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Recently, sociologists have expended much effort in attempts to define social mechanisms. We intervene in these debates by proposing that sociologists in fact have a choice to make between three standards of what constitutes a good mechanistic explanation: substantial, formal, and metaphorical mechanistic explanation. All three standards are active in the field, and we suggest that a more complete theory of mechanistic explanation in sociology must parse these three approaches to draw out the implicit evaluative criteria appropriate to each. Doing so will reveal quite different preferences for explanatory scope and nuance hidden under the ubiquitous term "social mechanism." Finally, moving beyond extensive debates about realism and antirealism, we argue prescriptively against "mechanistic fundamentalism" for sociology and advocate for a more pluralistic understanding of social causality.

Whilst arguing from a social realist perspective that knowledge matters in academic development (AD) curricula, this paper addresses the question of what knowledge types and practices are necessary for enabling epistemological access. It presents a single, in-depth, qualitative case study in which the curriculum of a science AD course is characterised using Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). Analysis of the course curriculum reveals legitimation of four main categories of knowledge types along a continuum of stronger to weaker epistemic relations: disciplinary knowledge, scientific literacies knowledge, general academic practices knowledge and everyday knowledge. These categories are "mapped" onto an LCT(Semantics) (how meaning relates to both context and empirical referents) topological plane to reveal a curriculum that operates in three distinct but interrelated spaces by facing towards both the field of science and the practice of academia. It is argued that this empirically derived differentiated curriculum framework offers a conceptual means for considering the notion of access to "powerful" knowledge in a range of AD and mainstream contexts.

In this paper we outline a case for including realism as an approach for carrying out research in education. Realism is often missing or under-represented in methodology text books which tend to misrepresent positivism and over-claim the epistemic authority possible for interpretivism. While interpretivism is arguably the dominant research approach in education, we argue it has limitations in regards to producing knowledge generalisable beyond specific research contexts. We suggest that realism has much to offer researchers and advocate for greater recognition of its usefulness in social science research. To this end, we describe the realist approach employed by one of the authors in her research to provide an example of how abstract ideas may look in practice.

The overlapping of pragmatic philosophy and the Aristotelian concept of praxis is explored with application to music and music education. John Dewey's philosophy of "Art as Experience" is contrasted with tacit aesthetic assumptions about music that music teachers often hold as a result of the aesthetic meme inherited from their university music studies. Praxis is then accounted for in terms of the conditions of consummatory experience shared with Dewey's pragmatism. The "ends-in-view" importance of consummatory experience to both pragmatism and praxis are examined in terms of the "intentionality" (individual and collective) analyzed by John Searle and further qualified by the "pragmatic realism" of Hilary Putnam. These philosophical implications are explored with conclusions for music education.

This article is a response to Anna Danielsonn, Maria Berge, and Malena Lidar's paper, "Knowledge and power in the technology classroom: a framework for studying teachers and students in action," and an appeal to science educators of all epistemological orientations to (re)consider the work of Michel Foucault for research in science education. Although this essay does not come close to outlining the importance of Foucault's work for science education, it does present a lesser-known side of Foucault as an anti-polemical, realist, modern philosopher interested in the way objective knowledge is entangled with governance in modernity. This latter point is important for science educators, as it is the intersection of objective knowledge and institutional imperatives that characterizes the field(s) of science education. Considering the lack of engagement with philosophy and social theory in science education, this paper offers one of many possible readings of Foucault (we as authors have also published different readings of Foucault) in order to engage crucial questions related to truth, power, governance, discourse, ethics and education.

Critical realism (CR) is a useful philosophical framework for social science; however, little guidance is available on which precise methods -- including methods of data collection, coding, and analysis -- are best suited to applied CR research. This article provides a concrete example of applied qualitative research using CR as a philosophical and methodological framework. Drawing examples from a study of Canadian farm women's experiences with agricultural policy, I suggest a flexible deductive process of coding and data analysis that is consistent with CR ontology and epistemology. The paper follows the typical stages of qualitative research while demonstrating the application of methods informed by CR at each stage. Important considerations CR ontology and epistemology raise, such as the use of existing theory and critical engagement with participants' knowledge and experience, are discussed throughout. Ultimately, I identify two key causal mechanisms shaping the lives of farm women and suggest a future direction for feminist political economy theory to more effectively analyze women's work in agricultural contexts.

This paper reports on the use of a framework developed from Bhaskar's critical realism and Archer's social realism to analyse teaching- and learning-related data produced as a result of the first cycle of institutional audits in the South African higher education system. The use of the framework allows us to see what this cycle of audits did achieve, namely some change in structural systems related to teaching and learning alongside the appointment of key agents. It also allows us to see how the stagnation of sets of ideas about teaching and learning in the domain of culture may mean that an assurance of the quality of learning experiences for all students remained elusive.

In this article we explore factors that constitute "the social" for the teacher Susan, which at the same time highlights ethical aspects of the exercise of her profession. We meet her in a situation where she is setting grades, and our interest focuses on the relations that become of concern for her in her professional task to give the students their grades. In this exploration, we recognize the renewal of interest in realism and examine the possible links that can be drawn between transactional realism, as a pragmatic view, and the new materialism, here represented by actor-network theory. Building on a narrative from an interview with a named teacher in a daily newspaper, the empirical study focuses on actors constituting Susan's reality when grading. Our argument is that in order to understand the complex levels of aspects that influence teachers' actions, it is necessary to start from the local and from there trace the human and material factors that may affect teachers' room for action. Bringing material aspects into the consideration of Susan's situation helps us see that technology itself changes time and spaces and moves the action of grading into spaces outside her professional sphere.

This article considers children's engagement with the "Ologies", a series of postmodern texts that blur the boundaries between fact and fiction. It follows on from a text-based analysis of the series published in this journal (22(3) 2015). Data collected from 9-12 year olds demonstrate how actual readers took up the invitation offered by the text and were able to identify the tension between realism and fantasy, oscillate between different genres, stop to play games and use the tactile to make meaning. In addition, they willingly brought their own knowledge of the world to the text and were able to tease out meanings through dialogic interaction. We argue that the meaningful discussion that ensued is due to the multi-layered nature of the books which offers agency to the pupils with little adult interference.

Metaphor is a critical tool for thought. Lying at the heart of every systematic body of knowledge are three root metaphors--mechanism, organism, and mind. Historically, schools of philosophy--realism, naturalism, and idealism--have grown up around these metaphors. The root metaphors and their corresponding philosophies provide the paradigms underlying different exemplars of education. To illustrate how metaphors, paradigms, and exemplars all shape educational thought, the works of three educators--Hunter, Piaget, and Bruner--have been selected.

Various neuropsychiatric disorders are a common feature today, not least in educational contexts where Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common diagnosis. The dominant perspective regarding ADHD is biomedical. This perspective has been questioned and challenged in various ways. The aim of this article is to think ADHD through quantum physicist and philosopher Karen Barad's [Barad, K. 2007. "Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning." Durham, NC: Duke University Press.] theory of agential realism. According to Barad, what we perceive as singular entities do not exist in advance. Barad pays attention to the world's entanglements, and what we perceive as singular objects and subjects are effects of specific and various material-discursive practices acting as agential cuts. The theory of agential realism assigns performativity to matter, which highlights that ADHD is something that continuously comes into being together with human and non-human bodies. The material dimension has not previously been emphasised as a causal factor in studies on ADHD. In this article, the focus is on the agency of the book. As a conclusion, the importance of taking responsibility for every material-discursive practice with which we are always entangled is emphasised.

Carrie is always dreaming while the rocking chair is rocking again and again, this is the deep impression on us after we read "Sister Carrie" which is the first novel of Theodore Dreiser. In this novel the protagonist Sister Carrie is a controversial person. This paper tries to analyze the character of Sister Carrie in order to find out why what she has finally achieved is just extreme void and unhappiness, and shed light on how the author calls warmly for human intuitive knowledge, attacks vigorously the society of money omnipotent, and further more exposes bourgeois society's darkness.

Critical realism is a philosophy of social science that analyses and aims to remedy current problems and gaps. Basic tenets of positivist and quantitative research tend to contradict those of qualitative and interpretive research, and critical realism proposes ways to resolve the contradictions. Vital themes in childhood research that are reviewed in this article include a comparison with feminist research, critical realism, being and thought, transitive and intransitive, theory/practice consistency, agency and structure, closed and open systems, micro and macro in the global/local nexus, four planar social being, facts and values, and transformative change through the four-stage MELD dialectic. Critical realism aims to understand the world in order to be able move from coercion towards creative liberating power.

This article focuses on the design of a critical realist review that deployed Bhaskar's resolution, redescribing, retroduction, eliminating, identifying, and correcting schema and Pawson and Tilley's Context-Mechanism-Outcome configuration underpinned by realist social theory. Methodologically, the review examined the relationship between Singapore's educational restructuring efforts and the research program theory adopted to measure and provide feedback on its outcomes. Specifically, the review investigated how the standards for authentic achievement and pedagogy from America (and a modified version from Australia) influenced educational research conduct in Singapore. The mechanism of interest was the practice of using the standards and accompanying assumptions from the American experience as a generalizable mechanism for producing evidence to measure and inform Singapore's educational restructuring policy and educational practice. The article proposes that the critical realist review design provides one example of analyzing complexity and accounting for the historical, highlighting the limits of generalizing program theories across borders.

As calls for accountability in our schools increase, teaching quality faces scrutiny and, often, criticism. These realities challenge teacher education programs to find new ways to ensure that their graduates will be effective in highly demanding work settings. In this article the authors draw on literature and practice examples to highlight ways that simulations can strengthen critical aspects of teacher preparation as teacher education programs look for ways to better equip their graduates for future challenges. Experience shows that simulations can support screening for program admission, practice for improving teaching and classroom management skills and development of teaching dispositions. Their potential is increasing as technological advances provide greater realism, distributed access and simulation applications for mobile devices.

"Dragons at the Snack Table" explores Magic Realism in relation to lived Applied Theatre spaces.

The prospects for Aristotelian character education (ACE) is considered. Seven important claims that should win wide acceptance are reviewed; and also two challenges that are impediments. I argue many of the assumptions of ACE turn out not to be distinctive. The conflation of realism and naturalism is ill-considered, and the account of "phronesis" will need additional clarification to be helpful to educators, as will the specific recommendations on offer. I conclude with a suggestion that Dewey offers a powerful, empirically grounded, educationally accessible account of moral functioning that meets the desiderata of ACE; and that charting an integrative perspective is an exciting prospect for the future.

Researchers indicate that prior experience and beliefs about learning and teaching held by practicing and pre-service teachers contribute significantly in shaping their mentoring relationships and, more broadly, their career outlook and aspirations. While mentoring is commonly seen as a form of support for pre-service teachers, mentoring can be pivotal in the creation of enabling environments in which collaborative, professional dialogs are undertaken. Yet, there lies a tension between enculturation into the norms of schools and promoting self-belief, participation, and collaboration. Drawing on a qualitative methodology, in this study we focused on the conceptions and expectations of classroom mentoring within the context of a teacher reform initiative in Scotland. Findings indicated that participants in the study held a mixture of beliefs regarding mentoring practices. Implications for partnership arrangements in initial teacher education and teachers' career development were discussed.

This article presents the author's response to Gary Miller's essay entitled "Ethical Realism and Continuing Education." In his essay, Dr. Miller has provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on the practice of continuing education (CE) leadership. Dr. Miller reviews six principles that are encapsulated in the concept of ethical realism, but are always good guides to action. The author stresses that it is hard to argue against any of these six universal principles: (1) prudence; (2) patriotism; (3) responsibility; (4) study; (5) humility; and (6) respecting others. Similarly, it is hard to argue against the concepts of realism--each decision or action should always take into account the possible and the impossible. However, in proposing ethical realism as a guide for CE administrators, Dr. Miller has also given them an opportunity to look more deeply at their own situations, and this examination reveals some problems with Dr. Miller's central thesis. The author highlights some striking differences between geopolitics and CE administration, concluding that the ethical realism framework fails as a meaningful context for administrators' daily work.

If knowledge is socially constructed, then students' discursive attachments should be eminently malleable. Students' radical openness to change, however, is not the defining characteristic of a university classroom. Instead, learners appear to desire coherence of knowledge over revelations of contingency, and pedagogical acts that disrupt existing formations are as likely to produce reactionary responses as revolutionary reorganizations of the self. In this article Chris McMillan argues that neither the constructivist nor the social constructionist readings of critical pedagogy are able to account for this fixity of knowledge. In response he contends that Slavoj Žižek's Lacanian-inspired theory of subjectivity and of the Real can effectively respond to the limitations of these approaches by insisting upon the pedagogical value of the lack within subjectivity. A Žižekian conception of subjectivity is able to respond to this lacuna by positing the negativity of the subject as the agent of transformation and to produce a "pedagogy of the impossible" that evokes the moments of impossibility within discourse embodied by the subject "qua" the Lacanian Real.

This study investigates the images of teachers presented in Taiwanese children's books published between 1960 and 2012 using the narrative theory outlined by Nikolajeva ("Child Lit Assoc Q," 28(1):5-16, 2003). A purposive sample based upon the portrayal of school life is applied. One hundred and one books were identified as texts in which cultural messages about teachers were embedded. With respect to the depiction of teachers, three salient characteristics emerged from these texts: most images are positive; the teacher is often portrayed as a powerful animal; and the teacher is typically Han Chinese. Additionally, the modes of discourse that these writers used show their preference for realism, the first-person male perspective, and humor. As these findings attest, writing children's books portraying teachers and school lives is a practice regulated by pedagogical and didactic intent. These findings provide insight into the ways that teachers see themselves and their profession, in addition to how they are seen by others.

When we look at institutional education, we see that behavioural approaches to teaching still dominate in educational reality. From this perspective, learning is completely dependent on teaching, just as students are under the authority of the teacher. In a sense, this is a situation of a specific kind of symbolic violence. It has its sources in traditional ways of understanding education as a particular form of training produced in the school. But this is not the only reason. Another one is a tacit assumption about the correctness of naïve realism: the belief that we can obtain objective and universal knowledge of the external world. In this article I argue that this generates the situation in which students' thinking is subordinated to the system. Such education kills free and critical thinking, as well as effectively blocking social change. In other words, the current public educational system is oppressive at its very basis, because of its epistemological assumptions. However, before we start changing educational practice we should first change our way of looking at knowledge. Here, I discuss selected controversies around the traditional model of knowledge and learning, as well as suggesting different paradigms of knowledge and education.

This paper reflects on research carried out with a group of women receiving intensive family support aimed at addressing the cause of their family's 'anti-social behaviour'. The methodological approach to the research was underpinned by the philosophical principles of critical realism. It was also informed by the ethical and political concerns of feminist scholarship. The paper reports on the potential points of tension that arise between feminism and critical realism in empirical research. In particular, attention is centred on the process of trying to marry approaches which stress the central role of participants' knowledge, particularly those who are 'labelled' and whose voices are not readily heard, with the principle that some accounts of 'reality' are better than others.

Contemporary critiques of student learning research call for new theoretical and methodological approaches. This article proposes a social realist approach to this research, using the morphogenetic theory of sociologist Margaret Archer. The applicability of this approach is demonstrated by reference to an empirical study of engineering students at a South African university, using narrative analysis. In the article itself, two narratives are given in some detail, illustrating the key outlines of the analysis. Students' emerging personal identities are shown to be highly dependent on their social backgrounds, yet when in the university the possibilities for the morphogenesis of student agency are very constrained. A critical interrogation of these findings proposes that a true higher education should facilitate the development of an enlarged sense of agency for students.

Offered through a split-text, this article mounts/destabilises the argument that policy research that cites authors usually associated with post-structural thought and which is published in a mainstream education policy journal is overwhelmingly realist in its ontologising practices. It reminds the reader why that is problematic and calls for a stronger post-realist praxis.

This article focuses on the criticisms of current approaches in educational research methodology. It summarizes rationales for mixed methods and argues that the mixing quantitative paradigm and qualitative paradigm is problematic due to practical and philosophical arguments. It is also indicated that the current rise of mixed methods work has increased problems with quantitative and qualitative methods. In this article we offer a different symbolic system, with different logical form for describing educational phenomena based on the philosophical assumptions and new mathematical reasoning: para-quantitativism. Para-quantitative theory is an approach which has been developed in respect to close relationship between paradigm and method, using a postpositivist transcendental realism as a philosophical beginning of the research methodology, taking Operational Logic System or Fuzzy Logic System (OLS/FLS) as logic of scientific research in education.

In 2010, as part of the National Youth Theatre's social inclusion educational outreach programme "Playing Up 2," young people identified as "NEETS" (Not in Education, Employment or Training) performed a new-writing play called "The Block," by first time playwright Tarkan Cetinkaya. This play is set on an unnamed London council estate, and follows the intersecting lives of 10 estate denizens, brought together by the central character, Barry/Baz, and his struggle with an unspecified personality disorder. I argue that social inclusion practices work within a "heroic paradigm." Many of the young people involved in the project lived or had lived on estates, and many faced ongoing social and economic problems that had interfered with their ability to find employment. In the final scene of the play, which up until this point follows the conventions of social realism, a mysterious character named "X" is revealed to be a superhero. He turns back time and changes the course of events in the play, saving a young woman's life and preventing her brother from embarking on a lifetime of punishment, guilt and regret. This paper problematises the character of "X," exploring how the relationship between realism and fantasy, in this performance, worked to suggest that social change hinges upon intervention from an outside "hero." I ask what the implications of this message might be for participants and audience members and explore how the narrative of "The Block" intersects with the National Youth Theatre's wider social inclusion policy.

This paper describes the process of constructively aligning a generalist undergraduate degree using a sociological structure of professional education. Drawing largely on the work of educational sociologists like Young, Winch and Muller, the process aimed to introduce the notion of recontextualization as the curriculum driver for the constructive realignment of the wide range of disciplines that collectively make up the Bachelor of Environments, one of the University of Melbourne's "New Generation" degrees. Two factors were found to be crucial to the effectiveness and efficiency of the process. First, a practical framework for the task, agreed to by all participants, is essential to anchor the process. Second, participants must be willing to contribute openly and collaboratively to both the redevelopment and subsequent delivery of the proposed new curriculum.

Values theorists in educational administration agree that understanding organizational values is integral to organizational effectiveness. However, research in this area tends to be superficial, and a review of pertinent literature reveals no clear definition of organizational values or consequent implications for practical application. One of the substantive issues in current organizational values discourse is the lack of agreement around descriptors pertaining to the phenomenon; additionally, participants in the discussion frequently assume common understanding. What, then, does "organizational values" consist of conceptually, and how can it be defined? In this article the author summarizes a study conducted to clarify understanding of the organizational values phenomenon, and offers a general model of organizational values based on the results.