unions in schools

As you create your proposed list of research topics in education, consider scientific journals for referencing purposes. Here are some Ph.D. research titles for education.

• The modern methods of academic research writing
• The role of colleges in advanced mental care
• The merits and demerits of Ph.D. studies in Europe and Africa
• Interpersonal relationships between students and professors in advanced institutions
• A review of community colleges: merits and demerits
• Assessing racism in academic ethnic minorities
• The psychological changes of students in higher education
• The questionable standards of student loan provisions
• The merits of personalized teaching techniques in colleges
• The wage gap between private and public university teachers
• Teacher responsibilities in private universities versus public universities

The research topics in elementary education in 2023 are very different from the elementary education research topics from five or ten years ago. This creates interesting grounds for different research titles for elementary education.

Here are some elementary education title research ideas.

• Assessing quick computer literacy among elementary school pupils.
• The role of video games in childhood brain development
• Male vs female role models in early education periods
• The advantages of digital textbooks in elementary schools
• The impact of modern curriculums on elementary education
• Lack of proper school grooming is a cause of violence.
• Should elementary school children be taught about LGBTQ?
• A review of the need for sexual education in elementary schools
• The effects of emotional dependence in early childhood learners.
• The need for constant technology supervision of elementary school students
• Advantages of computer-guided education in elementary schools

Here are some research title examples for students taking online classes.

• The academic difficulties experienced by online students.
• A study of decreased attention in online classes
• The upsides and downsides of online education
• The rising fees of online and traditional education in universities
• A detailed study on the necessity of college internships
• The need to provide college scholarships based on environmental achievements
• How online education terminates university fraternities and sororities.
• The role of academic supervisors in career selection
• Why interactive assignments improved learning capabilities during the pandemic
• Merits of education in online learning environments
• Why online lessons are the least effective for some college students

The modular learning approach focuses primarily on learning outcomes. Here are some examples of research titles about modular learning.

• Modular learning and the role of teachers in its execution
• Teaching techniques of religious institutions
• Potential risks of accelerated learning
• Modular learning on students’ future performances
• The general overview of modular learning amongst students
• The modern Advantages and disadvantages of inclusive classes
• Observing student developments in modular learning
• Music therapy for fostering modular learning techniques
• The creation of a personalized curriculum for students.
• Applications of modular learning both in home-schooling?
• The benefits of modular learning towards creating a more holistic educational system

These research title examples about education answer important questions and they can also be argumentative essay topics .

Here are some titles of research about education questions.

• What impacts do learning approaches provide for students?
• How can schools manage their increasing gender differences?
• What fosters the provision of learning needs?
• What are the best educational recruitment methods?
• How can cognitive development improve education?
• How can you assess the moral growth of institutions?
• What are the primary causes of educational differences in geographical locations?
• How can institutions address increasing mental health needs?
• Why is early intervention essential in students with mental health setbacks?
• What are the characteristics of mental health deterioration among students?
• What techniques are acceptable in regulating the violence of students in institutions

Some of the research title examples about education include:

• How do schools create more personalized learning methods?
• Evaluating mental health setbacks during education
• The impact of modern technology on special education
• The cognitive improvements via specialized learning in dyslexic children
• The psychological link between dyslexia and bullying in high school
• Impact of social isolation in special education classes
• The difficulties in providing specialized learning environments
• A study of orphan students with disabilities and their aptitudes for learning
• How special classes improve the self-esteem of disabled students.
• How to use modern teaching techniques in unique learning environments.
• A study of the application of digital games to autistic learning

Final words about education research topics

We have provided some reliable examples of a research topic about education you can use for write my thesis . You can use these research titles in education to cultivate your ideas, create inspiration, or for online research. Remember always to select a topic that you’re naturally passionate about and do diligent research, and reach out to our professional writing services if you need any help.

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8 Important Topics in Education Research Right Now

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Tip: Be sure to check out our “ Guide to the NNERPP EdWeek Blog ” page for a topical overview of all of the Urban Education Reform blog posts.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

San Francisco

Can Summer School Help English Learner Students Succeed? : The Stanford-SFUSD Partnership ( @StanfordSFUSD ) looks at the potential of summer programs to close English Language Learner achievement gaps. Because English Learners are often required to take multiple language development classes, they miss out on other academic content crucial for college and career success, such as advanced math, science, and social science classes. A San Francisco Unified School District summer school model aims to address this problem — with success, as the research presented here shows.

Summer Learning for Immigrant Youth: A Model from San Francisco : The San Francisco Unified School District ( @SFUnified ) shares how its summer school model helps English Learners in San Francisco earn credits toward graduation, describing the program components that help make the model successful.

Exercising Choice: English-Language Learners and School Choice : The Houston Education Research Consortium examines English Language Learners’ participation in and barriers to school choice, finding that current English Language Learners were much less likely than their peers to participate in school choice, while former English Language Learners were just as likely as non-English Language Learners to do so.

• Toward Equity in Access to School Choice : The Houston Independent School District ( @HoustonISD ) describes how it implemented new policies and practices in response to research findings showing significant gaps in the number of former, current, and never English Learners enrolling in schools outside their designated school zone and thus taking advantage of Houston’s choice system.

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

New Orleans

Charter Schools, Pre-K, and the Question of Coordination, Part I and Charter Schools, Pre-K, and the Question of Coordination, Part II : The Education Research Alliance for New Orleans ( @ERA_NOLA ) outlines research on changes to New Orleans’ early childhood education landscape as the school district shifted to a majority-charter system. Specifically, the lack of central coordination was associated with a drop in the number of schools offering pre-K and the number of school-based pre-K seats, pointing to a broader issue of decentralized school governance.

Should Increasing the Availability of Public Pre-K be a Priority in New Orleans? : The Superintendent of Schools in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, shares his thoughts on the research findings.

From Age 3 to Grade 3: How Atlanta Promotes School Readiness and Achievement : The Urban Child Study Center , a cross-sector partnership based in Atlanta, introduces its work on developing the data infrastructure and research agenda required to support Atlanta’s preschool to third grade system.

Using Data and Research to Strengthen Early-Learning Efforts in Atlanta : Atlanta Public Schools ( @apsupdate ) outlines its vision for and work towards improving early education, including collaborative work to develop a longitudinal database and create citywide strategies.

TEACHER EQUITY GAPS

Massachusetts

Partnering to Assess Teacher Equity Gaps in Massachusetts : The Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data on Education Research ( @caldercenter ) summarizes research findings prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education ( @MASchoolsK12 ) on unequal access to effective teachers in Massachusetts. The research finds that low income students are systematically exposed to less experienced and less effective teachers than their peers, echoing similar findings from other states.

Why Teacher Equity Gaps Matter for Massachusetts, and How Research Helps : A state department leader describes how this research on teacher equity gaps helps drive state-level policy conversations.

TEACHER SHORTAGE

Tackling Teacher Recruitment and Retention Challenges in Idaho : About 1 in 5 Idaho teachers did not return to their school the following year in each year of a recent REL Northwest ( @relnw ) study, and the teacher workforce is becoming less experienced. This post shares how a meeting brought together representatives from school districts, state education agencies, and institutions of higher education in Idaho to discuss these research findings and address teacher recruitment and retention.

Finding Common Ground Through Data to Improve Idaho’s Teacher Pipeline : The Homedale School District superintendent writes about the importance of the convening and how this evidence has helped the district.

Exploring the Potential of Teacher Residencies : REL Midwest ( @RELMidwest ) shares about a partnership with the Michigan Department of Education ( @mieducation ) designed to tackle statewide teacher shortage problems through exploring the potential of a teacher residency approach. Teacher residencies are usually partnerships between a school district and a local university, whereby teacher candidates apply learned concepts in a classroom under the supervision of an experienced mentor teacher as part of their training.

Challenges and Opportunities in Building a Teacher-Residency Program : Saginaw Valley State University College of Education ( @SVSU ) describes the creation and implementation of an accelerated teacher residency program to respond to teacher shortage problems.

TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Multnomah County (OR)

Here’s What Works Best in Teacher Professional Development : The Multnomah County Partnership for Education Research explores teacher professional development best practices and reviews one district’s offerings at the district’s request.

Becoming a Teacher-Researcher : A personal account of how work with the Multnomah County Partnership for Education Research influenced a doctoral student’s journey.

SCHOOL CLIMATE AND CULTURE

How Do Principals Influence Student Achievement? : Principals are often seen as the primary drivers of improvements in student achievement, but given their complex role expectations and responsibilities and the myriad leadership strategies at their disposal, what strategies matter most for student improvement? The UChicago Consortium on School Research ( @UChiConsortium ) outlines research on how principals are most effective at achieving higher learning gains, describing how fostering strong learning climates and encouraging teacher leadership emerged as key drivers.

Building a Strong School Climate to Support Student Achievement : A school principal shares firsthand some strategies that have helped the school create a strong learning environment.

Why School Climate Matters : The Cleveland Alliance for Education Research writes about ongoing research examining the association between students’ perception of school climate and their educational outcomes, outlining preliminary findings suggesting that improved perceptions of safety, teacher expectations and support, and peer relationships are associated with improved student achievement.

Research Helps Make the Case for School Climate Initiatives : The Cleveland Metropolitan School District ( @CLEMetroSchools ) weighs in on the impact of research on district efforts around improving and measuring school climate.

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING

New York City

How New York City Is Working to Improve Students’ Social-Emotional Learning : Researchers from the Research Alliance for NYC Schools ( @RANYCS ) are working together with practitioners from the Student Success Network to improve social-emotional learning measurements, helping build more valid and reliable SEL measures for a SEL student survey and supporting member organizations in utilizing the information that the survey elicits as part of a continuous improvement process.

A New Approach to Social-Emotional Learning Research: Putting Practitioners and Youths in the Driver’s Seat : The Student Success Network ( @SuccessNYC ), a community of 50 education and youth development organizations in New York City collaborating to improve student outcomes, describes how leveraging practitioner, researcher, and youth expertise drives improvement in social-emotional learning measurement and programming across the network.

COLLEGE ACCESS

Learning About Post-High School Pathways of Baltimore Youths : The Baltimore Education Research Consortium ( @BaltimoreBERC ) examines college enrollment and employment outcomes of Baltimore high school graduates to help inform policies and supports needed to improve graduates’ career and college access.

Using Data and Research to Promote Youth Success : Baltimore City Public Schools ( @BaltCitySchools ) outlines how data and research findings on their graduates’ post high-school pathways helps the district address challenges and how the district shares such research findings with students, families, and principals.

The opinions expressed in Urban Education Reform: Bridging Research and Practice are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

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Editorial article, editorial: pain education research: advances, innovations, and challenges.

• 1 Centre for Pain Research, School of Health, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom
• 2 Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
• 3 Division of Pain Medicine, Davis School of Medicine, University of California, Sacramento, CA, United States
• 4 L. S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Editorial on the Research Topic Pain education research: advances, innovations, and challenges

Introduction

Worldwide consensus has identified pain education for health care professionals as inadequate to meet the clinical need for pain assessment and management. In the past decade, several professional organizations and academic institutions have taken this challenge and formulated curricula and training (often interprofessional) informed by the neuroscience of education and learning. As the cumulative experience among pain educators worldwide grows and evolves, a body of work has developed that systematically assesses the efficacy and real-world effectiveness of diverse approaches to pain education as a crucial stage in the translation of basic and applied knowledge into clinical practice.

Challenges facing pain educators include deciding upon and conveying the content to be transmitted, how best to use competencies related to this content, and how to tailor general educational approaches to best meet the needs of health care professionals dealing with patients with pain. Other issues include engaging patients and the public, including policy makers, in shared efforts to reduce unnecessary pain and suffering and optimize clinical outcomes associated with the entire spectrum of painful experiences.

This Research Topic provides a collection of articles addressing previous and ongoing barriers to the education of health care professionals, including competencies, and evidence-based approaches to overcoming these barriers, complemented by concurrent advances in patient and public education. We invited contributions on, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Content of pain education for health care professionals and its refinement according to changes in scientific knowledge and clinical practice.

• Methodologies synthesizing and translating pain-related content to ensure application to clinical care of people with pain across the lifespan.

• Frameworks and approaches to overcome challenges encountered by educators trying to facilitate learning about contemporary topics.

• Gaps in post-graduate and continuing education for licensed health professionals.

Eleven articles were accepted for inclusion in the Research Topic.

Overview of contributions

Contributions to the Research Topic provide a systematic evaluation of pain education content and methods, and novel perspectives and future directions for both practice and research. The collection includes the development and evaluation of various frameworks and approaches to overcome challenges encountered by educators trying to facilitate learning about contemporary approaches to assess and manage complex pain presentations, within the broader context of health care system change.

In the first of two contributions, Mardian et al. draw attention to the need for transformation in pain education and culture to improve clinical practice, through a lens of “didactic dissonance”—a disconnect between what is taught in classroom settings and what learners observe in clinical settings. They propose a process based on transformative learning theory to assist learners in exploring factors that create and perpetuate the education-practice disconnect, opening avenues of exploration for transformation in both educational and clinical practice. The findings of a qualitative study by Thompson et al. support this viewpoint by providing evidence that stakeholders of physiotherapy education emphasise the importance of preparing graduates for the challenges faced when encountering “real” people from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Thompson et al. suggest that pain education in health care can be improved through a curriculum of practically engaging pain scenario's reflecting the challenges faced in clinical practice.

The contribution by Siaton et al. demonstrates the challenges faced by educators and practitioners in the management of complex presentations, particularly related to older people with pain comorbidities. Siaton et al. report the use of a mixed methods approach to develop and pilot a Pain in Aging, Educational Assessment of Need (PAEAN) instrument to inform pain, comorbidities, and clinical decision-making associated with the complexities of assessing and managing geriatric pain. Their findings suggest that several factors impact pain-related clinical decision-making and that it is feasible to survey healthcare practitioners about the influence of comorbidities on decisions in the care of older adults with pain. The contribution by Soenarto et al. provides evidence that mnemonics are a helpful tool to develop knowledge of and skills for assessing pain in clinical consultation during a simulation-based educational workshop. Soenarto et al. found that medical students' knowledge and skills of assessing chronic pain was improved using the PQRST (P, provoke and palliate; Q, quality; R, region and radiation; S, severity; T, time) mnemonic, although the addition of an ACT-UP (A, activity; C, coping; T, think; U, upset; P, people) was no better than using PQSRT alone. Soenarto et al. conclude that mnemonics are useful and can be integrated into various learning contexts such as lectures, demonstrations, simulations, and interactions with patients.

The contribution by Shipton et al. provides a useful approach to the complex process of curriculum change and supports the need for more formalised procedures to design, develop and evaluate the pain medicine curriculum. Shipton et al. describe how they conceptualised and developed a purposeful method to facilitate structured integration of pain education into the medical curriculum. Their Pain Medicine Curriculum Framework comprises future healthcare practice needs, the competencies and capabilities required of graduates, the teaching, learning and assessment methods to use, and institutional parameters. The contribution of Cao and Van Deusen provides evidence for the integration of opioid use disorder and chronic pain content within medical curricula. Their topic review revealed a lack of emphasis on chronic pain education, biopsychosocial approaches, and interprofessional learning in current US medical school curricula; and their evaluation of twelve winning student-designed opioid use disorder curricula utilised more diverse learning activities and assessment methods than current US medical school curricula.

In their additional contribution, Mardian et al. describe the “hidden curriculum” as a vehicle by which students learn values, attitudes, beliefs, and related behaviors important to medicine, and that this “hidden curriculum” is entrenched in a biomedical model of practice. Mardian et al. explain how they employed the Implicit Bias Recognition and Management tool to “flip” this hidden biomedical curriculum towards a sociopsychobiological model of care. Similarly, the contribution by Ng et al. reports the application of the behavioural change wheel to guide the implementation of a biopsychosocial approach to musculoskeletal pain care; they propose a worked example on how to operationalise the framework. In their contribution, Darnall et al. argue a need to overcome system-level barriers associated with the biomedically-dominant culture that marginalises education about, and access to, high-quality, evidenced-based behavioural pain treatments for youth and adults. Darnall et al. review literature to reveal several innovative digital treatment formats, technologies, and clinician trainings and offer clinical recommendations and future directions for research. The examples of evidence-informed strategies to assess, identify and analyse biopsychosocial factors provided in these contributions can be used by healthcare professionals and educationalists to strengthen a whole-of-system adoption of a biopsychosocial approach to pain care.

Technological advances have driven a shift towards online learning, and the contribution by Dao and Cao provides evidence to support the utility of this educational medium. They found that improvements in physiological knowledge and ability to work together in interprofessional teams achieved during in-person training using the Supervised Student Inter-professional Pain Clinic Program (SSIPCP) were maintained when the program had to be delivered online using Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, students using Zoom expressed a preference for in-person activities. The contribution by Lalloo et al. describes how they integrated and evaluated pediatric-pain core competency education within the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO®) for Pain model. The ECHO® model delivers online education to interprofessional healthcare providers through virtual clinics to cultivate a community of practice, and Lalloo et al. provide evidence that the Pediatric Project ECHO® for Pain improved knowledge and self-efficacy in learners and had high usability with clinically realistic cases.

Impact of contributions

Contributions to this Research Topic address advances, innovations, and challenges in pain education research and provide evidence of a need to safeguard adequate and appropriate coverage of pain education in health professional curricula. In doing so, educationists are tasked with designing learning situations that align with contemporary pain knowledge, including sociopsychological aspects of pain and its management within the biopsychosocial model of care. Through providing examples of frameworks that are being used and evaluated to assist curriculum development, this eBook offers perspectives on how the challenges of reconceptualising pain education can be overcome. In addition to the focus on students, approaches address education for the educator who is developing and implementing curriculum, in both uni- and/or interprofessional settings. Contributions discuss the need to formalise approaches to design, develop, and evaluate pain curricula, and to provide learning opportunities that progress knowledge and skills on psychosocial aspects of pain. These discussions can be used to inform future directions of research and practice. Of priority is the development and implementation of authentic patient scenarios across the lifespan, co-created with people living with pain, that reflect the complexities and cultural-diversity of real-life clinical practice.

Author contributions

MJ: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft. YB: Writing – review & editing. SF: Writing – review & editing. KT: Writing – review & editing. JW-W: Writing – review & editing.

Conflict of interest

There are no commercial or financial conflicts of interest directly related to this article. We declare the following interests that are outside of the scope of this article. In the previous 5 years, MJ's employer has received income for expert consultancy activities from GlaxoSmithKline, TENSCare, and LifeCare Ltd. that lie outside of the submitted work. MJ declares book royalties from Oxford University Press. SF discloses Grant/Research/Clinical Trial Support to the University of California. He also receives royalties for books from: Elsevier Publisher [Royalties—pain and pain management]; Oxford University Press [Royalties—pain and pain management]; Wolters Kluwer Publisher [Royalties—pain and pain management] as well as for editorial work for UpToDate/Wolters Kluwer Publisher [chronic pain].

The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Keywords: pain education, pain education competencies, pain education curricula, translational research, healthcare professionals, public pain education, pain neuroscience education, pain psychoeducation

Citation: Johnson MI, Bradshaw YS, Fishman SM, Thompson K and Watt-Watson J (2024) Editorial: Pain education research: advances, innovations, and challenges. Front. Pain Res. 5:1403461. doi: 10.3389/fpain.2024.1403461

Received: 19 March 2024; Accepted: 21 March 2024; Published: 8 April 2024.

Edited and Reviewed by: Serge Marchand , Université de Sherbrooke, Canada

© 2024 Johnson, Bradshaw, Fishman, Thompson and Watt-Watson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Mark I. Johnson [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Pain Education Research: Advances, Innovations, and Challenges

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How can I plan what to eat or drink when I have diabetes?

How can physical activity help manage my diabetes, what can i do to reach or maintain a healthy weight, should i quit smoking, how can i take care of my mental health, clinical trials for healthy living with diabetes.

Healthy living is a way to manage diabetes . To have a healthy lifestyle, take steps now to plan healthy meals and snacks, do physical activities, get enough sleep, and quit smoking or using tobacco products.

Healthy living may help keep your body’s blood pressure , cholesterol , and blood glucose level, also called blood sugar level, in the range your primary health care professional recommends. Your primary health care professional may be a doctor, a physician assistant, or a nurse practitioner. Healthy living may also help prevent or delay health problems  from diabetes that can affect your heart, kidneys, eyes, brain, and other parts of your body.

Making lifestyle changes can be hard, but starting with small changes and building from there may benefit your health. You may want to get help from family, loved ones, friends, and other trusted people in your community. You can also get information from your health care professionals.

What you choose to eat, how much you eat, and when you eat are parts of a meal plan. Having healthy foods and drinks can help keep your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels in the ranges your health care professional recommends. If you have overweight or obesity, a healthy meal plan—along with regular physical activity, getting enough sleep, and other healthy behaviors—may help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. In some cases, health care professionals may also recommend diabetes medicines that may help you lose weight, or weight-loss surgery, also called metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Choose healthy foods and drinks

There is no right or wrong way to choose healthy foods and drinks that may help manage your diabetes. Healthy meal plans for people who have diabetes may include

• dairy or plant-based dairy products
• nonstarchy vegetables
• protein foods
• whole grains

Try to choose foods that include nutrients such as vitamins, calcium , fiber , and healthy fats . Also try to choose drinks with little or no added sugar , such as tap or bottled water, low-fat or non-fat milk, and unsweetened tea, coffee, or sparkling water.

Try to plan meals and snacks that have fewer

• foods high in saturated fat
• foods high in sodium, a mineral found in salt
• sugary foods , such as cookies and cakes, and sweet drinks, such as soda, juice, flavored coffee, and sports drinks

Your body turns carbohydrates , or carbs, from food into glucose, which can raise your blood glucose level. Some fruits, beans, and starchy vegetables—such as potatoes and corn—have more carbs than other foods. Keep carbs in mind when planning your meals.

You should also limit how much alcohol you drink. If you take insulin  or certain diabetes medicines , drinking alcohol can make your blood glucose level drop too low, which is called hypoglycemia . If you do drink alcohol, be sure to eat food when you drink and remember to check your blood glucose level after drinking. Talk with your health care team about your alcohol-drinking habits.

Find the best times to eat or drink

Talk with your health care professional or health care team about when you should eat or drink. The best time to have meals and snacks may depend on

• what medicines you take for diabetes
• what your level of physical activity or your work schedule is
• whether you have other health conditions or diseases

Ask your health care team if you should eat before, during, or after physical activity. Some diabetes medicines, such as sulfonylureas  or insulin, may make your blood glucose level drop too low during exercise or if you skip or delay a meal.

Plan how much to eat or drink

You may worry that having diabetes means giving up foods and drinks you enjoy. The good news is you can still have your favorite foods and drinks, but you might need to have them in smaller portions  or enjoy them less often.

For people who have diabetes, carb counting and the plate method are two common ways to plan how much to eat or drink. Talk with your health care professional or health care team to find a method that works for you.

Carb counting

Carbohydrate counting , or carb counting, means planning and keeping track of the amount of carbs you eat and drink in each meal or snack. Not all people with diabetes need to count carbs. However, if you take insulin, counting carbs can help you know how much insulin to take.

Plate method

The plate method helps you control portion sizes  without counting and measuring. This method divides a 9-inch plate into the following three sections to help you choose the types and amounts of foods to eat for each meal.

• Nonstarchy vegetables—such as leafy greens, peppers, carrots, or green beans—should make up half of your plate.
• Carb foods that are high in fiber—such as brown rice, whole grains, beans, or fruits—should make up one-quarter of your plate.
• Protein foods—such as lean meats, fish, dairy, or tofu or other soy products—should make up one quarter of your plate.

If you are not taking insulin, you may not need to count carbs when using the plate method.

Work with your health care team to create a meal plan that works for you. You may want to have a diabetes educator  or a registered dietitian  on your team. A registered dietitian can provide medical nutrition therapy , which includes counseling to help you create and follow a meal plan. Your health care team may be able to recommend other resources, such as a healthy lifestyle coach, to help you with making changes. Ask your health care team or your insurance company if your benefits include medical nutrition therapy or other diabetes care resources.

Talk with your health care professional before taking dietary supplements

There is no clear proof that specific foods, herbs, spices, or dietary supplements —such as vitamins or minerals—can help manage diabetes. Your health care professional may ask you to take vitamins or minerals if you can’t get enough from foods. Talk with your health care professional before you take any supplements, because some may cause side effects or affect how well your diabetes medicines work.

Research shows that regular physical activity helps people manage their diabetes and stay healthy. Benefits of physical activity may include

• lower blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels
• better heart health
• healthier weight
• better mood and sleep
• better balance and memory

Talk with your health care professional before starting a new physical activity or changing how much physical activity you do. They may suggest types of activities based on your ability, schedule, meal plan, interests, and diabetes medicines. Your health care professional may also tell you the best times of day to be active or what to do if your blood glucose level goes out of the range recommended for you.

Do different types of physical activity

People with diabetes can be active, even if they take insulin or use technology such as insulin pumps .

Try to do different kinds of activities . While being more active may have more health benefits, any physical activity is better than none. Start slowly with activities you enjoy. You may be able to change your level of effort and try other activities over time. Having a friend or family member join you may help you stick to your routine.

The physical activities you do may need to be different if you are age 65 or older , are pregnant , or have a disability or health condition . Physical activities may also need to be different for children and teens . Ask your health care professional or health care team about activities that are safe for you.

Aerobic activities

Aerobic activities make you breathe harder and make your heart beat faster. You can try walking, dancing, wheelchair rolling, or swimming. Most adults should try to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week. Aim to do 30 minutes a day on most days of the week. You don’t have to do all 30 minutes at one time. You can break up physical activity into small amounts during your day and still get the benefit. 1

Strength training or resistance training

Strength training or resistance training may make your muscles and bones stronger. You can try lifting weights or doing other exercises such as wall pushups or arm raises. Try to do this kind of training two times a week. 1

Balance and stretching activities

Balance and stretching activities may help you move better and have stronger muscles and bones. You may want to try standing on one leg or stretching your legs when sitting on the floor. Try to do these kinds of activities two or three times a week. 1

Some activities that need balance may be unsafe for people with nerve damage or vision problems caused by diabetes. Ask your health care professional or health care team about activities that are safe for you.

Stay safe during physical activity

Staying safe during physical activity is important. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Drink liquids

Drinking liquids helps prevent dehydration , or the loss of too much water in your body. Drinking water is a way to stay hydrated. Sports drinks often have a lot of sugar and calories , and you don’t need them for most moderate physical activities.

Avoid low blood glucose

Check your blood glucose level before, during, and right after physical activity. Physical activity often lowers the level of glucose in your blood. Low blood glucose levels may last for hours or days after physical activity. You are most likely to have low blood glucose if you take insulin or some other diabetes medicines, such as sulfonylureas.

Ask your health care professional if you should take less insulin or eat carbs before, during, or after physical activity. Low blood glucose can be a serious medical emergency that must be treated right away. Take steps to protect yourself. You can learn how to treat low blood glucose , let other people know what to do if you need help, and use a medical alert bracelet.

Avoid high blood glucose and ketoacidosis

Taking less insulin before physical activity may help prevent low blood glucose, but it may also make you more likely to have high blood glucose. If your body does not have enough insulin, it can’t use glucose as a source of energy and will use fat instead. When your body uses fat for energy, your body makes chemicals called ketones .

High levels of ketones in your blood can lead to a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) . DKA is a medical emergency that should be treated right away. DKA is most common in people with type 1 diabetes . Occasionally, DKA may affect people with type 2 diabetes  who have lost their ability to produce insulin. Ask your health care professional how much insulin you should take before physical activity, whether you need to test your urine for ketones, and what level of ketones is dangerous for you.

Take care of your feet

People with diabetes may have problems with their feet because high blood glucose levels can damage blood vessels and nerves. To help prevent foot problems, wear comfortable and supportive shoes and take care of your feet  before, during, and after physical activity.

If you have diabetes, managing your weight  may bring you several health benefits. Ask your health care professional or health care team if you are at a healthy weight  or if you should try to lose weight.

If you are an adult with overweight or obesity, work with your health care team to create a weight-loss plan. Losing 5% to 7% of your current weight may help you prevent or improve some health problems  and manage your blood glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. 2 If you are worried about your child’s weight  and they have diabetes, talk with their health care professional before your child starts a new weight-loss plan.

You may be able to reach and maintain a healthy weight by

• following a healthy meal plan
• consuming fewer calories
• being physically active
• getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night 3

If you have type 2 diabetes, your health care professional may recommend diabetes medicines that may help you lose weight.

Online tools such as the Body Weight Planner  may help you create eating and physical activity plans. You may want to talk with your health care professional about other options for managing your weight, including joining a weight-loss program  that can provide helpful information, support, and behavioral or lifestyle counseling. These options may have a cost, so make sure to check the details of the programs.

Your health care professional may recommend weight-loss surgery  if you aren’t able to reach a healthy weight with meal planning, physical activity, and taking diabetes medicines that help with weight loss.

If you are pregnant , trying to lose weight may not be healthy. However, you should ask your health care professional whether it makes sense to monitor or limit your weight gain during pregnancy.

Both diabetes and smoking —including using tobacco products and e-cigarettes—cause your blood vessels to narrow. Both diabetes and smoking increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke , nerve damage , kidney disease , eye disease , or amputation . Secondhand smoke can also affect the health of your family or others who live with you.

If you smoke or use other tobacco products, stop. Ask for help . You don’t have to do it alone.

Feeling stressed, sad, or angry can be common for people with diabetes. Managing diabetes or learning to cope with new information about your health can be hard. People with chronic illnesses such as diabetes may develop anxiety or other mental health conditions .

Learn healthy ways to lower your stress , and ask for help from your health care team or a mental health professional. While it may be uncomfortable to talk about your feelings, finding a health care professional whom you trust and want to talk with may help you

• lower your feelings of stress, depression, or anxiety
• manage problems sleeping or remembering things
• see how diabetes affects your family, school, work, or financial situation

Ask your health care team for mental health resources for people with diabetes.

Sleeping too much or too little may raise your blood glucose levels. Your sleep habits may also affect your mental health and vice versa. People with diabetes and overweight or obesity can also have other health conditions that affect sleep, such as sleep apnea , which can raise your blood pressure and risk of heart disease.

NIDDK conducts and supports clinical trials in many diseases and conditions, including diabetes. The trials look to find new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease and improve quality of life.

What are clinical trials for healthy living with diabetes?

Clinical trials—and other types of clinical studies —are part of medical research and involve people like you. When you volunteer to take part in a clinical study, you help health care professionals and researchers learn more about disease and improve health care for people in the future.

Researchers are studying many aspects of healthy living for people with diabetes, such as

• how changing when you eat may affect body weight and metabolism
• how less access to healthy foods may affect diabetes management, other health problems, and risk of dying
• whether low-carbohydrate meal plans can help lower blood glucose levels
• which diabetes medicines are more likely to help people lose weight

Find out if clinical trials are right for you .

Watch a video of NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers explaining the importance of participating in clinical trials.

What clinical trials for healthy living with diabetes are looking for participants?

You can view a filtered list of clinical studies on healthy living with diabetes that are federally funded, open, and recruiting at www.ClinicalTrials.gov . You can expand or narrow the list to include clinical studies from industry, universities, and individuals; however, the National Institutes of Health does not review these studies and cannot ensure they are safe for you. Always talk with your primary health care professional before you participate in a clinical study.

This content is provided as a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIDDK translates and disseminates research findings to increase knowledge and understanding about health and disease among patients, health professionals, and the public. Content produced by NIDDK is carefully reviewed by NIDDK scientists and other experts.

NIDDK would like to thank: Elizabeth M. Venditti, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.