By Barbara Kehm When the invitation came (in January 2013) to give a presentation at the 5th International Conference on World Class Universities in Shanghai to celebrate 10 years of Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Class Universities I felt very honoured. But I was also in a split mind concerning my presentation. CouldContinue reading “‘A truly postmodern condition’: The unintended side-effects of global education rankings”
Author Archives: nseeglasgow
Some challenges of practice-centred research
By Oscar Odena Finding a methodological approach within which to work is not straightforward for practitioner-researchers engaged in enquiry aimed at educational change. Practitioner-researcher projects often (but not always) have a qualitative orientation, focussing on a limited number of participants and allowing for an in-depth analysis of particular cases and interactions. These projects tend toContinue reading “Some challenges of practice-centred research”
The challenge of accessing data: My PhD journey so far, Part 2
By Nighet Riaz This is a follow-up to a post on the website socialtheoryapplied – to access the first part of this post click here). The research for my PhD was originally designed as an ethnographic study. I wanted to be part of delivering the intervention in order to carry out participant observations and observeContinue reading “The challenge of accessing data: My PhD journey so far, Part 2”
Learner-centred education, democracy, and the problem of educational change
By Michele Schweisfurth I was in New York last week, which was a very fine place to be in the autumn, or just about anytime for that matter. I was there to attend an Open Society Foundations-sponsored meeting of some of us who have been researching learner-centred education as an imported practice in developing countries.Continue reading “Learner-centred education, democracy, and the problem of educational change”
How do researchers make sense of large amounts of qualitative data?
By Oscar Odena In my experience of carrying out research in a number of contexts, making sense of large amounts of qualitative data is the real issue for many researchers. And that’s not surprising. One of the expectations of social enquiry projects is that they will have a decent amount of data which helps addressContinue reading “How do researchers make sense of large amounts of qualitative data?”
Education, justice and democracy: The struggle over ignorance and opportunity
By Professor Stephen Ball This is the name of a new report I wrote for CLASS, the Centre for Labour and Social Studies, which was published in September 2013. Below is an edited extract from the report, the full version of which can be found here. Comments are welcome. Despite the relentless and repeated criticismsContinue reading “Education, justice and democracy: The struggle over ignorance and opportunity”
Does educational research matter? Response to BERA
This is the question posed in a recent briefing document produced by the British Educational Research Association (BERA, 29 August 2013), entitled Why education research matters. The briefing document is designed to inform future funding decisions and details a range of case studies to illustrate the importance of education research and its success in impactingContinue reading “Does educational research matter? Response to BERA”