Education and educational research, according to the current
fashion, are supposed to be concerned with what works, to the
exclusion of all other considerations. All over the world, and
particularly in the English-speaking countries, governments look
for means of improving student achievement as measured by
standardized test scores. Although such improvements are often to
be welcomed, they do not answer all significant questions about
what constitutes good education. Also the research on which they
are based is not the only legitimate way to do educational
research. Social research, and therefore educational research,
cannot ignore the distinctive nature of what it studies: a social
activity where questions of meaning and value cannot be eliminated,
and where interpretation and judgment play a crucial role.
In this book distinguished philosophers and historians of
education from 6 countries focus on the problematical nature of the
search for what works in educational contexts, in practice as well
as in theory. Beginning with specific problems, they move on to
more general and theoretical considerations, seeking to go beyond
over-simple ideas about cause and effect and the rhetoric of
performativity that currently has educational thinking in its
grip.
Freedom of inquiry in educational research can no longer be
taken for granted. Narrow definitions of what constitutes
scientific research, funding criteria that enforce particular
research methods, and policy decision processes that ignore any
research that is not narrowly utilitarian, create a context in many
countries that discourages scholarship of a more speculative,
exploratory, or critical sort.
This book brings together an exceptional combination of
international and cross-disciplinary scholars who bring the
perspectives of history and philosophy of science to ask, How did
we arrive at this place? and Where is educational research heading?
The book illuminates the anti-intellectual consequences of a what
works mentality in education, and shows that the ostensibly
scientific revolution in educational research in fact reflects an
ahistorical and conceptually muddled understanding of what actually
constitutes science. This book could not be more timely and
important.
Nicholas C. Burbules, Grayce Wicall Gauthier Professor, University
of Illinois
With research increasingly tied to State policies with the
instrumental purpose of guiding school reforms, the volume provides
an important historical and philosophical questioning of the
possibilities, limitations and challenges of education research.
Internationally leading scholars engage in a significant
conversation that is sophisticated and nuanced for understanding
contemporary debates. Thomas S. Popkewitz, the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, USA
This publication is realized by the Research Community
(FWO-Vlaanderen / Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium) Philosophy
and History of the Discipline of Education. Evaluation and
Evolution of the Criteria for Educational Research."
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