Although many researchers in education are strongly aware of the different contexts and settings in which education takes place, and although many are also aware of the impact these differences have on what actually does take place, there seems to be far less awareness of the fact that the contexts in which research is conducted often hold very specific and distinctive assumptions, both about education and about research. These differences are partly sociological, so one might say, as they have to do with the social history and organisation of educational research in particular contexts and settings; but they are partly also conceptual and intellectual, in that they have to do with quite different assumptions about the topics and issues under investigation and the very question what proper scientific of academic investigation might be. Within the field of educational research such difference often remain invisible, even at international conferences, because a significant part of contemporary educational scholarship is conducted in English. While at a surface level it therefore looks as if all researchers are referring to the same ‘thing’ when they conduct research on education, in practice such research stems from very different histories and utilises very different conceptions of education. In my presentation I will explore some of these differences within the field of educational research, focuses on main traditions of theory and theorising within Europe, looking both at sociological and historical dimensions and at conceptual and intellectual differences. Against this background I raise the question how these differences impact on inquiry and research within the field of children’s rights and what this might indicate for the future development of this field.

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