About the Journal

EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS & STUDIES (EFS) is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, fully open-access academic journal. The journal is dedicated to building bridges between foundational theory and applied research in education, publishing high-quality original work that examines educational phenomena through the lenses of philosophy, history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, and other disciplines.

The core conviction of EFS is that “we return to foundations in order to move forward better.” In an era of incessant waves of educational reform and rapid technological change, we believe that sustained and deep questioning of education’s fundamental problems—What is education? For whom? Towards what end?—is more necessary than ever. At the same time, the journal is firmly committed to the principle of open access, removing all economic barriers to knowledge so that any reader, anywhere, with any level of institutional resources, may access all published content freely, permanently, and unconditionally, making educational research truly serve practitioners, policy-makers, and all those who care about education.

2. Open Access Statement

EFS operates as a Diamond (Platinum) Open Access journal. This means:

  • Free for all readers: All articles are immediately, permanently, and unconditionally available online. No subscription, no registration, no paywalls. We believe that the fruits of educational research should not be locked behind the high walls of commercial databases.

  • Free for all authors: EFS charges no Article Processing Charges (APCs), submission fees, or page charges. We believe that the opportunity to publish should never depend on an author’s personal or institutional funding—a commitment of particular importance for educational researchers from under-resourced regions and the Global South.

  • Open licensing: All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) . Authors retain copyright of their work and grant anyone the right to share, adapt, and reuse the material—including for teaching materials, curriculum development, and policy briefs—provided appropriate credit is given. This maximises both scholarly dialogue and the social benefits of academic work.

  • Open science practices: Where ethically and legally permissible, EFS encourages authors to share data, research instruments, interview protocols, questionnaires, and pre-registrations to promote transparency, reproducibility, and cumulative progress in educational research.

3. Aims, Scope, and Core Areas

EFS is rooted in the rich traditions of educational foundations while actively responding to the new questions that globalisation, technological transformation, and social change pose for education. The journal’s fundamental position is that sound educational practice requires deep theoretical grounding, and that the vitality of educational theory lies in its responsiveness to real problems of practice. EFS therefore rejects the artificial separation of theory from practice and seeks to build a scholarly space in which foundational and applied research nourish one another.

We encourage authors to examine education from multiple disciplinary perspectives, and especially welcome high-quality submissions in the following areas:

Philosophy of Education and Educational Thought

  • Philosophical inquiries into the aims, values, and meanings of education

  • Comparative and dialogical studies of Eastern and Western traditions of educational thought

  • Epistemology of education: the philosophical foundations of knowledge, curriculum, and pedagogy

  • Ethics and moral education

  • Critical pedagogy, emancipatory education, and the Freirean tradition

  • Democratic education, citizenship education, and the public sphere

  • Justice, equality, and the politics of recognition in education

History of Education and Educational Traditions

  • Histories of educational systems across civilisations and nations

  • Intellectual history of education: thinkers, schools, and canonical texts

  • Colonialism, postcolonialism, and the global history of education

  • Historical sociology of curriculum and school subjects

  • Comparative-historical analyses of educational reform

  • Memory, trauma, and history education

Sociology of Education and Social Foundations

  • Education and social stratification: class, race, gender, and educational reproduction

  • Equality of educational opportunity and social mobility

  • School as social organisation: culture, power, and everyday practice

  • Family background, cultural capital, and educational attainment

  • Sociological analysis of education policy

  • Globalisation and cross-national comparisons in education

Educational Psychology and Human Development

  • Theories of learning: behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, and beyond

  • Motivation, emotion, and the psychosocial foundations of learning

  • Cultural contexts of child and adolescent development

  • Special educational needs and inclusive education

  • Social-emotional learning and mental health

  • Identity, self-concept, and educational experience

Curriculum Studies

  • Curriculum theory: from Tylerian principles to postmodern perspectives

  • The hidden curriculum, the null curriculum, and the politics of curriculum

  • Interdisciplinary curricula and STEAM education

  • Multicultural curricula and decolonising the curriculum

  • Curriculum reform and the teacher as curriculum maker

  • Critical analysis of assessment, testing, and curriculum standardisation

Teacher Education and Professional Development

  • Teacher knowledge and teacher beliefs

  • Models and pathways of teacher education

  • Reflective practice and action research

  • Teacher identity, burnout, and professional well-being

  • Teacher preparation in multicultural contexts

  • Educational leadership and school improvement

Education Policy and Comparative Education

  • Education policy analysis: formulation, implementation, and evaluation

  • Globalisation, neoliberalism, and educational reform

  • Critical examination of international large-scale educational assessments

  • Methodological questions in comparative education research

  • Educational governance: the state, the market, and civil society

  • The right to education, education law, and international education agendas

Educational Technology and Digital Education

  • Philosophical and ethical reflections on educational technology

  • Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and the future of education

  • Online learning, blended learning, and digital equity

  • Social media, digital literacy, and youth development

  • Datafication of education and the ethics of privacy

Informal Education and Lifelong Learning

  • Family education, community education, and social pedagogy

  • Lifelong learning and the learning society

  • Museums, libraries, and the educational functions of public spaces

  • Intergenerational learning and ageing societies

  • Workplace learning and continuing professional education

Interdisciplinary Dialogue
EFS consistently welcomes boundary-crossing scholarship from philosophy, history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science, economics, linguistics, communication studies, cultural studies, gender studies, science and technology studies, and related fields, provided it carries a clear educational concern.