EERJ Roundtable 2006

This EERJ Roundtable focuses on research steering, and its effects on knowledge, with attention to the ways in which research 'results' are shaped as 'information' which then becomes translated into 'evidence', which is taken as an appropriate foundation for policy interventions. We are interested in exploring how knowledge is shaped by these processes of de- and recontextualization, and in exploring the roles of researchers and policy-makers in mediating this process.

The discussants of the Roundtable will draw on research and experience to examine specific instances of shifts in the kinds of knowledge that is 'taken up' and exploited by policy-makers. The discussants will consider relevant mechanisms in the metamorphosis of types of knowledge: they will examine, among other things, what counts as useful knowledge, what kinds of research are selected and translated into evidence, and what kinds of research are not?

In exploring these issues, the discussants will also raise questions about the role of researchers in mediating and translating their research: for example, how far do researchers collude in making their research outputs 'actionable', and does this change the knowledge that they produce? Or does their engagement with research translation and mediation represent a shift in knowledge itself, from mode 1 to mode 2, knowledge, with accompanying democratization of research?

Finally, the discussion will include consideration of the role of 'quality indicators' generated by the research community itself: would these provide researchers with better protection from the political misuse of their work, and promote the quality of educational reserach? Or would quality indicators be irrelevant for political decision and for increasing research quality, and simply produce homogenization, and thus: impoverishment of the research agend?

Discussants:

Prof Dr Gita Steiner-Khamsi
Comparative and International Education
Columbia University New York
USA
The Politics and Economics of the Crisis Talk in Education: NGO Report Cards as Advocacy Tool for School Reform

Prof Dr Jenny Ozga
Centre for Educational Sociology
University of Edinburgh
UK
Lost in Translation? Research into Actionable Knowledge

Prof Dr Lyn Yates
Faculty of Education
University of Melbourne
Australia
Who Counts as Well as What Counts: teh Desire to be 'World Class' in Australia

Prof Dr Erno Lehtinen
Faculty of Education
University of Turku
Finland
How to Create New Models for Reseacher-practitioner Collaboration

Chairs:

Prof Dr Ingrid Gogolin
University of Hamburg
Germany

Prof Dr Edwin Keiner
Ruhr-University Bochum
Germany