Using research to promote equity within education systems: Possibilities and barriers

This article provides an evaluative account of its authors’ involvement in three major national improvement initiatives. Set in the context of three of the countries that make up the UK, these developments were focused in particular on the promotion of educational equity. Unusually, the analysis provided compares evidence collected from an insider perspective with data generated through independent evaluations. In so doing, it considers how research and researchers can contribute to system change by using research evidence to influence policy-makers and practitioners at all levels of the system. The article argues that this requires the coming together of different perspectives in a process of social learning and knowledge creation within particular settings. This means that researchers have to overcome a number of barriers related to social, cultural and political factors. They therefore have to develop skills in creating collaborative partnerships that span boundaries between actors who have different types of professional experience. It is argued that researchers also need to mobilise support in dealing with the pressures that this involves. The article concludes with the presentation of a strategic framework that can be used to think about how school systems can be helped to make better use of research knowledge.     

Knowledge practices and relations in professional education

ABSTRACT

The dynamics of knowledge in society have transformed the conditions of professional work and learning. Professional expertise has become increasingly specialised, and practitioners are challenged to keep up with rapid developments in their fields. At the same time, the complexity of professional work requires the integration of different forms of knowledge and knowing. Against this background, the knowledge settings in which learners engage and the practices and resources these offer are of vital importance. This article addresses professional education as embedded in profession-specific ‘machineries of knowledge construction’, that is, the set of practices and arrangements through which knowledge and ways of knowing in a profession are generated. It is argued that such machineries span settings in education and work. Examples from research in three professional programmes are used to discuss how students are introduced to epistemic practices and resources in selected knowledge settings. Analytical attention is given to the dynamic interplay between people, practices, knowledge resources and educational arrangements as well as to how connections to work and the epistemic machinery are made. Taking these linkages into account is important for our understanding of what learning entails in different areas of expertise and how this may change over time.     

Beyond locality: the creation of public practice‐based knowledge through practitioner research in professional learning communities and communities of practice. A review of three books on practitioner research and professional communities

In both the fields of educational practice and educational research the professional development of teachers was, is and is promising to remain an urgent and relevant topic. Practitioner research performed by teachers in professional learning communities and communities of practice is promising to serve their professional development. In addition, practitioner research and participation in these learning and working communities aim at explicating the locally existing tacit professional knowledge. Since practitioner research is also defined as a means to the aim of creating knowledge that is more relevant to the practice of education than the knowledge created by research institutes, we are concerned with the question of which mechanisms can be identified as enabling the production of public practice‐based knowledge. Therefore we review three current books on practitioner research and professional communities.     

E-Learning:变革教学结构和教育本质的学习新环境

E-Learning作为一种学习方式,体现了开放教育、终身教育、自主化学习等教育理念,传达出现代教育新思想;文章从学习型社会是知识型经济的必然结果、E-Learning为学习型社会提供了良好环境等方面论述了E-Learning这一新的学习方式是建构学习型社会的重要保障。     

The Knowledge-Creating School

Moving into the knowledge society at a time when expectations of schools and teachers continue to rise creates an urgent need for better professional knowledge about the management of schools and effective teaching and learning. This demand arises in part because university-based researchers have not hitherto been very successful in either the creation or dissemination of such knowledge. It is argued that success in meeting this demand will continue to elude us as long as the conventional approaches to educational R&D persist. Patterns of knowledge creation and dissemination in high technology firms are suggestive of the conditions under which the creation of professional knowledge in education and its more rapid dissemination throughout the whole education service might flourish. The implications of this radical reconceptualization of knowledge creation and its dissemination in education are explored.     

Open educational resources: education for the world?

Education is widely seen as an important means of addressing both national and international problems, such as political or religious extremism, poverty, and hunger. However, if developing countries are to become societies that can compete properly with Western industrialized countries, not only is a fundamental shift in thinking with regard to the value of education and more/better provision of teaching required, but strong support from other countries is needed as well. This article explores questions such as whether Western policymakers can avoid a repetition of some of the failures of the past few decades in terms of providing foreign aid; how educators and providers of educational scenarios and learning contents can foster and manage the creation of a worldwide knowledge society; and in particular, if the provision of open educational resources (OER) can realistically overcome the educational gap and foster educational justice.     

Open Educational Resources and the Transformation of Education

The extremely rapid expansion of open educational resource (OER) initiatives and the millions of learners they attract can be understood as an indicator of an emerging revolution in education and learning. This article describes recent developments in this area and develops conceptual foundations for studies and policies on OER. We describe four different types of OER, locate these in a field of learning theories, and discuss how the wide adoption of OER may constrain and accelerate the transformation of learning and education in the knowledge society.     

Research capacity and dissemination among academics in Tanzania: examining knowledge production and the perceived binary of ‘local’ and ‘international’ journals

This article explores two distinct strategies suggested by academics in Tanzania for publishing and disseminating their research amidst immense higher education expansion. It draws on Arjun Appadurai’s notions of ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ internationalisation to analyse the perceived binary between ‘international’ and ‘local’ academic journals and their concomitant differences in status. In an attempt to examine critically how the status quo regarding knowledge production in higher education is maintained and reproduced, the article explores interactions between a Tanzanian academic and an educational researcher from the global North, including the ways in which research collaborations between academics from different contexts and material conditions in their institutions may both advance and inhibit professional development of academics and comparative education research, writ large. The article concludes with a call for comparative education researchers to carefully consider the future of educational research in sub-Saharan Africa and the complexities of continued involvement in knowledge production processes.     

Higher expertise,pedagogic rights and the post-truth society

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the nature of higher expertise in society and the role of higher education in constituting that expertise. It is argued that higher expertise relies on disciplined norms against which expert activity can be evaluated, and such norms are the basis not only for knowledge communities in higher education but also for other societal institutions. However, expertise in these communities and institutions is challenged by ‘post-truth’ developments that are fuelled by the marketisation and commodification of expertise, and by a collapse in deference and trust throughout society to which expert institutions and communities have not yet adequately responded. The consequences for higher education can be usefully explored via Durkheim’s discussion of the social organisation of religion and magic. Bernstein’s pedagogic rights of enhancement, inclusion and participation are subsequently examined to offer insight into how higher expertise may be sustained in such a context.     

Educational innovation and the knowledge society: development and issues of the clusters of excellence initiative in Malaysia

As nations worldwide strive to compete in a globally interconnected knowledge society the importance of innovative forms of education is being increasingly recognized. In doing so, many education systems look to comparative and international experience for guidance and inspiration. Malaysia aims to become a regional hub for high quality education and economic creativity by 2020, and educational reform is seen as a central component in this strategy. This article examines the key factors, at home and abroad, that have influenced changes in the Malaysian education policy context. It then documents the origins, nature and development of one contemporary educational innovation – the Malaysian Clusters of Excellence Policy. Conclusions reflect upon the place and potential of this key initiative in supporting broader development goals designed to transform the nation into a leading knowledge society within the Southeast Asia region.     

Rethinking accountability in a knowledge society

Competition between schools combined with test-based accountability to hold schools accountable for predetermined knowledge standards have become a common solution in educational change efforts to improve the performance of educational systems around the world. This is happening as family and community social capital declines in most parts of developed world. Increased competition and individualism are not necessarily beneficial to creating social capital in schools and their communities. This article argues that: (1) the evidence remains controversial that test-based accountability policies improve the quality and efficiency of public education; (2) the current practice of determining educational performance by using primarily standardized knowledge tests as the main means of accountability is not a necessary condition for much needed educational improvement; and (3) there is growing evidence that increased high-stakes testing is restricting students’ conceptual learning, engaging in creative action and understanding innovation, all of which are essential elements of contemporary schooling in a knowledge society. Finland is used as an example to suggest that educational change should rather contribute to increasing networking and social capital in schools and in their communities through building trust and strengthening collective responsibilities within and between schools. This would create better prospects of worthwhile lifelong learning in and out of schools. Based on this analysis, the article concludes that education policies should be directed at promoting more intelligent forms of accountability to meet external accountability demands and to encourage cooperation rather than competition among students, teachers and schools.     

论核心教育知识析取的路径

核心教育知识是滋养教师专业成长的高营养品。从教育知识群落中析取出核心教育知识,使之成为教师学习的课程与对象,是当代教师教育减耗增效、直击靶心的现实选择。核心教育知识析取的基本思路有三个,即自下而上的搜索式、自上而下的优选式与双线路同趋的对话式。核心教育知识析取的最终目标是把兼具高理论品性与高实践品性的教育知识精选出来,使之成为提升教师教育课程质量的有力依托。     

Professional development for teachers: a world of change

As the industrialised world shifted to an interdependent and global society, formal schooling was quickly recognised as a major factor in achieving a knowledge society of lifelong learners capable of transforming and revitalising organisations. Teachers were encouraged to engage in learning together to improve teaching and, by extension, improve learning for the children in their care. This article identifies three emerging trends intended to broaden teachers' learning and enhance their practices through continuous professional development: glocalisation, mentoring, and re‐thinking teacher evaluation. The body of the article indicates how these three trends are unfolding in Australia, England, Latvia, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Taiwan, and the USA.

However, teachers cannot bring about necessary changes without organisational and systemic change; namely, collaboration with governmental agencies and other institutions. The authors suggest that transforming schooling in the twenty‐first century depends on education policies being supported by expanded teacher participation in education policy‐making, more coherent governmental policies across agencies, and collaborative, differentiated models for career‐long continuing professional development.     

Restructuring teachers’ work‐lives and knowledge in England and Spain

This article explores the restructuring of education in England and Spain. Against a presumably homogeneous global streamlining of educational systems according to competition‐driven goals, the comparison of teachers’ work‐lives and professional knowledge evidences a variety of experiences under‐represented in discourses on global restructuring. Our argument highlights how in England political reforms have worked their way deep into the working lives of professionals, giving rise to a ‘managerial’ model of professionalism, whereas in Spain reforms are more loosely coupled with teachers’ work, favoring a ‘social service’‐oriented model. However, despite the different professional ideals, teachers uniformly stressed the challenges they face were predominantly due to broader social transformations for which policy reforms provided few if any remedies. Our study emphasizes the variety of educational reforms and teachers’ experiences in the European context and argues further educational change should be bound to the historical trajectory and the concrete needs of the professionals in question.     

Educational development as a field: are we there yet?

This paper contributes to the critical engagement about educational development and its status as a field. The critique focuses in particular on our knowledge and the nature of our knowledge-building. The paper argues that unless we strengthen our knowledge base we will not emerge as a professional field able to engage rigorously and systematically with the problems of higher education. Drawing on social realist work that builds on the ideas of Basil Bernstein, a framework is offered for conceptualizing knowledge differentiation and the implications of different types of knowledge for knowledge-building. The paper concludes with suggestions on how educational development might strengthen its knowledge-building capacity.     

“实践性学习”：一种新型的职前教师教育模式

基于教育问题的“实践性学习”强调教育实践在教师教育过程中的作用，是培养师范生教育胜任力的一种新型模式。在教育理念上，“实践性学习“强调“知行合一”，侧重“做中学”，认为职前教师教育仅仅传授教育知识是远远不够的，还必须提供教育实践机会，在“实践场景”下让他们尽早进入专业领域，参与教育实践活动，才能掌握了教育的程序和方法，获得教育胜任力。     

论知识观的演变与教育改革的价值取向

知识观与教育活动有着重要的依存关系,是构成教育价值取向的前提.随着知识转型以及传统知识观到现代知识观的演变,教育价值观也经历了从古代理性主义、近代传统教育价值观到现代教育价值观的发展.现代知识经济社会知识和知识观的发展要求教育改革主动调整教育的价值取向,以实现知识在教育中的双重价值,更好地促进教育、社会和人的发展.     

Three Educational Scenarios for the Future: lessons from the sociology of knowledge

This article draws on social realist approaches in the sociology of knowledge and in light of them constructs three scenarios for the future of education in the next decades. The primary focus of the article is on one of the most crucial questions facing educational policy makers — the relationship between school and everyday or common sense knowledge. The different possibilities for how the school/non-school knowledge boundaries might be approached are expressed in three scenarios —'boundaries treated as given', 'a boundary-less world' and the idea of 'boundary maintenance as a condition for boundary crossing'. The curriculum implications of each are explored and the article makes the case for the third scenario. The factors likely to make one or other scenario dominate educational policy in the next 20–30 years are also considered.