Trends in Education Research

MTD Induction

28th August 2014

Michelle Groves, Dean, RAD Faculty of Education

TASK

• On your own describe what you believe research is …(2 mins)

• Discuss with another two / three people and produce a sentence to describe educational research (5 mins)

Some Thoughts.....

“sustained systematic enquiry designed to provide us with new knowledge which isrelevant to initiating people into desirable states of mind involving depth and breadth ofunderstanding” Peters and White, 1969

“an original investigation undertaken in order togain knowledge and understanding"

HEFCE, 1999, 261

Research ranges from studies of the learning of babies and young children, through to the lifelong learning of the university of the third age and of those who learn outside of educational institutions. It includes anything to do with the educative process—formal and informal—and many topics within health, childcare or delinquency. It may focus on places (schools, playgrounds, libraries or homes) or on people (pupils, teachers, childcare workers, support staff, chief education officers or civil servants).

Education is concerned with the whole person and their mental, spiritual, physical and emotional developments.

Peter Mortimore 2000: Does Educational Research Matter? in British Educational Research Journal, 26 (1), 5-24.

Current education issues/topics

What current education issues/topics are you aware of?

List as many of these as you can in 60 seconds.

(You can draw on education more widely or focus on dance)

Education Research in the Media

• Increase in university tuition fees and uncapped numbers

• The demise of PGCE as an entry into teaching• Free schools, Academies, Local Authority schools• The place of dance in National Curricula• Assessments are getting easier/tougher• Dance as an alternative to PE to combat obesity • Musical maths class becomes a YouTube hit• Physical activity promotes cognitive development

Approaches to Research in Education

Interpretive versus Positivist

Positivist seek generalizations and ‘hard’

quantitative data; Positivist knowledge is therefore

deemed to be objective, value-free, generalisable and replicable

Interpretive

The interpretive researcher, accepts that the

observer makes a difference to the observed and that reality is a human construct;

Aim is to explore perspectives and shared meanings and to develop insights into

situations e.g. schools, classroom;

Data will generally be qualitative and based on fieldwork, notes and transcripts of

conversations / interviews

A Question of Status?

Which type of research do you think is privileged?

•Research drawn from positivist positions?•Research drawn from interpretive positions?•A combination of positivist and interpretive positions?

Write down three sentences which justify your ‘personal’ opinion. (3 mins)

Main emphasis

The researcher

Writer

Aim

Researcher’s status

Interpretive

Importance of the observer / author

Subjectivity acknowledged, researchers put their own ‘cards on the table’

Personal, collaborative writing, tells a story

Search for ‘personal knowledge’

Democratic (involves informants and stakeholders), participative, equal status of all

Positivist

Detached, ‘objective’ invisible author; removal of ‘the self’

Subjectivity denounced, eschewed

Anonymous, passive tone, impersonal style

Not personal, the researcher is fundamental to the process, de-humanises the story

Search for ‘objective’ generalisable knowledge; separation of ‘facts’ from ‘values’

Autocratic – higher status privilege of researcher

Positioning of the Researcher• Naturalistic Approach - involves research conducted in a

natural setting or context as opposed to a controlled, clinical laboratory experiment

• Practitioner Approach - research carried out by a practitioner /professional in one’s own discipline or a related discipline

• Action Research – involves critical awareness, improvement and change in a practice, setting or system within one’s own practice. Reflection, planning and action as key elements.

Theory in Education Research

• Helps us to understand events and see these in a new or different way

• May be a metaphor, a model or a framework for

understanding or making sense of things which happen in education

• Gathers together all the isolated bits of empirical data into a coherent conceptual framework of applicability

Organisational Framework: The 3 Ps

Policy

Practice

Participation

which occur at the

Macro

Meso

Micro levels

Individual and Group Task

• Select a topic related to dance education. How is the selected topic embedded, changed or restricted by policy, practice and participation?

• How do the policies, practices and participation which

you have identified operate at the macro, meso and

micro levels?

Share your ideas with your group and select one

example to share with everyone