Problematising the role of the white researcher in social justice research

This article contributes to the debate on decolonising methodologies in qualitative research by considering how a white researcher can try and destabilise white supremacy when explicitly conducting research with social justice aims. It draws on data from a recent ethnographic study of minority ethnic pupils’ experiences in secondary schools in England and interrogates the tensions between the research aim to challenge racial stereotyping in education and issues of race and power emerging from the research process. This article investigates specifically the ways in which interaction is shaped by – frequently hidden, particularly to those privileged by them – structures of white supremacy. Developing an innovative analytical framework which draws on insights from both critical race theory and the work of Judith Butler, the researcher problematises issues of voice and representation in conducting social justice research. It is argued that an approach which engages with elements of both structural and post-structural theory allows a more critical exploration of white supremacy through an understanding of the performativity of race. The author works towards a possible research methodology which not only takes into account, but also tries to destabilise processes of white supremacy in research by both recognising participants’ efforts to do this, and trying to make researchers better able to take responsibility for their own complicity in perpetuating unequal racial structures. It is argued that such a recognition by white researchers will necessarily be an uncomfortable process.     

高等教育的学科化研究与多学科研究

中国高等教育研究的认识论中存在着“学科论”与“领域论”的学科属性之争,由此导致高等教育的学科化研究和高等教育的多学科研究两种研究方法。高等教育的学科化研究直指高等教育学学科建设,而高等教育的多学科研究则被高等教育理论和实践证明是行之有效的方法,是目前高等教育研究的主流范式。两种研究方法各有其效用,但缺陷和不足也十分明显。在“学科论”和“领域论”两种观点在未来一段时间内仍将存在的情况下,如何厘清高等教育的学科化研究与多学科研究之间的关系是高等教育研究不断创新的关键所在。     

试论高校体育课中的探究式教学

高校体育课实施探究式教学,其效果明显优于传统教学法。体育课探究式教学改变了传统教学法统一化和单一化的单向传习模式,其基本教学程序应为:创设情境,提出问题;搜集资料和信息;引出假设,进行实验探究,论证;整合、归纳、迁移、应用。     

院校研究:高等教育研究的新领域

院校研究是高等教育研究的一个新领域。它在二战后的美国逐渐发展起来 ,并对其他国家和地区产生了较大影响。院校研究以单个高等学校作为研究对象 ,旨在研究特定院校的特定问题 ,在研究方法上力求科学的程序与形式 ,其作用可概括为管理的科学化 ,理论的实践化     

略论高等教育中的问题研究

问题是现实存在与认知和理想状态之间的冲突,问题意识的形成是认识主体与外界交互建构的过程。问题研究是指基于问题解决的研究,其过程可分为提出问题、分析问题、提出问题解决方案以及追踪方案实施。增进高等教育问题研究的意识和能力,需要直面对象、确认前提和慎对常识。     

Quality criteria of research perceived by academics in social sciences at higher education

The purpose of this study is to examine the problem of research quality in social sciences at higher education. Quality of research produced at higher education started to be questioned more often as research became the major factor determining academics＇ promotion and fund allocation to universities. In the study, we aimed to reveal how academics perceive research quality and what they identify as the main problems that make it difficult to achieve quality in research. Data were collected through interviews with 25 academics from 7 disciplines （educational sciences, sociology, communicational sciences, law, history, management and political science） in 7 universities. Six of the academics interviewed were professors, 7 were associate professors, 10 were assistant professors and 2 were doctors. Interviews were carried out in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 academic years, and each lasted about one hour on average. Data collected were analyzed through content analysis. Study findings revealed that academics referred most often to methodological issues as the most important quality criterion of research, followed by issues of theoretical background and originality. Academics definitions of sub-criteria related to these were tackled in more detail in the study. As the most important hindrances that make it difficult to achieve quality in research academics mentioned lack of a long-established research culture, problems of research resources and the pressure caused by academic promotion criteria. Some recommendations related to the problems were made to develop research quality in the light of the study findings.     

多学科研究与高等教育学学科建设

学科是高等教育研究领域的重要范畴 ,但高等教育学本身却不是一门成熟的学科。在这种情况下 ,高等教育研究面临着学科建设的重任。在整个社会科学界大声疾呼“开放社会科学”、“重建社会科学”的今天 ,高等教育学学科建设的取向至关重要。展望未来 ,将高等教育学建设成为一个真正的多学科研究领域 ,将是高等教育学学科建设走向成熟的第一步     

让院校研究走进院校管理

管理落后是制约我国高等学校当前改革与发展的一个重要因素,而造成我国高等学校管理水平落后的一个重要原因是管理中的院校研究缺失。因此,让院校研究走进院校管理是提高我国高等学校管理水平的理性选择。这需要管理者进一步提高对院校研究重要性的认识,加强高校管理队伍的专业化建设,继续深化高等教育管理体制改革,进一步扩大高等学校的办学自主权。     

高等教育多学科研究中的一些认识问题

高等教育的多学科研究虽然被高等教育理论和实践证明是行之有效的方法,也为大量的研究者所运用,但在开展多学科研究的原因和实际做法上存在着很多误区。这些误区的存在影响着多学科研究的顺利进行,并进而威胁到高等教育研究的进展和理论的成熟。澄清这些误区,有助于更好地理解和运用高等教育的多学科研究方法。     

Addressing the wicked problem of quality in higher education: theoretical approaches and implications

This article explores the wicked problem of quality in higher education, arguing for a more robust theorising of the subject at national, institutional and local department level. The focus of the discussion rests on principles for theorising in more rigorous ways about the multidimensional issue of quality. Quality in higher education is proposed as a wicked, ill-defined problem that is under-theorised yet associated with high stakes policy-making and funding, particularly at the macro national level. Theoretical frameworks informing the quality debate in higher education are explored before proposing four sensitising concepts as potential vehicles for enhancing theory-building around quality in higher education. The article concludes by considering practical implications for governments, universities and departments grappling with the complex suite of problems associated with defining, theorising, measuring and demonstrating quality in higher education.     

高等教育研究与高等教育期刊的作用

本文旨在阐明高等教育期刊在传播高等教育研究成果中所起的作用。首先 ,简要介绍了高等教育研究的现状 ,主要是欧美国家有关高等教育研究的定义、性质的各种观点 ,以及欧美高等教育研究的差异。其次 ,重点介绍了欧洲主要的高等教育期刊以及其他高等教育研究出版物的情况及各自的特点。最后 ,从作者、编者、读者三个不同的角度剖析了高等教育期刊对于传播高等教育研究成果所发挥的作用     

Recognition and influence: the evolution of higher education research and development

Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) was established to address a perceived gap in higher education publishing: research of interest to practitioners that was engagingly written. After 30 years of contributing to the field, HERD has constructed a unique position for itself among higher education journals. This paper reviews the general patterns and tendencies demonstrated through the citation practices of authors in the first five years of HERD and it compares them with the ideas used to support arguments about higher education research in more recent articles published in the journal. By comparing the results of this review with citation practices in similar journals of higher education, the study suggests that HERD continues to attract practitioner researchers responding to the changing social and epistemological landscape of higher education. The paper concludes that HERD has been instrumental in consolidating the concepts of the field in a way that has accommodated a large number of authors who only occasionally engage in higher education research. This, in turn, has led to the emergence of a distinctive literature about higher education teaching and learning.     

中国民办高等教育研究:回顾、比较与展望

对有关文献的分析发现,随着我国民办高等教育的发展,相应的研究工作和成果也越来越多。由于研究对象的特殊性等原因,我国民办高等教育开处方式的研究较多,实证研究较少;研究主要围绕有关法律和政策问题进行,理论分析不够深入;比较重视研究对象的经济特性,而相对忽视其社会特性。     

Ambivalence and the politics of knowledge: The struggle for change in German higher education

This article argues (a) that universities are profoundly ambivalent institutions; (b) that this ambivalence explains a great deal about their behavior that would otherwise remain inexplicable; (c) that one of the most striking manifestations of this ambivalence can be found in universities’ attitudes towards change; and (d) that this ambivalence has its roots in a fundamental tension in modern society about the university’s purposes. There is good reason to believe that this set of observations holds true for universities everywhere, albeit to different degrees and in different ways. As a case in point, this article focuses on the process of change (and non-change) in German higher education over the past ten years.     

多学科研究与高等教育理论的形成和发展

高等教育理论是以其他社会科学学科的理论发展为基础,立足于高等教育实践,站在高等教育学科立场上研究高等教育现象而得以形成和发展的。因此,在高等教育研究过程中,有必要将多学科研究高等教育与运用多学科研究方法论研究高等教育区分开来。只有立足于高等教育实践,才能丰富和发展高等教育理论。     

中国近代高等教育的社会信任习惯及其形成

我国近代高等教育的社会信任由科举信任、官本位型信任和职业获得型信任混合构成,并成为过去乃至现在人们信任和认同高等教育的习惯。这一习惯影响着人们对高等教育的认知图式和交往方式。     

Working for change in higher education: the possibilities for collaborative research

This paper explores the potential for conducting collaborative and critical research in higher education which problematises the role and practices of the academy in maintaining exclusion. It begins with a brief discussion of UK government discourse on widening participation, and contrasts this with the research literature which indicates the persistence of exclusionary practices in higher education, particularly in relation to social class. It then utilises a retrospective account of a small‐scale participatory research study undertaken between 1996 and 2003 with a group of adult students from working class and minority ethnic backgrounds, to explore the possibilities for research which seeks the collaboration of those who, in other traditions, are constituted as research ‘objects’. The paper discusses some of the lessons from the research process and explores the challenges for academics conducting research within the academy – challenges arising from their social positioning and their location in the academic field, but also from the ‘scholarly gaze’ which they ‘cast upon the social world’. The paper advocates research which shifts the focus from deficit discourses around students, turns a critical and reflexive gaze towards academia and academics, and directs its efforts towards challenging existing power structures within higher education.     

Building local research capacity in higher education: a conceptual model

Building local research capacity is an enduring challenge that confronts many higher education systems particularly when aspirations for a knowledge economy dominate policymaking. While research capacity has received tremendous attention among international development agencies and scholars, the discourse is largely oriented towards infrastructure, skills training and best practices. This study interrogates the concept of local research capacity building as a dynamic process. By contrasting the policy rhetoric with the lived experiences of academics based in Kazakhstan, we propose a conceptual model to illustrate the diverse levels of research capacity building: resources, locality, relevance, human capital and culture. This study examines research capacity building in the context of the internationalisation of higher education as researchers become increasingly mobile. We argue that investing in infrastructure and human capital are insufficient for capacity building. Rather, sustainable capacity building requires research that is relevant to the local context and a cultural environment that can nurture a vibrant research community.