Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice recently entered an exciting new chapter under the leadership of its new editor-in-chief, Trevor Norris.

An Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education, Norris succeeds Dolana Mogadime in leading the journal, which is run by the Faculty of Education. Norris was previously the Journal’s associate editor and has also served as the editor of Professing Education, a journal published by the Society of Professors of Education.

For more than 20 years, Brock Education has promoted a deeper understanding of education and learning for researchers and educators at all levels, from elementary school to adult education, and is available in a variety of databases and indexes.

The open-access journal publishes two issues a year, along with special issues.

“What’s unique about Brock Education is that we have a very broad focus so we take submissions of just about any type and they come from just about anywhere,” said Norris.

Brock Education is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal and is one of a few journals of its kind published by faculties of education in North America. Authors featured in the Journal come from around the world and accepts submissions ranging from practitioner inquiries to research articles. Norris believes the Journal’s broad focus makes it more accessible to practitioners or others interested in education outside the academic world, increasing its influence and impact.

“We do have many articles that are relevant for policy makers, people working in boards or ministries, or for journalists, people that are writing about educational issues that are current and pressing and a hot topic in the news,” said Norris.

Brock Education has two objectives.

The first is to positively impact education policy and practice; the second is to deepen awareness of issues and research related to education.

“The function of academic journals is to broaden the debate and deepen our understanding about education, so we’re not just informed by anecdote or personal experience or polemical opinion or political advantage or rhetoric, but actually informed by rigorous thinking and analysis,” said Norris.

Strengthening debate and expanding awareness is important to Norris because education, as a field of study and practice, transcends academic disciplines and individual experiences.

“Many people are involved in education and most people have been through education in some capacity,” said Norris. “We are something that is very accessible and very influential, but at the same time we’re also a very unique and rigorous discipline.”

For Norris, who is a “believer in the importance of research, educational research and disseminating educational research,” taking on the role guiding an education journal is a significant responsibility — one that allows him to keep a finger on the pulse of education as a field of study.

His main objective as Brock Education’s new editor-in-chief is to make the Journal easier for readers to access and navigate. He also plans to amplify the Journal’s reach by increasing promotional activities.

Norris hopes to build on the momentum created by Mogadime, and former co-editor-in-chiefs Julian Kitchen and Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker, who he credits with the recent growth in readership and quality. Mogadime is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Kitchen and Ciuffetelli Parker are Professors.

Norris also recognizes the support of his colleagues in the Faculty, many of whom have assisted with the Journal over the years.

“Brock is very progressive and innovative in having this journal in the first place and continuing to support it as much as it does,” said Norris, citing Brock Education as clear evidence of the Faculty’s commitment to research.