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Aimed at researchers in educational settings, this book addresses fundamental questions and provides a set of principles for doing educational research for social justice. It covers all stages, from getting started to dissemination of results.
This book presents a series of analyses of educational policies – largely in the UK, but some also in Europe – researched by a team of social scientists who share a commitment to social justice and equity in education. We explore what social justice means, in educational policy and practice, and how it impacts on our understanding of both ‘educational science’ and ‘the public good’. Using a social constructivist approach, the book argues that social justice requires a particular and critical analysis of the meaning of meritocracy, and of the way this term turns educational policies towards treating learning as a competition, in which many young people are constructed as ‘losers’. We discuss how many terms in education are essentialised and have specific, and different, meanings for particular social groups, and how this may create issues in both quantitative survey methods and in determining what is ‘the public good’. We discuss social justice across a range of intersecting social characteristics, including social class, ethnicity and gender, as they are applied across the educational policy spectrum, from early years to postgraduate education. We examine the ways that young people construct their identities, and the implications of this for understanding the ‘public good’ in educational practice. We consider the responsibilities of educational researchers to acknowledge these issues, and offer examples of researching with such a commitment. We conclude by considering how educational policy might contribute to a socially just, equitable and inclusive public good.
This book examines the conduct and purposes of educational research. It looks at values of researchers, at whose interests are served by the research, and the inclusion or exclusion of practitioners and subjects of research. It asks if educational research should be explicitly committed to promoting equality and inclusion, and whether that requires research to be more aware of the cultural and global contexts of research questions. It explores the ethical challenges encountered in the conduct of research and the potential ethical and social justice constraints imposed by comparative research rankings. Next, it discusses the research funding aspects of the above issues both philosophically and historically, thus examining the changing sources, patterns, and effects of educational research funding over time. Since the conduct of most educational research increasingly requires institutional and financial support, the question is whether funding shapes the content of research, and what counts as research. The book discusses if funding is a factor in the shift of efforts of researchers from pure or basic research to more applied research, and if it encourages the development of large research teams, to the detriment of individual scholars. It looks at the ownership of the content, results, and data of publicly funded research. Finally, it tries to establish whether scholars solicit funding to support research projects, or generate research projects to attract funding. This publication, as well as the ones that are mentioned in the preliminary pages of this work, were realized by the Research Community Philosophy and History of the Discipline of Education: Purposes, Projects, and Practices of Educational Research.
An examination of educational research aimed at those critical post-graduate research students and researchers who have completed research methods courses, but who have yet to take on the challenge and responsibilty of justifying their knowledge claims rigorously. A significant contribution to the scant literature available on research methods and their implications for social justice.
This textbook presents an integrative approach to thinking about research methods for social justice. In today's education landscape, there is a growing interest in scholar-activism and ways of doing research that advances educational equity. This text provides a foundational overview of important theoretical and philosophical issues specific to this kind of work in Section I. In Section II, readers engage with various ways of thinking about, collecting, and analyzing data, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Finally, in Section III, through case studies and research narratives, readers will learn about real scholars and their work. This book takes a wide-ranging approach to ways that various modalities and practices of research can contribute to an equity mission.
Gloria Ladson-Billings and William F. Tate argue that education scholars can and must undertake work that speaks to the pressing public issues related to education. In this volume, they are joined by renowned educators who have a reputation for engaging public interests and public policy in powerful and provocative ways. Together, they address such important issues as zero-tolerance policies, language-minority students, multicultural education, school reform, teaching for social justice, educational inquiry, curriculum, assessment, and much more. This compelling collection challenges policymakers and the public to take a greater hand in creating a quality education for all students.
Research Methods for Social Justice and Equity in Education offers researchers a full understanding of very important concepts, showing how they can be used a means to develop practical strategies for undertaking research that makes a difference to the lives of marginalised and disadvantaged learners. It explores different conceptualisations of social justice and equity, and leads the reader through a discussion of what their implications are for undertaking educational research that is both moral and ethical and how it can be enacted in the context of their chosen research method and a variety of others, both well-known and more innovative. The authors draw on real, practical examples from a range of educational contexts, including early childhood, special and inclusive education and adult education, and cultures located in both western and developing nations in order to exemplify how researchers can use methods which contribute to the creation of more equitable education systems. In this way, the authors provide a global perspective of the contrasting and creative ways in which researchers reflect on and integrate principles of social justice in their methods and their methodological decision making. It encourages the reader to think critically about their own research by asking key questions, such as: what contribution can research for equity and social justice make to new and emerging methods and methodologies? And how can researchers implement socially just research methods from a position of power? This book concludes by proposing a range of methods and methodologies which researchers can use to challenge inequality and work towards social justice, offering a springboard from which they can further their own studies.
This is a book for all researchers in educational settings whose research is motivated by considerations of justice, fairness and equity. It addresses questions such researchers have to face. Will a prior political or ethical commitment bias the research? How far can the ideas of empowerment or 'giving a voice' be realised? How can researchers who research communities to which they belong deal with the ethical issues of being both insider and outsider? The book provides a set of principles for doing educational research for social justice. These are rooted in considerations of methodology, epistemology and power relations, and provide a framework for dealing with the practical issues of collaboration, ethics, bias, empowerment, voice, uncertain knowledge and reflexivity, at all stages of research from getting started to dissemination and taking responsibility as members of the wider community of educational researchers. Theoretical arguments and the realities of practical research are brought together and interwoven. Thus the book will be helpful to all researchers, whether they are just beginning their first project, or whether they are already highly experienced. It will be of great value to research students in designing and writing up their theses and dissertations.
Oral History and Qualitative Methodologies: Educational Research for Social Justice examines oral history methodological processes involved in the doing of oral history as well as the theoretical, historical, and knowledge implications of using oral history for social justice projects. Oral history in qualitative research is an umbrella term that integrates history, life history, and testimony accounts. Oral history draws from various social science disciplines, including educational studies, history, indigenous studies, sociology, anthropology, ethnic studies, women’s studies, and youth studies. The book argues for the further development of a pedagogical culture related to oral history for educational research as part of the effort to diversify the range of human experiences educators, community members, and policy makers incorporate into knowledge-making and knowledge-using processes. Early career researchers, novice researchers, as well as experienced researchers are invited to join social science educational researchers in developing their own oral history projects using all of the tools, dispositions, and epistemologies affiliated with qualitative inquiry. The book will be of use in courses on qualitative research methods, history, anthropology, women’s studies, and education disciplines as well as by community organizations who want to use oral history to preserve the history of communities and advance social justice projects.
This book explores the problematic relationship between education, social justice and the State, against the background of comparative education research. The book critiques the status quo of stratified school systems, and the unequal distribution of cultural capital and value added schooling. The authors address one of today’s most pressing questions: Are social, economic and cultural divisions between the nations, between school sectors, between schools and between students growing or declining?
