Paul Smeyers

Marc Depaepe

Is educational research chasing the trends one can observe in big sciences, mimicking what happens, some would say successfully, elsewhere in academia? The question in the title of this edited collection took its inspiration from a verse by Goethe: Wer Großes will, muss sich zusammenraffen. In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister. Such confinement or limitation that may show mastery does not characterize at all the present state of the educational research publication scene. Instead, there have never been more of such publications which follow each other with an increasing speed. It may therefore be interesting to delve into the reasons of this development that is characteristic of what is published in this field as in many or almost all fields of scholarly work. The chapters in this collection address aspects of the (re)presentation, dissemination and reception, and the production and acceleration of educational research. An international group of scholars, philosophers and historians of education, address questions such as ‘Why publish?’, ‘The lust for academic fame’, ‘Why educational historiography is not an unnecessary luxury?’, and ‘Ways of knowing’. The twelve chapters are preceded by an introduction where issues of plurality and diversity in the study of education are at centre stage and followed by an Epilogue written by the Editors of the Springer Series Educational Research. Paul Smeyers and Marc Depaepe offer some final reflections after a journey of two decades that took them and the colleagues participating in the Research Community from 1999 till 2018 floating on the current of the Zeitgeist that carried the Discipline of Education. They claim finally that mastery in the study of education requires restraint.

Production, Presentation, and Acceleration of Educational Research: Could Less be More?

An Introduction to the West German Discussion on the Significance of the History of Education, 1950-1980

On the Relationship of Theory and History in Pedagogy

This collection discusses and illustrates how educational research is affected by the economic, institutional and physical contingencies of its time, and in our time even increasingly is driven by them. It is argued that the antidote to this is, however, not to aspire to ‘thought itself’, but instead to do justice to its own rootedness in the ‘material’, including textuality. From an historical point of view such an innovative approach can itself revamp the material scholarly culture and the way it is represented. The chapters address a variety of topics such as the cultural heritage of the school desk, the significance of images for research into long-term educational processes, the way iconic signs function, and how modes of enquiry relate to the materiality of education. Attention is also given to standards for reporting on educational research studies and how these limit the scope and communication and moreover shape researchers, to the forms of citation practices as substantially influencing methods and content, and to the centrality of conversation not just as the means to an end but as what matters; further to representational and to non-representational theories for educational research. Some examples are drawn from the area of arts-based educational research, from mathematics education, and from the discourse on universities.

Educational Research: Material Culture and Its Representation

This book examines the conduct and purposes of educational research. It looks at values of researchers, at whose interests are served by the research, and the inclusion or exclusion of practitioners and subjects of research. It asks if educational research should be explicitly committed to promoting equality and inclusion, and whether that requires research to be more aware of the cultural and global contexts of research questions. It explores the ethical challenges encountered in the conduct of research and the potential ethical and social justice constraints imposed by comparative research rankings. Next, it discusses the research funding aspects of the above issues both philosophically and historically, thus examining the changing sources, patterns, and effects of educational research funding over time. Since the conduct of most educational research increasingly requires institutional and financial support, the question is whether funding shapes the content of research, and what counts as research. The book discusses if funding is a factor in the shift of efforts of researchers from pure or basic research to more applied research, and if it encourages the development of large research teams, to the detriment of individual scholars. It looks at the ownership of the content, results, and data of publicly funded research. Finally, it tries to establish whether scholars solicit funding to support research projects, or generate research projects to attract funding. This publication, as well as the ones that are mentioned in the preliminary pages of this work, were realized by the Research Community Philosophy and History of the Discipline of Education: Purposes, Projects, and Practices of Educational Research.

Educational Research: Ethics, Social Justice, and Funding Dynamics

Kristof Dams

Betty Eggermont

Maurits Vroede

Everyday Educational Practice in Primary Schools, Belgium, 1880-1970

Order in Progress

Bart Hellinckx

Frank Simon

"For far too long Catholic teaching sisters have been denied their rightful place in the history of education. It is only during the past twenty-five years that researchers in many countries have begun to reveal the fundamental role played by these women in the schooling of children of both the masses and the elite during the 19th and 20th centuries. This essay provides for the first time a detailed overview of the historiography of the teaching sisters in Western Europe, North America, Latin America and Australasia, surveying scholarship since 1985. It reviews the literature on six major themes: contribution to schooling, teaching orders and schools, educational philosophy, content and practice, life and lived experience of teachers and students, the professionalization of teaching, and changes in the composition of the teaching staff. Very rich in bibliographical references, this book is indispensable for all further research on this significant but underexplored group of women teachers."--Publisher's website.

A Historiographical Essay on the Educational Work of Catholic Women Religious in the 19th and 20th Centuries

The Forgotten Contribution of the Teaching Sisters

Does IT poison the minds of the young? Must educational institutions change to serve the needs of the twenty-first century? This book addresses these questions and more. It records the intellectual struggles of a group of scholars coming to grips with changes in knowledge production and research communication. Together these authors demonstrate how philosophical and historical approaches are relevant to the practice and theory of education.

Educational Research: Networks and Technologies

These selected writings provide not only a thorough introduction to the history of modern educational systems, but also a twenty-five-year overview of the work of a well-known pioneer in the field of history of education.

Marc Depaepe

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