Educational Research: An Unorthodox Introduction

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With so much technical information about research methods it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture of why we carry out educational research and where and how research might contribute to the improvement of education. Educational Research: An Unorthodox Introduction steps you through the wider social and political contexts of educational research, focusing on fundamental questions such as what education actually is and what it is for. In doing so, the book raises questions that more orthodox introductions to the theory and practice of educational research often leave aside. Gert Biesta covers a range of key issues which permeate any educational research project, including the roles of theory in research, what it means and takes to improve education, the nature of educational practice, the history of educational research and scholarship, the connection between research, professionality and democracy and what the social and political dimensions of academic publishing are. Each chapter includes a set of questions to stimulate further discussion.

Reviews

[Biesta] weaves a rich discussion where every sentence is meaningfully constructed... A fresh perspective on many educational research orthodoxies. * Education in the North *
Providing intellectual challenge, insight and assurance in the often complex work of educational research, Gert Biesta encourages readers to question many of the common and dominant assumptions that have come to pervade the field of educational research. For doctoral and postgraduate researchers, this is a must have text. * Dave Trotman, Professor of Education Policy, Newman University, UK *
According to educational philosopher Gert Biesta, effectiveness is never an educational good in itself and without normative and critical purposes of educational practices politicians and educational managers risk to misunderstand and damage education. His book is a fertile invitation to discuss what educational research is and what it is good for. Biesta once again testifies that he is an irreplaceable voice when it comes to education. * Steen Nepper Larson, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Danish School of Education, Denmark *
With Gert Biestas new book, we can create an inspired, diverse, and useful field. Education Research: An Unorthodox Introduction is informative, thoughtful, and written in a language that is clear without being condescending. It is the best book on educational research I have read in a long time and reading it made me wish I taught a graduate course on educational research again. * Alexander M. Sidorkin, Dean of the College of Education, CSU Sacramento, USA *
A really useful text to give students a good handle on different things that have informed education research and will inform their own research. A really good window on the bigger picture that is written in an accessible and thought-provoking way. * Louise Gascoine, Assistant Professor, School of Education, Durham University, UK *
Biesta is unique in the persistence and incisiveness of his critique of contemporary education and the place of research in it, and in this book he does a marvellous job of marshalling, explicating and developing his ideas. If only for his comments on theory, what works, and academic publishing, all education academics should read it. * Educational Review *

Author Bio

Gert Biesta is Professor of Public Education at the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy, Maynooth University, Ireland; Professorial Fellow for Educational Theory and Pedagogy at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, UK; NIVOZ Professor for Education at the University of Humanistic Studies, The Netherlands; and Visiting Professor at the University of Agder, Norway. He is Associate Editor of Educational Theory and Co-Editor of British Educational Research Journal. He is the author of The Beautiful Risk of Education (2014), The Rediscovery of Teaching (2017), Obstinate Education (2019), and co-author of Reflective Teaching in Further, Adult and Vocational Education (2015) and Teacher Agency (2015).