Abstract
This article considers the place of theory within education in two contexts – Sweden and the UK – and advances the argument that both governments and academics themselves have contributed to a ‘theoryless’ education. Examples are offered from the fate of education science in Sweden and, in the UK, from responses to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and from the actions of a group of independent academics charged with producing guidelines for assessing qualitative research. Work with the Council of Europe in which theory was used to guide discussions with Government Ministers is described and the paper ends with some proposals for enabling academics to engage more fruitfully with theory. These involve a framework of ethics, informed by Levinas, and a ‘creative ontology’, developed by Simons and Masschelein.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 24609 |
Pages (from-to) | 319–335 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Education Inquiry |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 3 Sept 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014, © 2014 Julie Allan.
Keywords
- educational theory
- difference
- ethics
- Levinas
- Derrida
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education
- Sociology and Political Science
- Public Administration