Where Has It Been, Where Is It, And Where Is It Going?

Author(s):

Brynja Halldorsdottir(presenting / submitting)Allyson Macdonald(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

11. Educational Improvement and Quality Assurance

Format:

Paper

Session Information

11 SES 03 A, Creative Innovation and Technology for the Quality of Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-02

17:15-18:45

Room:

B231 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Jana Poláchová Vaštatková

Contribution

Mapping and Tracking Icelandic Preschool and Complusory Education Research, Reform and Innovation Activities.

This presentation discusses a study of research, reform and innovation (RRI) activities in the Icelandic preschool and compulsory educational sector during the years 2003–2012. The research questions which frame the study are: What characterizes the sequence of research, reform and innovation (RRI) activities in preschool and compulsory education in Iceland in the beginning of the 21st century? How do these activities reflect trends in educational research? The study is a follow-up to a mapping of educational research in Iceland from 1998-2002 but has added a dynamic aspect in that it also tracks the development of selected programs and larger projects during 2003-2012 in relation to key policy themes (ICR and MOESC, 2005). Tracking and exploring developments and projects in current fields of research creates not only up-to-date information on research but supports institutional memory and forward strategic planning (Macdonald, 2008). The context of a small nation continuing to recover from a significant recession opens up a discussion of what small European nations can do during social and economic recovery and considers the possibility of the added value of research and innovative educational projects for practitioners, policy-makers and researchers.

Our aim in this presentation is to explore and discuss the development of five RRI themes: inclusion education, multicultural education, sustainability education, information and communication technology education, and literacy in a wider context. These are explored first by examining the current international research climate and then focusing on projects and programs within the Icelandic system which have developed into or from selected RRI themes. Included in the analysis is mapping and tracking of the selected projects and programs, their inceptions, contexts, progress, funding resources, publications and evaluation of the projects (if available) and a discussion of impact of the projects and future aims within the themes.

Trends and changes in education move rapidly, but as Fullan (2007) notes these changes are often temporary or difficult to sustain and scale up. The presentation explores trends in research and public dialogue regarding education with a view to not only national (Icelandic) trends but also to larger trends. By looking backwards and creating a space where research and data are easily accessible can help to keep both practitioners and policy-makers informed and capable of making appropriate decisions regarding both classroom and school practices as well as national policies that may affect and reflect the social and economic needs of a small state.

In an increasingly digital and global society where the boundaries of the past are no longer a physical impediment, global awareness of things such as sustainability, inclusion and multicultural education have become increasingly relevant in a previously mono-cultural context. It helps to look at not only the research trends from an intellectual perspective, but also from a social and economic perspective, to understand the connection between project funding during the period and educational/political dialogue and reform.

The study reported here is part of a larger project which is an evaluation of the dimensions and the nature of Icelandic educational research with the purpose of utilizing the information to further enhance educational innovation and development, and simultaneously working to make the available research more accessible to teachers and other specialists. One of the study’s particular aims is to understand the flow of information between practitioners, policy-makers and researchers, and how research, reform and innovation are enacted to affect or empower these particular stakeholders.

Method

This study adopts a meta-analytical approach in exploring the chosen themes. The initial data categorization for this and the previous mapping was derived from Holbrook´s et al. classification of research and reform activities (Australian Department of Education: Training and Youth Affairs; 2000). This framework was updated and adapted to the Icelandic context. Such an approach allowed the researchers to track materials and changes while developing an understanding of the links between research, policy reform and innovation within the educational system (Beach and Pedersen, 2011; 2013). Its weakness is that published materials, especially refereed materials, are limited and often written in English for international publications and fail to capture the scope and range of research activity presented in Icelandic at a national level. To counteract this selected research areas are contextualized by looking at related reform and innovation activities and tracking the way projects and policies develop into new research areas. Data was collected from the following sources: a) Refereed Icelandic and international journals; b) policy documents, c) legal statutes, d) master’s and doctoral theses; e) reform activity documents and f) interviews with key informants from selected research areas. All data collected is independently coded by the researchers and a graduate assistant. Such an approach allows the researchers to use elements of process tracing to develop a deeper understanding of the role research plays in key reform and innovation themes of inclusion, multicultural, sustainability, and information and communication technology education, and literacy in the context of education and policy making.

Expected Outcomes

There appears to be a gap between the available knowledge in bodies of research and the effort put into the dissemination or application in schools and the wider educational context. In order to minimize the perceived gap an online database has been created and is being developed with links to researchers, related research, available data sources, detailed keyword entries and other relevant material. Included in the research database will be brief interviews with key informants including researchers, stakeholders and policy-makers. This juxtaposition of research outputs, political documents as well as interview data provides evidence of continuity or discontinuity within the RRI activities in the selected themes. This online repository helps in further mapping and tracking, illuminating previous unseen links in RRI as well as bridging the gap between the level of accessibility for the various stakeholders and the accumulated knowledge of the current local, national and international trends within the Icelandic education system.

References

Australian Department of Education: Training and Youth Affairs. (2000). The impact of educational research. Beach, D. & Pedersen, R.B. (2011). What is process tracing? The three variants of process-tracing methods and their uses and limitations. Paper prepared for The American Political Science Association annual meeting, Seattle, Washington, USA. 1-4 September 2011. Beach, D. & Pedersen, R.B. 2013. Process-tracing methods. Foundations and guidelines. The University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor. Fullan, M. (2012). The new meaning of educational change. 4th edition. Teachers College Press: New York, NY. Icelandic centre for research and the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (2005). An evaluation of educational research and development. Summary. http://www.rannis.is/files/Summary_96099568.pdf (retrieved 01.02.14) Macdonald, Allyson (2008). Creating a demand for educational research: research learning in continuing teacher education. Paper presented at the 10th Nordic Conference on Teacher Education, Reykjavík, Iceland, May 2008.

Author Information

Brynja Halldorsdottir (presenting / submitting)

University of Iceland

Department of Education Studies

Reykjavik

Allyson Macdonald (presenting)

University of Iceland, Iceland

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