‘Ethnographic dazzle’ and the construction of the ‘Other’: revisiting dimensions of insider and outsider research for international and comparative education

This paper presents some initial ideas on how the theoretical concepts of the ‘insider’ and the ‘outsider’ might be re-examined in an era where advances in comparative, qualitative research methodologies seek to be more inclusive, collaborative, participatory, reflexive and nuanced. Earlier essentialist definitions of the outsider as detached and objective, and the insider as culturally embedded and subjective, are re-examined and set within an international research and teaching context that recognises the increased migration of people, ideas and educational policies. It is argued that, in the context of such change, it has become more difficult to categorise and label groups and individuals as being ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ systems, professional communities or research environments. Such essentialist notions, which often underpin the production of large-scale, international datasets of pupil achievement, need to be challenged so that more complex understandings can inform not only new methods of research design, research ethics, data collection and analysis, but also the creation of new knowledge, giving more validity to related education policy making. We recognise that individual and group identities can be multiple, flexible and changing such that the boundary between the inside and the outside is permeable, less stable and less easy to draw. The concept of a ‘third’, liminal space may have the potential to encourage new meaning which is constructed on the boundary between worlds where historical, social, cultural, political, ethical and individual understandings meet.     

Insider–outsider perspective: revisiting the conceptual framework of research methodology in language teacher education

The present paper discusses three types of research perspective on the insider–outsider continuum: outsider research, (insider's) outsider research, and insider research. It examines the essential features of the insider–outsider distinction with reference to categories such as researcher, students, classroom context, contribution, control of condition, quality criteria, disclosure of information, and example of research. The paper concludes that the insider–outsider perspective can serve as a means of building a strong theoretical base in language teaching research that will help language teacher practitioner–researchers to situate their work within a wide variety of research types.     

Growth or steady state? A bibliometric focus on international comparative higher education research

The study combines a bibliometric approach with a content analysis of abstracts of articles to explore the patterns of international comparative higher education research in leading international journals. The overall data set covers 4,095 publications from the Web of Science for the period 1992–2012 and the amount of international comparative articles in this data set is analyzed utilizing a geographical coding. Contrary to a general proliferation of international and global trends in higher education, the results of the analysis most importantly reveal a relatively steady state of international comparative higher education research over the past 20 years. Further patterns examined show that international collaborative articles have a much higher share in international comparative research compared to non-comparative research, small-scale country clusters are preferred for comparison and there is a dense network of comparative clusters between Europe and the US. Finally, rationales for these patterns are discussed, as well as potential implications.     

Inside–out: analysis of the insider–outsider concept as a heuristic device to develop reflexivity in students doing qualitative research

This paper focuses on one approach to making research students more reflexive in their writing. It is argued that the development of the ability to be reflexive in regard to their own qualitative research does not come easily to a significant number of students. A range of possibilities which supervisors might present to their research students as questions to be considered in these respects is outlined. Four relevant case study vignettes are presented of the work of doctoral students (with the full cooperation and written permission of all involved) who have been supervised by the author of this paper. It is argued that these demonstrate that the students concerned have found consideration of their own, sometimes shifting, positions on the insider–outsider continuum of considerable value in developing their reflexivity in relation to their own research.     

SITES2006–International comparative survey of pedagogical practices and ICT in education

This paper describes the rationale, conceptualization and design of the Second International Information Technology in Education Study (SITES). SITES is a survey of schools and teachers of their pedagogical practices, their use of ICT and their readiness for changing their teaching–learning towards the demands of the 21st century. The study will take place under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and the data collection is planned for 2006; therefore the project is called ‘SITES2006’.

Why school-based narrative inquiry in physical education research? An international perspective

While conducting a comparative research study in secondary Physical Education in South Korea and the United States, the question arose as to why the narrative inquiry research method we employed was chosen to study the experiences of teachers teaching the particular subject area to youth enrolled in four secondary schools (middle and high) in South Korea and the United States. This article takes up the query by probing the roots of school-based narrative inquiry and the tight connections between our specific research method and the teacher-as-curriculum-maker image of teaching. Six qualities of narrative inquiry are elaborated through the use of narrative fragments excerpted from our Korea Research Foundation-sponsored study. These characteristics include: (1) justification for inquiry, (2) research in the midst, (3) research on the boundaries, (4) knowing through relationship, and (5) narrative truth, and (6) following where the story leads. Finally, the article returns to the intimate relationship between our chosen version of narrative inquiry and the teacher-as-curriculum-maker image and the kinds of contributions that the union of these robust orientations can make to the study of Physical Education in classroom settings.     

Special education and general education preservice teachers’ co-teaching experiences: a comparative synthesis of qualitative research

Co-teaching is commonly used to support students with disabilities in inclusive educational settings. However, there is often a gap between the potential effectiveness of co-teaching and actual classroom practice. This study examined preservice teachers’ co-teaching experiences to better understand this gap to identify potential practices for improving teacher training and service delivery. A review of 11 studies revealed that both special education and general education preservice teachers believed that co-teaching practices provided them opportunities to communicate and work collaboratively. Both groups agreed on the significant impact of personality in co-teaching as well as challenges in implementing co-teaching. Furthermore, special education preservice teachers noted that they lacked content knowledge, whereas general education preservice teachers thought they needed more training in the provision of accommodations and modifications. Study limitations, areas for future research, and implications for preservice teacher preparation are discussed.     

A critical scholar’s journey in China: A brief Freirean analysis of insider–outsider tensions

As a full-time foreign faculty member in the Chinese Normal university system for the past five years, I analyze the contested terrain of being a critical, Freirean educator/researcher as an insider and outsider of Chinese and Western academic systems and societies overall. This autobiographical analysis is within the contexts of China’s academic focus on raising their global higher education rankings, along with self-reflectivity of my own multiple, often-conflicting identities and Western-centric Orientalism, theorized by Edward Said, in my legitimization of academic work. The following themes are analyzed through critical and Freirean frameworks: pursuit for top rankings coinciding and conflicting with scholarship breadth and depth, academic freedom, and politics of education; constructs of “harmony” that grounds teaching and research; and select pedagogical commonalities and differences between the East, the Global South, and the West. The article delves into preconceptions, including my own, on what is “worthy” academics from China, “the East”, “the West”, and the “Global South” with self-reflectivity of problematizing such terminology that covers such immense diversity in all aspects of contexts, including education which underscores the very problems with rankings, especially global rankings which are often Western-centric. All themes will be analyzed within my own, conflicting insider-ness and outsider-ness.     

What works,for whom,and in what circumstances? Towards a critical realist understanding of learning in international and comparative education

The article explores the potential for a critical realist approach to researching learning in international and comparative education (ICE) with a particular focus on the emerging post-2015 education and development agenda. It provides a critique of existing empiricist and interpretivist approaches to researching learning. It is suggested that whilst both have strengths, they are based on an ontologically reductionist view of learning with implications for research, policy and practice. As a ‘third’ research approach critical realism has the potential to build on the strengths whilst avoiding the pitfalls of both empiricism and interpretivism. Such an approach it is argued needs to start from an ontologically inclusive and laminated view of learning. Further, it is suggested that comparative research should focus on the development of theories of learning that are able to explain the natural and social structures and causal mechanisms that give rise to and inhibit learning at different scales and levels and in different contexts. The development of theory ought to embrace epistemological pluralism drawing critically on, cross-cultural, inter-disciplinary and mixed methods enquiry and making use of abductive and retroductive forms of inference. In this way it is argued it becomes possible to move beyond the dominant ‘what works’ agenda favoured by empiricists to critically consider what works, for who and under what circumstances.     

The problem with international students' ‘experiences’ and the promise of their practices: Reanimating research about international students in higher education

The increasing number of people studying abroad has drawn significant scholarly attention to the experiences of international students. While these works have productively informed policy and practice regarding how international students may be better supported, they have not always considered the active ways international students contribute to higher education. This article suggests that adopting the notion of experience as a conceptual starting point is problematic because it only partially illuminates international students' agency and reproduces understandings of them as a vulnerable group. The more active notion of practice, by contrast, suggests a more agentive subject who is a pivotal actor in spaces of education. The main argument in this article is that the abiding focus on international students' experiences will be productively unsettled by orienting attention to their practices and theorising the notion of practice in more fluid and dynamic ways. After critically engaging with the existing literature, the article outlines four ways that a focus on international students' practices may reanimate debates. A focus on practice will: (1) show how international students actively contribute to spaces of higher education, including classrooms, campuses and other sites of sociality; (2) demand that researchers theorise agency in more expansive ways and consider the practices of a broader set of social groups; (3) encourage researchers to make use of a wider set of qualitative research methods; and (4) create a stronger political foundation from which to defend the interests of international students in a post-COVID-19 world.     

Assessing the creativity of scientific explanations in elementary science: an insider–outsider view of intuitive assessment in the hypothesis space

Assessing creativity is commonly believed to be difficult but there is evidence that an intuitive, holistic assessment is easy and reliable. Given that children can engage in creative activity and teachers are expected to foster it, some assessment of it could aid planning and optimise support. Assessing creativity intuitively and holistically could be a useful, quick way of assessing to inform teaching. A teacher of young children, however, is essentially an outsider in the child’s world and often also in the world of science. Judging a child’s creativity in this way from a child’s point of view may not always be easy or reliable. Here, pre‐service elementary teachers in the UK assessed explanations of simple science events. Their holistic assessments of creativity did not agree to any great extent. Agreement improved when they assessed some of the attributes of creativity but was still less than expected. Nevertheless, these novices’ assessments as a whole showed there was some ability to discriminate usefully between explanations, albeit with considerable variation from teacher to teacher. Some implications for teacher training are described.     

Pragmatic research methodology in education: possibilities and pitfalls

ABSTRACT

This paper considers the challenges experienced by a doctoral student engaging in qualitative research. It examines the difficulties experienced in selecting an appropriate approach from the traditional methodologies. A pragmatic methodology which provides the researcher with the opportunity to utilise a range of strategies to answer the research question are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of the freedoms afforded in methodological thinking, rather than following prescribed strategies and procedures are then considered. How a pragmatic perspective informed the researcher’s understanding of the impact of selecting a specific methodology and how this shaped the research and its outcomes concludes the paper.     

A novel model for extending international co-operation in science and education

INTRODUCTIONInternationalcooperationisahottopicintheworldtodayandnetworkingacrossbordershasbecomepartofsociety.Intheprivatesectorthenumberofinternationalalliancesisgrowing;whileintheworldofhighereducationtheneedforin-ternationallinkagesandexchangesisbeingrecog-nizedaswell.Inordertokeeppacewiththechangingandeverexpandingfrontiersofknowledgeandtech-nologyuniversitiesareactivelyseekingforpartners.Withotheruniversitiestheycanaccomplishgoalstheycouldnotaccomplishbythemselves.Thein-tentiontocoo…     

The Norden Associations and international efforts to change history education, 1919–1970: international organisations,education, and hegemonic nationalism

During the interwar period, a number of organisations started to look into education as part of an attempt to understand how nationalism was fuelled through education and to what extent it had forced the outbreak of the Great War. In response to nationalism and a perceived need for reformation of national narratives, the school subjects of history and geography became the primary suspects as advocates of chauvinism and militarism. In 1919, associations for the promotion of understanding and cooperation between the Scandinavian countries – the Norden Associations [föreningarna Norden] – began investigating history textbooks. This revision of textbooks was expanded in the 1930s to explore, assess, and develop the entire teaching of history in the Nordic countries. The Norden Associations converged on many levels with the disparate international movements for educational change. This article presents the Norden Associations as part of a process of hegemonic isomorphism in which cultural hegemony set the institutional boundaries within which the organisations could work in order to attain legitimacy. The article demonstrates how an organisation with a specific political agenda, and with only limited international objectives came to be – not only a part of – but, to some extent, an organisational role model for loftier efforts aimed at global and cosmopolitan history teachings.     

Research and exploration for operational research education in industry and engineering subject

On the basic of exploring the relationship of industry engineering and operational research technique, the thesis analyzes the location and utility of the operational research education in the whole industry engineering subject education. It brings forward the system design about operational research and relative class among industry engineering subject and the imagine of concrete class design for industry engineering operational research class, it puts forwards the view of optimizing operational research teaching, and it also makes some exoloration and research on ooerational research education of industry engineering, subject     

Power and control in education 1944–2004

Abstract

This article examines the prospects for education over the next decade in the context of an analysis of the last fifty years of conflict and consensus over education policy. It begins with a look into the future and then turns back to 1944 to study the distribution of power under the Butler settlement. It then examines the pressures which broke up the Butler settlement and created the conditions for the market revolution of 1988 to 1994. It argues that in 1994 the education system stands at a turning point where a number of significant choices have to be made. If good policy choices are made in the next two to three years it argues, then the education system has the potential to achieve very high levels of success within the next decade.