Abstract
Educational research is repeatedly confronted with the question of its relevance. Current interpretations of relevance narrowly focus on outcomes and impact of research. In this essay, we propose an alternative, ontological conceptualization of relevance, arguing that more is at stake than outcomes and impact. We characterize the ontology of education and learning in terms of people’s meaningful movements in an always changing world and propose that relevance of educational research resides in what we call “ontological synchronization”—continuous attunement to what is happening and matters at hand, and what future is being generated, including what values and judgments researchers themselves perpetuate in society. Such synchronization, we conclude, hinges on a disciplinary and ethical commitment to principles of actuality and generativity. We discuss what such conceptualization of relevance implies for educational research.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 416-424 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Educational Researcher |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 The Author(s).
Keywords
- history
- human development
- improvement science
- multisite studies
- philosophy
- research methodology
- research utilization
- social context
- sociology