Discursive Fault Lines: A Social Cartography of Competing Interpretations of Educational Research

• In Event: Research and the Promise of Educational Improvement: International Perspectives on a Vexed Question

Abstract

In the wake of events that marginalize and undermine arts, humanities and sociology oriented educational research in different international contexts, it becomes imperative to contextualize competing understandings of research which are politically and professionally mobilized in the struggle for scarse resources. A focus on traditional sites of heated debates such as the 'methodology wars' between qualitative and quantitative methods or the alleged 'theory versus practice' divide in education offers only a limited account of contemporary struggles over the meaning and purpose of educational research. This paper attempts an alternative stance by
representing education as a complex and heterogeneous academic discipline consisted of diverse and intersecting discursive research communities, which are differently socially, historically, culturally and politically situated and have developed in a compex relationship with each other and with external factors. This diversity of research communities mobilizes different ontological and epistemological positions and a wide range of interpretations of what constitutes research, research priorities, relevant methodologies, academic rigour and validity of results . Although intersections and heterogeneity can be found within each community, there are also dominant discursive orientations that establish major fault lines of interpretation between communities. These fault lines fuel contemporary debates over identities, legitimacy, professional relevance and research funding in education. Drawing on Paulston (1994) methodology of social cartography, this paper deploys visual metaphors to map some of these fault lines focusing on priorities, ambivalences and tensions at the intersections of three broadly defined educational research communities: teacher education, educational psychology and arts, humanities and sociology oriented education. Social cartographies work as heuristic devices to visualize differences within and between intellectual communities and to help clarify and compare perspectives and underlying paradigms (Paulston 2000). They show how concrete problems and solutions are inescapably embedded in theoretical and metaphysical abstractions that are often left unexamined (Weidman and Jacob 2011). This methodology allows for a multiplicity of 'ways of seeing and visual regimes' to be contemplated, and for the partiality of positions and of the map-maker to be acknowledged without compromising conviction or imposing a demand for immediate consensus. Using examples from Finland and North America, this paper highlights differently constructed assumptions and priority questions informing competing claims about evidence-based research, research-based teacher education, ideas of scientificity and academic scholarship, and the role and place of arts, humanities and sociology based educational research within the broader landscape of education.


Paulston, R. (1994). Comparative Education: Paradigms and Theories.” In Torsten Husèn and T. Neville Postlethwaite (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Education (pp. 923–933). New York: Elsevier.
Paulston, R. (Ed.) (2000). Social cartography: Mapping ways of seeing social and educational change. New York: Garland Publishing.
Weidman, J., Jacob, J. (2011). Mapping comparative, international and development education: Celebrating the work of Rolland G. Paulston. In J. Weidman, J. Jacob (Eds.) Beyond the comparative: Advancing theory and its application to practice (pp. 1-18). Rotterdam: Sense Pub.

Author

• Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti, The University of British Columbia