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In this paper, based on an invited keynote given at the 2022 Colloquium of the Society for Educational Studies, I explore the question of the integrity of educational studies. I ask is whether educational studies in their current configuration are able to offer resistance to the instrumentalisation of education and the push towards empirical research that is only interested in finding out what works, but is unable to engage with this question in a properly educational way. Through a reconstruction of the history of educational studies in the English-speaking world, I show how educational studies are predominantly configured as an 'applied field'. The problem with this configuration is that educational studies lack the resources for generating educational questions about and an educational perspective on education. I show why this is a problem, also in relation to ongoing misunderstandings and misrepresentations of education. In the final part of the paper I outline two approaches, one focusing on educational concepts and one highlighting the unique and distinctive form of education, that may help to build a stronger identity for educational studies. I see this as a major challenge for the future of educational studies in the English-speaking world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses prospects for the relationship between educational studies and educational practice, with reference to the current institutional and policy context in England. Drawing on the sociology of educational knowledge and practice, it is argued that educational studies can be conceptualised in contrasting ways, by considering internal structures, external relations and how disciplinary problematics are defined, but also by how educational practice is portrayed. To develop the analysis, Bernstein's work on knowledge structures and academic and professional discourses is articulated with philosophical work that distinguishes between different conceptualisations of practice prevalent in the humanities and social sciences. This enables critical reflection on three arrangements of educational studies (the foundation disciplines, the new science, and the deliberative traditions) each with their own internal dynamic, socio-epistemic assumptions, relationship to policy, and implications for the future production of knowledge. This process of reflection is illustrated with reference to some recent developments in England that illuminate the current position of educational studies in relation to educational policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calls for complementing, modifying and 'decolonising' the conceptualisation and implementation of Diversity Education (e.g. multicultural, intercultural, and/or social justice education) are currently being heard in the 'West'. This paper explores some of the characteristics and benefits of Chinese Minzu Education as a potential addition to the field. Our starting point is that Chinese education is often misrepresented and that knowledge about diversity in China (which includes, amongst others, minority groups and Han people), and especially about how people are educated for and through it, is scarce and negatively evaluated in the 'West'. Taking a university specialising in Minzu studies as a case study (which should not be generalized to other Minzu institutions), we problematise formal and informal aspects of Minzu education that could be inspiring to, e.g. interculturalists and multiculturalists in 'Western' education. Fieldwork notes, student interviews about Minzu education and models of Minzu Diversity Learning co-constructed by Minzu students, illustrate the characteristics of Minzu education in higher education. The paper ends on a call for exploring other 'unknown' perspectives on diversity in education emerging from the so-called peripheries of the 'West'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the paper "Primary Education in the Eighties" that looks at the practice of primary education in Scotland. Principles that underlie the practice; Reasons why the position document by the Scottish Consultative Committee on the Curriculum on "Primary Education in the Eighties" is in question; Apparentness of the doctrine of liberal education on the document.

The article presents an analysis to define the term "educational studies." Looking at a series of conferences held in the summer and autumn of 1977, that some kind of definition might result from considering such conferences. Firstly, there was the seventh world congress of the International Association for the Advancement of Educational Research at Ghent, Belgium, in July. Some fifty nationalities were present at this meeting so possibly it was not the ideal occasion for seeking an agreed definition. In fact, though the congress had a central, unifying theme, 'Self-Realization through Education', the plenary papers almost served as illustrations of the variety of approach to educational studies in different areas of the world. From Poland came emphasis on the search for quality of life and the place of art in education while from the U.S. and Canada came a complex review of aims, objectives, innovations, methods, numerous research findings. Individual papers in discussion group sessions offered equally rich variety, ranging from educational television for adults in Quebec, Canada through Yoruba myths and pupils' understanding of science concepts to school counselling in Iran.

This article provides an overview of papers published in the June 2005 issue of the “British Journal of Educational Studies.” The authors of the papers discuss a wide range of theoretical and professional issues in the study of education. In the first article, the authors analyze current moves towards the privatization of education.. In the second paper on conceptual learning in higher education, the author goes beyond contrasts such as that between surface and deep learning and also considers some of the limitations of the influential notion of constructivism in thinking about learning. The succeeding papers deal with creativity in education and the controversial issue of exclusion from school.

Discusses the quality control in education and schools in Great Britain. Different approach to the definition of quality comes from the literature of total quality management;Ways in monitoring the quality of schooling; Advantages of educational research over the other methods of judging the quality of schools.

The article informs that educationist W.H. Winch is the founder of the experimental approach in education. Current literature concerning the early history of educational psychology in Great Britain leaves the impression that little of any consequence occurred prior to researcher Cyril Burt's appointment to the post of psychologist to the London County Council in 1913 and that this in particular marks the origin of the experimental tradition in this field. The most important member of this group of researchers, and the subject of this paper, was William Henry Winch, who is distinguished not only by the range and volume of his published writings but also by the fact that he never held a full-time university or college post. The dominant aspect of his work was his concern with the systematic testing of specific hypotheses relevant to the organization and conduct of the process of education by means of controlled experiments in the classroom, and it is in being the first writer to devote a large part of his life to work of this kind that the importance of Winch lies.

Examines the strategies on the dissemination of the Initial Training and Inservice Education and Training (IT-INSET) approach to potential educational environment. Details of IT-INSET; Importance of temporal and contextual factors; Usage of a fishbowl sequence.

Reports on the Annual Conference of SCSE, held on December 13, 1985 at King's College, Strand, London. Number of attendees; Central theme of the event; Focus on emotions in education.

Evaluates the implications of career education research for schools of unemployment and the growing uncertainties about the future of work in Great Britain. Aspects to be noted in evaluating the state career education; Effects of the rise in employment on education in general and career education in particular; Issues relating to the future of work.

This article shows how theorising the entanglement of securitisation and education can be enhanced by attending to the power of affect and emotion. The author proposes a methodological and theoretical framework that offers the potential of a rich and promising research agenda which includes the role of affects and emotions in exploring securitisation in education. It is argued that this framework would have to do two important things. First, it would have to show how biopolitical techniques emerge from historicising securitisation processes to shape an understanding of the ways in which bodies are entangled with the invisible affective infrastructures of securitisation in educational institutions. Second, this framework would have to trace the capacities of educators and students for affecting and being affected in their engagements and negotiations with securitisation processes, and specifically how these capacities become normalised or enable counter-practices of interruption. The value of this framework is in its capacity to generate empirical work that extends beyond conventional securitisation theory's focus on language and discourse analysis. As such, what this article offers is both new ways of researching affect and emotion in educational contexts of securitisation and some insights about the pedagogical consequences of this framework of research and theorisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding and use of the theory of communities of practice. In order to clarify terms, explore applications for education and reflect on various critiques of the theory in the literature, two educational researchers conducted a series of interviews with the theorist Etienne Wenger-Trayner. The interviews have been thematically organised around key concepts from the theory. By relating the concepts to their uses in research and to other social theories, Wenger-Trayner clarifies key ideas of the theory including what constitutes a ‘community of practice’. He explains how he conceptualises identity and participation in order to develop a social theory of learning in which power and boundaries are inherent. The interviewers draw on these conceptual discussions with Wenger-Trayner to consider how the theory of communities of practice resonates with key debates and issues in education. By unpacking some key concepts of the theory from an educational perspective, we provide researchers with conceptual tools to support the complex decision-making that is involved in selecting the best and most appropriate theory or theories to use in their research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses the contemporary rhetoric and practices dominant in British education. Major changes introduced in the British educational system; Impact of the economic condition of the country on education; External factors that affects the condition of education.

Probes into whether excellence could be achieved through education. Method in achieving educational excellence; Definition of excellence; Association between knowledge and learning.

The article analyzes whether there is any relationship between educational theory and practice. A major criticism of educational theorizing is that it has no value for practice. As far as educational practice is concerned it is claimed that such practice is theory-less; that educational practice neither necessarily nor contingently rests upon theory; and, that teachers require no theoretical understanding. As far as theory is concerned such theory provides no guide to practice. It appears, then, that the argument rests upon certain conceptions of educational theory and of practice. It proposes, therefore, to begin by looking at educational practice so as to discover whether it follows from the nature of such practice that theory has no place; and follows this by a similar consideration of educational theory so as to discern whether, in principle, it can make no contribution to the practice of education. It is asserted that such skills are learnt through experience and by the continual exercise of judgment rather than by acquaintance with theoretical knowledge.

The article informs that the relation between theory and practice, knowledge and action has always been a crucial issue in educational science and research. Especially in the science of teaching, this topic plays an important role. This has not always been the case. In traditional concepts of teaching it was argued that the rules for organizing a teaching process were a derivate from general learning theory. But the historical failure of learning research led to the demand for special theories of teaching to increase the practical worth of learning theory. Now the situation has changed: more and more people come to know that the well-known concepts of learning are inadequate to explain learning in school and therefore all efforts to derive teaching advice from the laws of learning are inefficient if not superfluous. Educational Psychology has transformed itself into an Instructional Psychology and by this development, the relevance of scientific knowledge is no longer treated as a problem of derivation from general laws, but as that of utilization of knowledge which has already been gained in direct contact with educational and instructional reality.

Focuses on the development of an item bank model at the National Foundation for Educational Research. Potential of item bank for the change on the educational assessment scene; Monitor on the performance of an educational system; Importance of an item bank.

This article focuses on the contributions of philosopher and educator Michael Sadler in the field of German studies, considering some of his literary works and biographical sources. As an enterprising undergraduate, Sadler went to Heidelberg, Germany, to learn German while teaching classics in an English boys' school. In I 884 he made the acquaintance of Joseph Wright, then assistant master on the staff of Neuenheim College in Heidelberg. In the decade before the outbreak of the first world war it is difficult not to become swamped by the multiplicity of references that Sadler made to German experience on all manner of occasions. Three pieces of work only are selected for mention, as being outstanding studies: in 1908, "Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere" was published; in 1910 a trenchant historical analysis comparing German and English educational development in the nineteenth century was included in the volume of "Germany in the Nineteenth Century"; and in May 1912 Sadler lectured on "England's Debt to German Education in Frankfurt-am-Main," a strikingly informed address of which a reprint exists. During the 1930s Sadler did a good deal of book reviewing and there are some notable commentaries on writings like Leonard Woolf's "The Intelligent Man's Way to Prevent War" and Vernon Bartlett's "Nazi Germany Explained."

The article presents a discussion on the increasing trend of representation of factual data in education. For a number of years now the bulk of the work in educational studies has been devoted to the establishment of certain factual data affecting the teaching of children. Much energy has been expended in the discovery of information about the development of children, especially concerning the norms of mental growth and the testing of intelligence. The psychologist has dominated the field and, in doing so, has provided educationists with a great deal of useful information relevant to the classroom. Experts forecast that this trend of academic educational research has ushered the introduction of quantitative methods as the beginning of a process which would ultimately turn education into a true science. The turning of education into a science, however, may prove a more stubborn task than it seems to have foretold. For one thing, the framework of this aim has not found universal favour. For a great deal of the difficulty involved in establishing the psychological facts of the educational situation springs from the equivocal nature of many of those facts. Thus, many psychologists will dogmatize about the needs of children without appreciating that in the expression of a need there is usually involved a suppressed value judgment.

Introduces series of articles published in the August 1989 issue of the "British Journal of Educational Studies." Privatization of education in South Africa, Australia and the U.S.; Research on the Assisted Places Scheme; Argument about the essential place of a private system in a free society.

The article focuses on modern educational thinking and its historical perspectives. The theme of progressive education which has been followed in earlier issues is now further illustrated. An issue of considerable present-day importance is the question of how the school system should adapt to the diversity of cultures from which pupils come. Martin McLean, the educationist, in an article provides a useful analysis of various concepts of cultural change and especially of assumptions about the unchangeability of cultures, which may lead to unsatisfactory policies, no matter how liberal the intentions of those making the assumptions. It is initially important in education to consider to what extent people accept that an individual will grow up to follow and perpetuate the culture into which he or she happens to have been born or to what extent we believe that the educational system should try to give individuals some degree of freedom of choice by providing acquaintance with other cultures and by not reinforcing the home culture.

Presents updates on the activities of the Standing Conference on Studies in Education in Great Britain. Discussion on the role of psychology in education; Significance of personal development in students; Problems contributing to the problems encountered in the process of personal development.