Education research Australia: a changing ecology of knowledge and practice

Processes of national research assessment, such as Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) are a type of audit technology that confronts and steers established institutional identities and traditions. This nexus between policy and practice drives boundary work that diffracts prevailing policy logics, organisational practices, and habits of mind. We use this notion of ‘boundary work’ as an analytical lens for understanding the nature and effects of ERA in the Australian educational research space. This paper explains the methodology that informed the AARE–ACDE research reported in Strategic Capacity Building for Australian Educational Research. It documents the policy logic of ERA and the way it cuts across the established ecology of educational research, revealing social and symbolic work that is remaking the boundaries of educational research. We report on the historical trajectory of Australian educational research, the way ERA codes research outputs, and how educational researchers are repositioning in this shifting research space. We argue that there are specific loci of boundary work where capacity building in Australian educational research can make a difference to future educational knowledge building.     

The importance of collaboration for knowledge co-construction in ‘close-to-practice’ research

This commentary is offered in response to the British Educational Research Association (BERA)’s commissioned report on close-to-practice research. In conducting a rapid evidence assessment coupled with a small number of qualitative interviews, the report represents an overly dichotomised and partial approach to understanding the relationships between research and practice, and the nature of knowledge generated within such relationships. Specifically, the report fails to adequately address the central importance of collaboration to the generation of knowledge and assumes that knowledge is either academic research or practitioner enquiry, without considering a more integrated, co-constructed ‘third space’. I argue that practice-focused research should be fundamentally concerned with making an impact on practice and, therefore, effective collaboration between research and practice necessarily entails grappling with issues of power and democratisation. These are values that underpin and shape research in important ways that must be considered in conceptualisations of methodological quality. I also raise questions about the transparency and quality of decision-making in the close-to-practice BERA report, including whether the six papers identified as ‘high quality’ by the authors would meet their own definition. Their report is not definitive, but rather a catalyst for further discussion. I offer suggestions for some practical steps for how BERA could work to provide a more holistic framing for this vital field of inquiry.     

Boundaries as mechanisms for learning in emergency exercises with students from emergency service organisations

To prepare emergency response organisations for collaborative work in unpredictable and dynamic situations, various types of exercises are widely used. Still, our knowledge of collaboration exercises with emergency response students is limited. This study aimed to contribute to this field by exploring boundaries that emerged between collaborating organisations in exercise activities and how these boundaries could be understood for learning. Drawing on the Akkerman and Bakker framework of boundaries as learning mechanisms, this study explored an exercise, including full-scale scenarios and seminars with students from the police, ambulance and rescue services education in Sweden. Thematic analysis of interviews and observations illustrated boundaries that emerged regarding vocabulary, prioritisation, roles, knowledge gaps and overlapping responsibilities across organisations. Rather than dissolving boundaries, this article suggests that boundaries can be utilised in exercises to support the students to contextualise their knowledge in relation to the demands of collaborative work. The concepts boundary work and boundary awareness were suggested to capture more generally the dynamics of learning in exercise contexts.     

Collaboration and the growth of teachers’ knowledge

Studies of teachers working together have exposed the capricious nature of collaborative activity: sometimes it seems to work well; at other times collaboration actually works against improvement. Success in collaborative relationships is best understood through an appreciation of how teachers form and use knowledge. The teachers’ knowledge perspective is used in this paper to interpret qualitative data from two successful collaborative relationships in schools. Evidence supports the contention that personal qualities, underscored by mutual trust and respect for knowledge, form the basis for successful relationships in teaching, operating in different ways, for different purposes, for different people. Providing that teachers are approached with respect, collaboration holds promise as a slow (but powerful) path towards educational change.     

Friendship and Fandom: Ethnicity,power and gendering readings of the popular

This paper explores the relationships between knowledge of popular culture and power negotiations among young children's friendship groups and derives from a research project on the identity formations of 'mixed race' children. The paper begins with a consideration of existing work on music, ethnicity and cultural identities and how this is implicated in formations of 'imagined communities' (Anderson, 1991, Imagined Communities , Verso). Next, I look at the ways in which this work has been gendered with particular reference to the female music 'fan'. Throughout I use data from my research to show how the children engaged in friendship/power relationships that challenge much of this material. The paper centralises the way readings are used by friends in processes that are implicated in en/gendering identities and identifications - how likes and dislikes are mobilised differently among children who are becoming 'boys' and 'girls' who are friends, through use of the love/loathe discourses. The allegiance work is saturated with and constitutive of relations of power/knowledge which are both painful and pleasurable for children who are differently positioned within networks of learning and cultural expertise.     

Changes in experiences with nature through the lives of environmentally committed university faculty

Previous work has identified time spent in nature as a child as a precursor to active care for the natural world (i.e. environmental commitment), but a paucity of data exists on what happens to environmentally committed people’s relationship to nature over time, including the time spent in nature and the quality of that experience. In addition, previous work has not more finely categorized these nature experiences, with the exception of natural history-oriented professionals. I address these gaps by conducting in-depth interviews with 12 faculty in the environment at Duke University regarding relationships with nature throughout their life. The interviews reveal that the amount of time spent in nature, and the quality of that experience, changed for this cohort over time. Moreover, these interviews revealed nuanced aspects of relationships with nature that changed with life stage, complementing that work which was conducted on natural history-oriented professionals. This work suggests that more research is needed on the changing relationship with nature among adults and environmental educators.     

Social work and social care: the struggle for knowledge

This article, written in the context of the redefinition of public service professionalism, and the roles of public service professionals by government policies and market interventions, examines the role and implications of the new movements of welfare state service users for professional practice, knowledge and analysis. Its particular focus is the field of social work and social care. It raises questions about the nature, purpose and social relationships of research, the credibility and claims of different knowledges, and the relationship between direct experience, research and knowledge. This article argues that currently a hidden battle is taking place in the context of social care between traditional sources of knowledge and service users' knowledges. It sets out ways of enabling the equal inclusion of service users and their knowledges, and suggests that this is likely to be supportive of progressive understandings of professionalism and public service, as well as contributing to more appropriate, rights-based approaches to policy and practice in public service occupations     

The Origins of Social Competence in a Pluralist Society∗

This paper explores the changing relationships between the UK government, its research councils and universities, focusing on the governing, funding and organisation of doctoral training. We use the Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs) funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as a prism through which to study the shifting nature of university governance more broadly. Taking up ministerial policy ‘steers’ around research selectivity, knowledge exchange and collaboration, the national research councils position themselves as active partners to universities, working closely with their selected institutional ‘investments’.

Drawing on interviews with directors of these DTCs, we document the range of ways in which universities are responding to these dynamic and sometimes unpredictable governance practices. This paper also highlights the growing number of collaborations between universities that are emerging. We use recent work in science governance to argue that, through the Doctoral Training Centres, these ‘lively’ Research Council bureaucracies are reshaping the social sciences and universities more broadly.     

Research as an intercultural ‘contact zone’

Contemporary researchers need to work across many cultural boundaries between ethnicities, between disciplines, between universities and industry, between professional cultures, and between various workplace cultures. While many authors have sought to characterise aspects of this boundary work, there remains little research on how researchers, especially research higher degree students, might be adequately prepared to work sensitively in these cultural borderlands. This article draws upon the post-colonial concept of the ‘contact zone’ to reconceptualise the knowledge and skills required by the successful intercultural researcher. It demonstrates how recognition of and engagement with cultural difference can create deconstructive, productive possibilities for innovative research and new knowledge. The article also examines the consequences of a lack of intercultural sensitivity and equity – the symbolic violence and exploitation present in the contemporary research arena. This recasting of research has significant implications for future research training.     

A praxeological perspective for the design and implementation of a digital role-play game

This paper draws on an empirical work dedicated to discussing a theoretical model for design-based research. The context of our study is a research project for the design, the implementation and the analysis of Insectophagia, a digital role-play game implemented in secondary schools. The model presented in this paper aims at conceptualizing researchers’ and practitioners’ relationships with the notion that knowledge development takes place at a meta-didactical level when the participants develop a shared practice and a shared discourse on practice (a common praxeology). This is done through collaboration and teacher-centered design of innovative learning settings. This model emerges from a double approach: (1) a literature review on collaborative research in education and, (2) an analysis of the verbal interactions of practitioners and researchers involved in the project. The study emphasizes the development of knowledge among participants. It also emphasizes the importance of knowledge brokering for filling the gap between research and practice and thus, for the adoption of digital technology by practitioners.     

An analysis of knowledge representation of students in electronic problem tasks

This paper investigates the nature of learning outcomes of thirty six electronics students who were receiving training under the recent reform processes advocated by the Australian government. The reform processes place great emphasis on macro issues thereby unintentionally relegating the micro issues, such as learning in the classroom, to a lower priority. Such misdirected emphasis may hinder the development of an intelligent workforce. A multi method approach which involved a problem task, interviews and concept maps was used to establish the learning outcomes. The learning outcomes were analysed to identify the nature of students’ knowledge structures and the sophistication in their understanding of the topic “Frequency Division Multiplexing”. Students’ knowledge structures and levels of understanding were compared with those generated by 3 experts. The findings indicated a low level of understanding and a very lean knowledge structure with limited relational links to other elements in the given information. Furthermore, a comparison of students’ knowledge structures and levels of understanding was made between students with more than 2 years work experience and those coming to their course straight from secondary schools. The findings of this analysis did not support the argument that work experience enriches students’ knowledge and understanding, as students with no work experience performed better then the work experience students. Thus, there needs to be more empirical research on the nature of real work experience routines and how it affects learning rather than theorising on ideal work situations.     

Curriculum Design and Epistemic Ascent

Three kinds of knowledge usually recognised by epistemologists are identified and their relevance for curriculum design is discussed. These are: propositional knowledge, know‐how and knowledge by acquaintance. The inferential nature of propositional knowledge is argued for and it is suggested that propositional knowledge in fact presupposes the ability to know how to make appropriate inferences within a body of knowledge, whether systematic or unsystematic. This thesis is developed along lines suggested in the earlier work of Paul Hirst. The different kinds of know‐how and their relationships are discussed and it is suggested that they occupy different places and different relationships in any curricular hierarchy. The changing role that knowledge by acquaintance plays within this hierarchy is also discussed. Implications of this account for the current National Curriculum and for curriculum design more generally are discussed, looking at History, Science and Design Technology as examples.     

Blurring the boundaries: connecting research,practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.     

STAFF DEVELOPMENT: SOME THOUGHTS ON RESPONSIBILITY

To many teaching in universities in this country, the whole idea of developing staff seems slightly absurd. After all, did we not choose to work in a university because we had already reached a position of some academic standing in our own specialisation; and surely is not the essential function of an academic to extend the boundaries of knowledge through scholarship and research? Perhaps this is too narrow a view of staff aims, but certainly it is still the widely held belief that promotion comes more readily this way. It is only recently that interest has been shown in the nature of teaching in universities. Doubts have been expressed by Bligh (1972) and others about the effectiveness of the traditionally accepted lecture approach; and attention has recently been given to small group teaching, individualised instruction, the Keller plan and other alternative methods. The emphasis placed on such methods could suggest that staff development is concerned largely with teaching‐‐yet is this not an absurdity in an environment which values mainly scholarship and research? This conflict is one of the major problems facing staff development, and solving it may‐‐to some extent‐be at the heart of the problem of responsibility

In this paper, I will look briefly at some of the early work done in universities in the field of staff development, and suggest certain important character traits needed by anyone involved in this work, before posing questions of responsibility     

Beyond Diversity Courses: Strategies for Integrating Critical Consciousness Across Social Work Curriculum

ABSTRACT. This paper advances the knowledge base of social work education by employing a critical social work framework to inform teaching strategies that 1) raise critical consciousness, 2) uncover privileged positions that inform research, and 3) conceptualize social work practice that disrupts privilege and oppression. The premise of a need for such strategies arises from examination of the social work educational policies and standards that require attention to the experiences and conditions of marginalized populations. The conceptual and teaching approach described in this paper extends this standard via the examination of the privileged social identities and the ensuing behaviors that perpetuate oppressive practices and conditions among marginalized groups. A conceptual foundation for this approach is elucidated and teaching strategies for exploring privileged social locations are presented.     

Modes of knowledge and patterns of power

The paper attempts to identify the extent to which modes of knowledge can be associated with different patterns of and assumptions about power.It discusses the meanings and scope of power itself, i.e. both within and beyond epistemic communities, as against ‘social robustness’ implying more democratic or inclusive forms of evaluation.It analyses the extent to which knowledge has shifted from an internalist perspective relying on the prestige of epistemic communities towards socially relevant assumptions resting within social contexts. It discusses the factors affecting types of power patterns, such as: the nature of sponsors’ objectives and the uses to which they might put knowledge; epistemic characteristics; the nature of the resource required, and the stage of finalisation reached. It sketches the range of models of sponsorship to which knowledge is subjected – from that of the free standing and autonomous individual through different patterns of sponsorship to the directly managed.It attempts to link these classifications to a range of empirical examples, including the power of knowledge in government and in crossing the boundaries between universities and industry.In discussing the reciprocal relationships between power and knowledge, it accepts that power affects the identification, use and transmission of knowledge. It is concerned, however, to question overdetermined perspectives of the relationships between knowledge and power whose mutual impacts may be strong but not easily predicted or defined.     

Attempting to document teachers' professional knowledge

This paper explores ways of uncovering and documenting teachers' professional knowledge. Through a research project that has worked with a number of teachers over an extensive period of time, serious attempts have been made to make the (often) tacit nature of teachers' knowledge more explicit in ways that might begin to address the question of what a knowledge base in teaching might look like. The paper examines methodological issues that have guided this research and illustrates how the knowledge of teachers can be articulated in ways that might help to clarify particular features of practice. An important aspect of the research reported in this paper is the need to have a language of teaching that is common to participants. Therefore, the research reported in this paper offers one way of considering this issue and offers a methodology for exploration and further development whilst simultaneously highlighting some aspects of the problematic nature of developing such a methodology.     

Doing it by the book: natural tales of marriage and sex in contemporary Chinese marriage manuals

This paper examines the construction of sexual knowledge in contemporary China through a typical instance of its production—the marriage manual Marital Medicine. China's reform era has seen rapid changes in attitudes to sex and in sexual conduct, and recent government interest in sex education has been motivated by a desire to halt the ‘negative impact’ of modernization on marriage and the family. Education for legitimately sexually active adults has taken a number of different forms, but the diversity of media is not matched by diversity of content. Sexual knowledge speaks in an overwhelmingly uniform and universalizing voice, and is constructed around a nature narrative, which sets out how bodies are sexed, how bodies have sex, and the legitimate forms of their intimate relationships. This paper is an examination of the production (rather than consumption) of sexual knowledge, and shows the current boundaries of ‘normal’, ‘natural’ and ‘healthy’ within which people understand and make choices about their sexual lives.